The year 1909 in film involved some significant events.
Vitagraph Studios, also known as the Vitagraph Company of America, was a United States motion picture studio. It was founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York, as the American Vitagraph Company. By 1907, it was the most prolific American film production company, producing many famous silent films. It was bought by Warner Bros. in 1925.
The Bride of Lammermoor is a historical novel by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1819, one of the Waverley novels. The novel is set in the Lammermuir Hills of south-east Scotland, shortly before the Act of Union of 1707, or shortly after the Act. It tells of a tragic love affair between young Lucy Ashton and her family's enemy Edgar Ravenswood. Scott indicated the plot was based on an actual incident. The Bride of Lammermoor and A Legend of Montrose were published together anonymously as the third of Scott's Tales of My Landlord series. The story is the basis for Donizetti's 1835 opera Lucia di Lammermoor.
Salomé is a 1918 American silent drama film produced by William Fox and starring actress Theda Bara.
Jean, also known as the Vitagraph Dog (1902–1916), was a female collie that starred in silent films. Owned and guided by director Laurence Trimble, she was the first canine to have a leading role in motion pictures. Jean was with Vitagraph Studios from 1909, and in 1913 went with Trimble to England to work with Florence Turner in her own independent film company.
The Lottery Man is a 1916 American silent comedy film written by Theodore Wharton and Rida Johnson Young. It was directed by Leopold Wharton and Wharton, and stars Oliver Hardy, Thurlow Bergen and Lottie Alter. It was produced at the Whartons Studio in Ithaca, New York, and distributed by Whartons Studio. The film was released on June 26, 1916. A print of the film exists in the film archive of the Library of Congress.
The Ways of Fate is a 1913 American silent short romance film produced by the American Film Manufacturing Company. The film's directorial and producer roles have been both attributed to Allan Dwan, but other sources point to Wallace Reid as director. The film's fictional plot is centered on Jim Conway, who grew up wanting to avenge his father's death and headed West to seek his father's killer. Lost in the mountains, he is saved by a young woman and the two fall in love. After a few weeks with her, Conway reveals the reason he came west and the young woman's father overhears it. The old man confesses to killing Conway's father, over a game of cards, and bares his chest. Conway refuses to take revenge, because love had diminished such feelings. The film was released on April 19, 1913 and it had a widespread national release. It is not known whether the film currently survives, but it is presumed lost.
The Automobile Thieves is an American crime-drama silent film directed by J. Stuart Blackton. The picture stars Blackton and Florence Lawrence. It was released on November 10, 1906 by The American Vitagraph Company; a print of the feature is preserved in the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; or, Held for Ransom is a 1905 American silent film directed by J. Stuart Blackton for Vitagraph Studios. It was the second film based on Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, following the 1900 Mutoscope trick film Sherlock Holmes Baffled, and is usually regarded as the first attempt to film a "serious" Holmes adaptation. The scenario was by Theodore Liebler based on elements of Conan Doyle's 1890 novel The Sign of the Four.
The Moving Picture World was an influential early trade journal for the American film industry, from 1907 to 1927. An industry powerhouse at its height, Moving Picture World frequently reiterated its independence from the film studios.
The Moonstone is a 1915 silent film directed by Frank Hall Crane. The film stars Eugene O'Brien as Franklin Blake, Elaine Hammerstein as Rachel Verinder, Ruth Findlay as Rosanna Spearman, among others.
A Wreath in Time is a 1909 American silent comedy film written and directed by D. W. Griffith, produced by the Biograph Company of New York City, and co-starring Mack Sennett and Florence Lawrence. At its release in February 1909, the short was distributed to theaters on a "split reel", which was a single reel that accommodated more than one film. A Wreath in Time shared its reel with another Biograph short also directed by Griffith, the drama Edgar Allen Poe [sic]. Original paper rolls of contact prints of both motion pictures, as well as safety-stock copies of the two films, are preserved in the Library of Congress.
St. Elmo is a 1914 American silent drama film produced by the Balboa Amusement Producing Company and distributed by William Fox's Box Office Attractions Company. It was the first feature-length film adaptation of Augusta Jane Evans's 1866 novel of the same name. The story follows the life of the title character, who kills his cousin over the love of Agnes, falls from grace, and eventually finds redemption and love with Edna. It is disputed who directed the film; many sources credit Bertram Bracken, while others list St. Elmo as J. Gordon Edwards's directorial debut.
St. Elmo is a 1910 American silent short drama produced by the Vitagraph.
The Pickwick Papers is a 1913 three-reel silent film based on the 1837 novel of the same name by Charles Dickens. The film was produced by Vitagraph Studios and features John Bunny in the title role of Samuel Pickwick.
The Redeeming Sin is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by J. Stuart Blackton and starring Alla Nazimova. It was produced and distributed by the Vitagraph Company of America. The story was remade in 1929 by Warner Bros. as The Redeeming Sin starring Dolores Costello.
C.O.D. is a 1914 short comedy film directed by Tefft Johnson and based upon Frederic Chapin's 1912 play of the same name.
Pampered Youth is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by David Smith and starring Cullen Landis, Alice Calhoun, and Allan Forrest. It is an adaption of the 1918 novel The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington. It was one of the final films produced by Vitagraph Studios before the firm was absorbed into Warner Bros.
A Sound Sleeper is a 1909 American comedy film directed by D. W. Griffith and produced by the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company. The short was filmed in one day in the Coytesville borough of Fort Lee, New Jersey, which at the time was a popular filming location for many early motion-picture studios in the northeastern United States. Due to the brief running time of this comedy, it was originally distributed in April 1909 on a split reel with another Biograph release, a longer dramatic film titled The Winning Coat.
A Bit o' Heaven is a 1917 American drama film directed by Lule Warrenton. The now lost film was distributed by the Frieder Film Company in Chicago, whose California branch was headed by Warrenton. The film was based on the 1888 novel The Birds' Christmas Carol by the writer Kate Douglas Wiggin.
