The Count of Monte Cristo | |
---|---|
Directed by | Joseph A. Golden Edwin S. Porter |
Written by | Hampton Del Ruth |
Based on | the play, Le Comte de Monte Cristo by Charles Fechter; adapted from the novel Le Comte de Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (pere) |
Produced by | Daniel Frohman Adolph Zukor |
Starring | James O'Neill Nance O'Neil |
Cinematography | Edwin S. Porter |
Distributed by | States Rights |
Release date |
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Running time | 69 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
The Count of Monte Cristo is a 1913 silent film adventure directed by Joseph A. Golden and Edwin S. Porter, based on the adapted play of Alexandre Dumas' 1844 novel of the same name by Charles Fechter, adapted on screen by Hampton Del Ruth. [1] It starred James O'Neill, a stage actor and father of playwright Eugene O'Neill. James O'Neill had been playing Edmond Dantès most of his adult life and was famous in the role. Daniel Frohman and Adolph Zukor produced together. Edwin S. Porter co-directed with Joseph Golden, though this was probably necessary as Porter also served as the film's cinematographer. [2] The film was released on November 1, 1913. [3] [4]
A previous film by Selig starring Hobart Bosworth in 1912 had to be pulled from circulation as Zukor brought lawsuit against Selig for copyright infringement.
In Before the Nickelodeon, Charles Musser writes, "This remarkable record of late-nineteenth-century theatrical technique ma not have been dynamic enough to launch the company's new line of original productions. O'Neill's acting style and the sets were incompatible with popular conceptions of realism and had become old-fashioned, even in the theater. When finally released late in 1913, The Count of Monte Cristo received little attention even in the trade press. Not surprisingly, the Porter-Golden collaboration was not repeated." [1]
The film is preserved via paper print at the Library of Congress. It is also in the collections of the National Archives of Canada, Ottawa, the George Eastman House, BFI National Film and Television Archive. [5] [6]
The Count of Monte Cristo is an adventure novel written by French author Alexandre Dumas (père) completed in 1844. It is one of the author's most popular works, along with The Three Musketeers. Like many of his novels, it was expanded from plot outlines suggested by his collaborating ghostwriter Auguste Maquet.
Edmond Dantès is a title character, Byronic hero and the protagonist of Alexandre Dumas's 1844 adventure novel The Count of Monte Cristo. Within the story's narrative, Dantès is an intelligent, honest and loving man who turns bitter and vengeful after he is framed for a crime he did not commit. When Dantès finds himself free and enormously wealthy, he takes it upon himself to reward those who have helped him in his plight and punish those responsible for his years of suffering. He is known by the aliases The Count of Monte Cristo, Abbé Busoni,Lord Wilmore, and Sinbad the Sailor.
The Count of Monte Cristo is a 2002 American historical adventure film, which is an adaptation of the 1844 novel of the same name by Alexandre Dumas, produced by Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber, and Jonathan Glickman, and directed by Kevin Reynolds. The film stars Jim Caviezel, Guy Pearce, Richard Harris, James Frain, Dagmara Dominczyk, Luis Guzmán and Henry Cavill in one of his earliest roles. It follows the general plot of the novel, with the main storyline of imprisonment and revenge preserved, but many elements, including the relationships between major characters and the ending were modified.
Edwin Stanton Porter was an American film pioneer, most famous as a producer, director, studio manager and cinematographer with the Edison Manufacturing Company and the Famous Players Film Company. Of over 250 films created by Porter, his most important include What Happened on Twenty-third Street, New York City (1901), Jack and the Beanstalk (1902), Life of an American Fireman (1903), The Great Train Robbery (1903), The European Rest Cure (1904), The Kleptomaniac (1905), Life of a Cowboy (1906), Rescued from an Eagle's Nest (1908), and The Prisoner of Zenda (1913).
James O'Neill was an Irish-American theatre actor. He was the father of American playwright Eugene O'Neill and the inspiration for one of the primary characters in his son's play Long Day's Journey into Night.
The Famous Players Film Company was a film company founded in 1912 by Adolph Zukor in partnership with the Frohman brothers, powerful New York City theatre owners and producers.
Life of an American Fireman is a short, silent film Edwin S. Porter made for the Edison Manufacturing Company. It was shot late in 1902 and distributed early in 1903. One of the earliest American narrative films, it depicts the rescue of a woman and child from a burning building. It bears notable similarities to the 1901 British short film Fire!, directed by James Williamson.
