''The Black Hand'' (full title ''The Black Hand: True Story of a Recent Occurrence in the Italian Quarter of New York'') is an American

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

directed by Wallace McCutcheon. It is generally considered by motion-picture historians to be the earliest surviving

gangster film A gangster film or gangster movie is a film belonging to a genre that focuses on gangs and organized crime. It is a subgenre of crime film, that may involve large criminal organizations, or small gangs formed to perform a certain illegal act. The ...

Plot summary

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, two

Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, w ...

criminals blackmail a butcher, demanding a ransom of $1,000, otherwise, they will kidnap his daughter and blow up his shop. Unable to afford the sum, the gang kidnaps his daughter. The butcher calls the police who finally arrest the extortionists and rescue the little girl.

Cast

Anthony O'Sullivan Anthony O'Sullivan (1855July 5, 1920) was an American silent film actor and film director. He appeared in more than 160 films between 1906 and 1918. He also directed 35 films between 1913 and 1915. He died in The Bronx, New York Director * '' ...

and

Robert G. Vignola Robert G. Vignola (born Rocco Giuseppe Vignola, August 7, 1882 – October 25, 1953) was an Italian-American actor, screenwriter, and film director. A former stage actor, he appeared in many motion pictures produced by Kalem Company and later mov ...

as the extortionists.

Analysis

The film is composed of eight shots organised in six scenes introduced by intertitles. It uses continuity editing and cross-cutting. 1. ''Writing the letter''. Indoors. Stage set of the bandits' hideout. Medium shot of the two bandits drinking wine sitting at a table, one of them writing a letter. The shot is interrupted by an insert of the letter. 2. ''The letter received''. Indoors, full shot of the stage set of Angelo's shop, with a walk-in fridge to the right. Angelo puts some meat in the fridge, serves a customer and receive a letter. He communicates the content to his wife and daughter, puts on his coat and hat and leaves. 3. ''The threat carried out''. Two outdoors shots. Long shot of the 7th avenue in New-York with snow on the sides and various pedestrians and horse carriages. One of the gangsters seen in scene 1 walks towards the camera and stops, looking for something on the ground. Maria appears in the distance and walks towards him. He asks her to help looking for something. As she is so busy, a carriage stops, a man alights and helped by the other gangster catches the girl and take her inside the carriage which leaves hastily. Other long shot of 7th avenue. The carriage stops in front of a junk shop. The tow men carry the girl inside. The camera pans slightly left to follow them. 4. ''The gang's headquarters''. Indoors. Full shot of the set seen in scene 1, with the table moved to the right. One of the gangsters is lying on a bed. He gets up and opens the door. A woman enters followed by the two gangsters and Maria. The woman brutally removes Maria's coat and hat and forces her to lie on the bed before leaving. While the three men play cards and drink, Maria tries to escape but she is caught and one of the men threatens to hit her. 5. ''Levying the blackmail''. A clever arrest actually as made by the New York Detectives. Same set as scene 2. Two policemen visit Angelo's shot and check that they can hide in the walk-in fridge. A comic touch is added when they come out of it feeling very cold. When the gangster comes, the butcher's wife opens the door of the walk-in fridge, the two policemen come out and arrest the gangster. 6. ''Rescue of Maria''. Same view as scene 4. Maria is lying on the bed while the two gangsters are playing cards and drinking. A note is passed to Maria through the shutter of the window and she discretely unlocks the shutter and the door. Three policemen crash in and master the gangsters. Maria is reunited with her parents.Review and link to watch the film:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Black Hand, The 1906 films American silent short films American black-and-white films American crime drama films Films about Italian-American organized crime American gangster films 1900s crime drama films 1906 short films Films directed by Wallace McCutcheon Sr. 1900s American films Silent American drama films 1900s English-language films