''A Corner in Cotton'' is a five-reel silent film melodrama produced in 1916 by Quality Pictures and distributed by

Metro Pictures Metro Pictures Corporation was a Film, motion picture production company founded in early 1915 in Jacksonville, Florida. It was a forerunner of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The company produced its films in New York, Los Angeles, and sometimes at leas ...

. The movie was filmed at studios in New York and California and on locations near

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...

. ''A Corner in Cotton'' was directed by

Fred J. Balshofer Fred J. Balshofer (November 2, 1877 – June 21, 1969) was a pioneering silent film director, producer, screenwriter, and cinematographer in the United States. Biography Balshofer was born in New York City and became interested in the photogr ...

, with the assistance of Howard Truesdell and adapted for film by Charles A. Taylor from a story by

Anita Loos Corinne Anita Loos (April 26, 1888 – August 18, 1981) was an American actress, novelist, playwright and screenwriter. In 1912, she became the first female staff screenwriter in Hollywood, when D. W. Griffith put her on the payroll at Triang ...

. The film was released on February 21, 1916, with Marguerite Snow in the starring role.

Plot

''A Corner in Cotton'' tells the story of Peggy Ainslee, the daughter of a wealthy New York

cotton broker In the Antebellum South, antebellum and Reconstruction era Southern United States, South, most cotton Planter (American South), planters relied on cotton factors (also known as cotton brokers) to sell their crops for them. Description The cotton ...

, and John Carter, the son of a Southern

cotton mill A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning (textiles), spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system. Althou ...

owner. Peggy grows weary of society life and decides to help improve the lot of the poor by becoming involved with the

Settlement movement The settlement movement was a reformist social movement that began in the 1880s and peaked around the 1920s in United Kingdom and the United States. Its goal was to bring the rich and the poor of society together in both physical proximity and s ...

. She later travels south to investigate working conditions at Carter's cotton mill. Peggy manages to gain employment there, but soon attracts the unwanted advances of the mill foreman. John saves her from the would-be masher and the couple eventually fall in love. This becomes a problem with their fathers who had become business antagonist. In the end Peggy and John married after she foils her father's attempt to ruin Carter by

cornering the market In finance, cornering the market consists of obtaining sufficient control of a particular stock, commodity, or other asset in an attempt to manipulate the market price. One definition of cornering a market is "having the greatest market share in a ...

in cotton and then persuades the two men to settle their differences.

Cast

Marguerite Snow Marguerite Snow (September 9, 1889 – February 17, 1958) was an American silent film and stage actress. In her early films she was billed as Margaret Snow. Early life Snow was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her father, Billy Snow, was a comedia ...

as Peggy Ainslee * William Clifford as Richard Ainslee * Frank Bacon as Col. Robert Carter *

Helen Dunbar Helen Dunbar (born Katheryn Burke Lackey; October 10, 1863 – August 28, 1933) was an American theatrical performer and silent film actress. Career Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Dunbar first appeared with the Weber & Fields Stock Co ...

as Mrs. Carter * Wilfred Rogers as John Carter * Zella Caull as Isabel Rawlston *

Howard Truesdale Howard Truesdale (January 3, 1861 – December 8, 1941; also credited as Truesdell, Truedell, and Truesdall) was an American stage actor and a film actor in both the silent and sound eras. He appeared in the films ''A Corner in Cotton'', ''The P ...

as Charles Hathaway *

Lester Cuneo Lester H. Cuneo (October 25, 1888 – November 1, 1925) was an American stage and silent film actor. He began acting in live theatre while still in his teens. Early years Born in Chicago, Illinois, Cuneo attended Culver Military Academy and wa ...

as Willis Jackson *

John Goldsworthy John Goldsworthy (1884–1958) was a British-born stage and film actor. After emigrating to the United States he was active on Broadway appearing in a variety of plays, as well as several musicals.Bordman p.460 During the silent era he appeared ...

as Algie Sherwood

References

External links

* 1916 films American silent feature films Silent American drama films 1916 drama films American black-and-white films Melodrama films Metro Pictures films Films directed by Fred J. Balshofer 1910s American films {{1910s-drama-film-stub