The Count of Monte Cristo is a 1934 American adventure film directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring Robert Donat and Elissa Landi. Based on the 1844 novel The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, the story concerns a man who is unjustly imprisoned for 20 years for innocently delivering a letter entrusted to him. When he finally escapes, he seeks revenge against the greedy men who conspired to put him in prison.
The Edison Manufacturing Company, originally registered as the United Edison Manufacturing Company and often known as simply the Edison Company, was organized by inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Edison and incorporated in New York City in May 1889. It succeeded the Edison United Manufacturing Company, founded in 1886 as a sales agency for the Edison Lamp Company, Edison Machine Works, and Bergmann & Company, which made electric lighting fixtures, sockets, and other accessories. In April 1894, the Edison laboratory's Kinetoscope operation, which was about to be commercialized, was brought under the Edison Company umbrella. In 1900, the United Edison Manufacturing Company was evidently succeeded by the New Jersey–incorporated Edison Manufacturing Company. The company's assets and operations were transferred to Thomas A. Edison, Inc. in 1911.
Monte Cristo (1929), also known as Le Comte de Monte-Cristo in France and The Count of Monte-Cristo in the US, is a French silent film directed by Henri Fescourt, and is a film adaptation of the 1844 novel The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, père.
Justus D. Barnes, named George Barnes in some sources, was an American stage and film actor. He is best known for his role in the 1903 silent short The Great Train Robbery, which the American Film Institute and many film historians and critics recognize as the production that first established the Western genre, setting a new "narrative standard" in the motion picture industry. Kim Newman says it is "probably the first Western film with a storyline".
Monte Cristo is a 1922 American silent drama film produced and distributed by Fox Film Corporation and directed by Emmett J. Flynn. It is based on the 1844 novel The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, which was adapted by 19th century thespian Charles Fechter and written for this screen version by Bernard McConville. John Gilbert plays the hero with Estelle Taylor as the leading lady. This film was long thought lost until a print surfaced in the Czech Republic. The film has been released on DVD, packaged with Gilbert's 1926 MGM film Bardelys the Magnificent.
Faust and Marguerite is a 1900 American silent trick film produced and distributed by Edison Manufacturing Company. It was directed by Edwin S. Porter and based on the Michel Carré play Faust et Marguerite and the 1859 opera Faust adapted from the play by Charles Gounod.
Parsifal is a 1904 American silent film produced by the Edison Manufacturing Company and directed by Edwin S. Porter. It is based on the 1882 opera Parsifal by Richard Wagner, and stars Adelaide Fitz-Allen as Kundry and Robert Whittier as Parsifal.
Daniel Boone; or, Pioneer Days in America is a 1907 American silent film directed by Wallace McCutcheon and Edwin S. Porter for the Edison Manufacturing Company. It starred Florence Lawrence, often called "the first movie star."
The Prisoner of Zenda is a 1913 silent film adaptation of a play by Edward E. Rice, which was in turn based on the 1894 Anthony Hope novel of the same name. It was directed by Edwin S. Porter and Hugh Ford, and starred stage actor James K. Hackett, Beatrice Beckley and David Torrence.
The Wife of Monte Cristo is a 1946 American historical adventure film directed by Edgar G. Ulmer and starring John Loder, Lenore Aubert and Fritz Kortner. The film is yet another spiritual epic inspired by the novel The Count of Monte Cristo and features its protagonist Edmond Dantès. It was made and distributed by Producers Releasing Corporation, on a higher budget than was usual for the studio which focused on cheap second features. It was successful at the box office.
Susan's Gentleman is a lost 1917 silent film feature drama directed by Edwin Stevens, a stage actor who made a foray into silent films, and starred Violet Mersereau. It was produced by Bluebird Photoplays and released through the Universal Film Manufacturing Company. This film has an appearance by James O'Neill, famed for The Count of Monte Cristo, here making a rare screen appearance.
The Count of Monte Cristo is a lost 1912 unauthorised silent film short directed by Colin Campbell and starring Hobart Bosworth. The film is a remake of the same story Selig had filmed in 1908. When this film was made Adolph Zukor had secured the rights to the 1844 novel and was about to release his 1913 version with James O'Neill who had made the role famous on stage. Zukor's attorneys ordered this film destroyed and all prints were withdrawn.
Joseph A. Golden was an American pioneer silent film director and screenwriter. His films include A Woman's Wit and Resurrection. He began working in film in 1907, directing the one-reel film The Hypnotist's Revenge for American Mutoscope & Biograph.