''The Great Problem'' is a 1916 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-g ...

directed by Rex Ingram and starring

Violet Mersereau Violet Mersereau (October 2, 1892 – November 12, 1975) was an American stage and film actress. Over the course of her screen career, Mersereau appeared in over 100 short and silent film features. Early life Mersereau was born in New York City ...

, Dan Hanlon and Lionel Adams. It marked Ingram's directorial debut of a

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

, having previously made a

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

. It was shot at Fort Lee in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. A complete copy of the film is held by the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

.Great Problem, The, International Federation of Film Archives, Brussels.

Cast

as Peggy Carson * Dan Hanlon as Bill Carson * Lionel Adams as George Devereaux *

Kittens Reichert Kittens Reichert (March 3, 1910 – January 11, 1990) was an American child actress in silent films. Biography The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George C. Reichert, she was born Catherine Alma Reichert in Yonkers, New York, but was nicknamed "Kittens ...

as Peggy - as a child *

William J. Dyer William J. Dyer (March 11, 1881 – December 22, 1933) was an American actor of the silent era. He appeared in dozens of films, mostly Westerns and action films, between 1915 and 1933. He was born in Atlanta, Georgia and died in Hollywood, ...

as Skinny McGee *

Mathilde Brundage Mathilde Brundage (September 22, 1859 – May 6, 1939) was an American actress. She appeared in 87 films between 1914 and 1928. Also known as Bertha Brundage, she was born in Louisville, Kentucky. For much of her life, her family thwarted her de ...

as Mrs. Devereaux * Howard Crampton as Joseph

References

Bibliography

* Leonhard Gmür. ''Rex Ingram: Hollywood's Rebel of the Silver Screen''. 2013.

External links

* 1916 films 1916 drama films 1910s English-language films American silent feature films Silent American drama films Films directed by Rex Ingram American black-and-white films Universal Pictures films Films shot in Fort Lee, New Jersey 1910s American films {{drama-film-stub