''Birds of Prey'' is a 1927 American silent

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

William James Craft William James Craft (1886 – 30 June 1931) was a Canadian film director and screenwriter. He directed more than 60 films between 1910 and 1931. He is also credited with writing for 12 films between 1920 and 1928. Craft was born in Toronto ...

and starring

Priscilla Dean Priscilla Dean (November 25, 1896 – December 27, 1987) was an American actress popular in silent film as well as in theatre, with a career spanning two decades. Biography She was born on November 25, 1896 in Manhattan, New York City to an activ ...

Hugh Allan Sir Hugh Allan (September 29, 1810 – December 9, 1882) was a Scottish-Canadian shipping magnate, financier and capitalist. By the time of his death, the Allan Shipping Line had become the largest privately owned shipping empire in the wor ...

and

Gustav von Seyffertitz Gustav von Seyffertitz (4 August 1862 – 25 December 1943) was a German film actor and director. He settled in the United States. He was born in Haimhausen, Bavaria, and died in Los Angeles, California, aged 81. Biography Gustav von Seyffertit ...

Premise

Two

pickpocket Pickpocketing is a form of larceny that involves the stealing of money or other valuables from the person or a victim's pocket without them noticing the theft at the time. It may involve considerable dexterity and a knack for misdirection. A th ...

s attempt to blackmail a

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

over his former prison record. However, the female of the pair falls in love with the banker's son.

Cast

as Helen Wayne *

as Hamilton Smith Jr *

as Foxy *

Ben Hendricks Jr. Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett or Benson, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben (in he, בֶּן, ''son of'') forms part of Hebrew surnames, e.g. Abraham ben Abraham ( h ...

as Archie Crossley *

Sidney Bracey Sidney Bracey (born Sidney Bracy; 18 December 1877 – 5 August 1942) was an Australian-born American actor. After a stage career in Australia, on Broadway and in Britain, he performed in more than 320 films between 1909 and 1942. Early lif ...

as Gaston *

William H. Tooker William H. Tooker (September 2, 1869 – October 10, 1936) was an American stage and film actor. Tooker acted with the Tivoli Comic Opera Company in San Francisco. On Broadway, he performed in ''The Coronet of the Duchess'' (1904) and ''The Gove ...

as J. Hamilton Smith * Fritz Becker as The runt

Preservation and status

A complete copy of the film is held at the

Cinematheque Royale de Belgique CINEMATEK (Dutch: Koninklijk Belgisch Filmarchief; French: Cinémathèque royale de Belgique; English: Royal Belgian Film Archive) is a film archive in Brussels, Belgium. The archive was established in 1938 under the name Royal Belgian Film Arch ...

References

Bibliography

* Munden, Kenneth White. ''The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Part 1''. University of California Press, 1997.

External links

* 1927 films 1927 drama films Silent American drama films Films directed by William James Craft American silent feature films 1920s English-language films American black-and-white films Columbia Pictures films 1920s American films {{1920s-silent-drama-film-stub