Kathleen Mavourneen

1906 DramaRomance 15 minutes

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About Kathleen Mavourneen

Captain Clearfield, an Irish landlord who heads a gang, attacks Kathleen with an accomplice until her fiancé, Terence O'More, breaks it up. Clearfield then tries to frighten Kathleen and her father. He and the accomplice abduct her and set fire to the cottage. Terence finds the den where she is held, and the village turns out for their wedding.

Cast & crew

More about Kathleen Mavourneen

Edwin S. Porter directed and photographed the picture for the Edison Manufacturing Company, which also distributed it. Silent Era dates the shooting to May and June 1906. Thomas A. Edison copyrighted it on August 2, 1906, numbers H81548 through H81559, at 1,000 feet.

Themes

  • A landlord's attack
  • A fiancé who arrives in time
  • An abduction and a burned cottage
  • A village wedding
  • Ireland
  • landlord
  • outlaws
  • abduction
  • cottage fire
  • rescue
  • wedding
  • Edison

Look

Edwin S. Porter is credited as cameraman. Silent Era marks that credit as uncertain.

Music

Silent. The picture is drawn from the song Kathleen Mavourneen.

Preservation

The Museum of Modern Art holds an incomplete 16mm reduction positive. Silent Era lists the film as public domain in the United States.

Notes

  • Kitty O'Neil plays Kathleen. Walter Griswold plays Terence. Silent Era spells the actor Griswoll and the surname O'Moore. H. L. Bascom plays Captain Clearfield. Silent Era spells the name Bascomb.
  • W. R. Floyd plays Dugan. E. M. Leslie plays David O'Connor, Kathleen's father. N. B. Clarke plays Father O'Cassidy.
  • Other parts named by Silent Era are Danny O'Lavey (J. McDovall), Black Rody (C. F. Seabert), Red Barney (D. R. Allen), Darby Doyle (D. J. McGinnis), and Dennis O'Gaff (W. F. Burroughs). AFI also lists J. Clifford.
  • AFI traces the film to the song Kathleen Mavourneen, words by Annie Crawford and music by Frederick Williams Nichols Crouch, in Echoes of the Lake (London, 1840). AFI says a Dion Boucicault play of that title has not been verified.
  • Later films of the story include an Edison one-reeler in 1913, a Fox feature with Theda Bara in 1919, and a British feature in 1937.

Scenes

  • Terence stops Clearfield's attack on Kathleen.
  • Clearfield's men abduct Kathleen and burn the cottage.
  • The village celebrates the wedding after Terence brings her out of the den.

Influenced by

  • The song Kathleen Mavourneen (Annie Crawford and Frederick Williams Nichols Crouch, 1840)

Also available

  • Internet Archive (silent-kathleen-mavourneen)