''False Colors'', also known as ''False Colours'', is a surviving 1914 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 ...

directed, written by and starring

Lois Weber Florence Lois Weber (June 13, 1879 – November 13, 1939) was an American silent film actress, screenwriter, producer and director. She is identified in some historical references as among "the most important and prolific film directors in the e ...

and her husband

Phillips Smalley Wendell Phillips Smalley (August 7, 1865 – May 2, 1939) was an American silent film director and actor. Biography Born in Brooklyn, New York, he was the grandson of Wendell Phillips; he was the son of George Washburn Smalley, a war corres ...

. Weber plays dual roles of a mother and her daughter.

Cast

as Mrs. Moore / Her daughter Flo *

as Lloyd Phillips *Dixie Carr as Dixie Phillips *

Adele Farrington Adele Farrington (1867 – 19 December 1936) was an American actress of the silent film era. Biography Born Anna King in Brooklyn, New York, Farrington was a stage actress before appearing in 74 films between 1914 and 1926. She was a relatively ...

as Mrs. Hughes, housekeeper *Charles Marriott as Butler (Mr. Hughes) * Courtenay Foote as Bert Hughes, son of Butler and Housekeeper *

Herbert Standing Herbert Standing (13 November 1846 – 5 December 1923) was a British stage and screen actor and the patriarch of the Standing family of actors. He was the father of numerous children, many of whom had careers in theatre and cinema. Toward the ...

as Marc Herbert

Production

Double exposures are used in the film to indicate transitions in scenes where Lloyd dreams of his dead wife, played by Weber, followed by the entrance of the daughter Flo, also played by Weber. Later, after his affection has shifted to his daughter, he sees Flo's image superimposed over a picture of his wife.

Preservation status

A partial print of ''False Colors'' consisting of two

reels A reel is an object around which a length of another material (usually long and flexible) is wound for storage (usually hose are wound around a reel). Generally a reel has a cylindrical core (known as a '' spool'') with flanges around the ends ...

is preserved in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

collection.Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: ''False Colours''
/ref>

References

External links

* * *David Boardwell (2017)
Observations on Film Art: Anybody But Griffith
15 stills in lower half of article 1914 films American silent short films Paramount Pictures films American black-and-white films Silent American drama films 1914 drama films 1910s American films {{1910s-short-drama-film-stub

Cast

Production

Preservation status

See also

References

External links