''The Broken Oath'' is a 1910 silent

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

starring

Florence Lawrence Florence Lawrence (born Florence Annie Bridgwood; January 2, 1886 – December 28, 1938) was a Canadian-American stage performer and film actress. She is often referred to as the "first movie star", and was thought to be the first film actor to ...

, directed by

Harry Solter Henry Lewis "Harry" Solter (November 19, 1873 – March 2, 1920) was an American silent film actor, screenwriter and director. Career Solter began his career as an actor in 1908 with Biograph Studios. That same year he met actress Florenc ...

, and produced by

Carl Laemmle Carl Laemmle (; born Karl Lämmle; January 17, 1867 – September 24, 1939) was a film producer and the co-founder and, until 1934, owner of Universal Pictures. He produced or worked on over 400 films. Regarded as one of the most important o ...

. It was the first film to marquee the name of an actor, Lawrence, to promote a film. Laemmle arranged elaborate publicity for the film, planting a

fake news Fake news is false or misleading information presented as news. Fake news often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person or entity, or making money through advertising revenue.Schlesinger, Robert (April 14, 2017)"Fake news in reality ...

story in newspapers that Lawrence had been killed in a street-car accident. When this was widely picked up by other publications, he published adverts saying that the original story was a lie and that she was starring in a new film to be released shortly (although some adverts misspelt the film title as ''The Broken Bath'').

References

External links

* 1910 films American silent short films American black-and-white films Films directed by Harry Solter 1910 drama films 1910 short films Silent American drama films Fake news Fake news in the United States Independent Moving Pictures films Films produced by Carl Laemmle 1910s English-language films 1910s American films {{1910s-short-drama-film-stub