''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' is a 1914 British 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

Floyd Martin Thornton Floyd Martin Thornton (often credited as F. Martin Thornton, November 4, 1884 – April 1, 1956) was an American screenwriter and film director active in the United Kingdom in the 1910s and 1920s. He also directed films for the Natural Color Kin ...

and starring

H. Agar Lyons Harry Agar Lyons (1 April 1878 – 1944) was an Irish-born British actor. He was born in Cork (city), Cork, Ireland in 1878 and died in Wandsworth, London, England in 1944 at age 72. Lyons is best known for playing Fu Manchu in a series of fi ...

, Gerald Royston in the title role, and Jane Wells. It was based on the 1886 novel ''

Little Lord Fauntleroy ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was published as a serial in '' St. Nicholas Magazine'' from November 1885 to October 1886, then as a book by Scribner's (the publisher of ''St. Nicholas'') in 1886. The ill ...

'' by

Frances Hodgson Burnett Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett (24 November 1849 – 29 October 1924) was a British-American novelist and playwright. She is best known for the three children's novels ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' (published in 1885–1886), '' A Little ...

. The film was produced by the Natural Colour Kinematograph Company. It was distributed in the UK by Kineto Ltd. and released in the US by Shubert Feature Film (later

World Film Company The World Film Company or World Film Corporation was an American film production and distribution company, organized in 1914 in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Short-lived but significant in American film history, World Film was created by financier and fil ...

) in April of that year. It was one of the first feature-length films to be made in colour, using the

Kinemacolor Kinemacolor was the first successful colour motion picture process, used commercially from 1908 to 1914. It was invented by George Albert Smith in 1906. He was influenced by the work of William Norman Lascelles Davidson and, more directly, Ed ...

two-colour

additive colour Additive color or additive mixing is a property of a color model that predicts the appearance of colors made by coincident component lights, i.e. the perceived color can be predicted by summing the numeric representations of the component colo ...

process. Originally,

Joan Morgan Joan Morgan (1 February 1905 – 22 July 2004) was an English film actress, screenwriter and novelist. Born in Forest Hill, London, she was the daughter of film director Sidney Morgan and his wife, Evelyn. Joan Morgan died at age 99 in Henle ...

had been considered for the part of Cedric Erroll as Lord Fauntleroy, before 13-year old Gerald Royston was given the role. Born in 1901 and the younger brother of

Roy Royston Roy Royston MC (born Roy Charles Crowden, 5 April 1899 – 7 October 1976) was an English actor who appeared in a large number of films between 1912 and 1966, beginning as a child actor. Most of his films were silents made before the First Wo ...

, the British

child actor The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage or in film, movies or television. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associ ...

appeared in silent films from 1913 to 1915. His casting in ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' was one of the earliest starring roles for a child actor in a feature-length film. An advertisement in the cinema trade journal ''Bioscope'' cited English writer Effie Albanesi's praise of the film. She called it "excellent" and commended the film's adaptation of Burnett's novel, saying, "the acting of the boy oystonwas wonderful".''The Bioscope'' (16 April 1914), vol. 23, number 392.

Cast

as Earl of Dorincourt * Gerald Royston as Cedric Erroll (Lord Fauntleroy) * Jane Wells as 'Dearest' Erroll * Bernard Vaughan as Lawyer Havisham * V. Osmond as Minna Tipton * Frank Stather as Ben Tipton * D. Callam as Tommy Tipton * Harry Edwards as Dick Tipton * F. Tomkins as Silas Hobbs * Miss Nelson as Mary - the Housemaid * Fred Eustace as Bevis * B. Murray as Maurice * Edward Viner as Capt. Cedric Erroll * Stella St. Audrie as Bridget *

John East John East (died 1856) was a 19th-century Anglican clergyman and writer. At Oxford he was a friend of William Henry Havergal. He became: * Rector of Croscombe, Somerset (some of his earlier writings were published in Evesham, Worcestershire, Eve ...

as Thomas *

Jack Denton John Fleming St. Andrew Denton (11 September 1872 – 19 April 1949) was a British actor and film director of the silent era. Denton was born in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire and died at age 76 in Redhill, Surrey. Selected filmography Ac ...

References

External links

* 1914 films 1914 drama films 1910s color films British silent feature films British drama films Silent films in color 1910s English-language films Films based on works by Frances Hodgson Burnett Films directed by Floyd Martin Thornton Films set in London Films based on American novels Films based on British novels 1910s British films Silent drama films {{1910s-UK-film-stub