The Evidence of the Film
About The Evidence of the Film
A broker, played by William Garwood, has his staff watch him put $20,000 in bonds into an envelope and hand it to a messenger boy, played by Marie Eline. He then knocks the boy down in the street, switches the envelope for one full of newspaper, and lets the police blame the boy. A film crew is shooting on that block. The boy’s sister, a cutter at the studio played by Florence La Badie, finds the footage of the switch. Lawrence Marston and Edwin Thanhouser directed.
Cast & crew
More about The Evidence of the Film
Edwin Thanhouser produced it. Mutual distributed it. Wikipedia times it at 15 minutes and dates the release 10 January 1913. Riley Chamberlin and Helen Badgley are billed. The only known copy was found in 1999 on the floor of a projection booth in a Superior, Montana theater. The Library of Congress named it to the National Film Registry in 2001.
Themes
Making
Thanhouser and Marston built the alibi around a camera that happened to be on the sidewalk, then let the studio cutter be the person who sees it.
Preservation
The only known copy was found in 1999 in a Superior, Montana projection booth. It was added to the National Film Registry in 2001.
Notes
- Marie Eline, a child actress, plays the messenger boy.
- The sister is the editor, not a detective.
- An Internet Archive identifier is silent-the-evidence-of-the-film.
- A Commons file uses the 1913 title.
Awards
- National Film Registry (2001)
Scenes
- The broker knocks the boy down and swaps the envelopes.
- La Badie finds that collision on the studio’s street footage.
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-the-evidence-of-the-film)
- Wikimedia Commons (The Evidence of The Film (1913).webm)