''Her Father's Son'' is a 1916 American silent

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

William Desmond Taylor William Desmond Taylor (born William Cunningham Deane-Tanner, 26 April 1872 – 1 February 1922) was an Anglo-Irish-American film director and actor. A popular figure in the growing Hollywood motion picture colony of the 1910s and early 1920s, ...

and written by Anna Fielder Brand and L. V. Jefferson. The film stars

Vivian Martin Vivian Martin (July 22, 1893 – March 16, 1987) was an American stage and silent film actress. Biography Martin was born in Sparta, Michigan and began her career as a child actress on the stage with comedian Lew Fields. Her early theatrical ...

Gayne Whitman Gayne Whitman (born Alfred D. Vosburgh; March 19, 1890 – August 31, 1958) was an American radio and film actor. He appeared in more than 200 films between 1904 and 1957. In some early films he was credited under his birth name. He was born ...

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 ...

Helen Jerome Eddy Helen Jerome Eddy (February 25, 1897 – January 27, 1990) was a motion picture actress from New York City. She was noted as a character actress who played genteel heroines in films such as ''Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm'' (1917). Early years Edd ...

, Joe Massey, and Jack Lawton. The film was released on October 12, 1916, by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

Plot

When Frances Fletcher (Martin), a Southern young woman, moves in with her uncle William (Standing) just before the start of the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, she dresses as a young man in order to secure her inheritance. Problems arise after the war breaks out and her uncle takes in Lt. Richard Harkness (Whitman) as his guest and the Union officer expresses a fondness in the cross-dressed Frances.

Cast

as Frances Fletcher *

as Lt. Richard Harkness *

as William Fletcher *

as Betty Fletcher *Joe Massey as John Fletcher *Jack Lawton as Willard Gordon *

Lucille Ward Lucille Ward (February 25, 1880 – August 8, 1952) was an American film actress. She appeared in more than 140 films between 1915 and 1944. She was born and died in Dayton, Ohio. Ward's career began in 1907 when she acted in a production ...

as Mammy Chloe *Tom Bates as Mose

Preservation status

'' Her Father's Son'' 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 is ...

collection.''Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress'', p. 78, c.1978, The American Film Institute

References

External links

* * 1916 films 1910s English-language films Silent American comedy films 1916 comedy films Paramount Pictures films Films directed by William Desmond Taylor American Civil War films American black-and-white films American silent feature films 1910s American films {{1910s-comedy-film-stub