''The Live Wire'' is a 1925 American

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 Charles Hines and written by John W. Krafft. The film stars

Johnny Hines John F. Hines (July 25, 1895 – October 24, 1970) was an American actor who had numerous film roles during the silent era, including many starring ones. He appeared in more than 50 films and numerous film shorts. But he did not succeed in tran ...

Edmund Breese Edmund Breese (June 18, 1871 – April 6, 1936) was an American stage and film actor of the silent era. Biography Breese was born in Brooklyn, New York. His parents were Renshaw Breese and Josephine Busby. The Opera House in Eureka Springs ...

, Mildred Ryan,

J. Barney Sherry J. Barney Sherry (March 4, 1874February 22, 1944) was an American actor of the silent film era. He appeared in more than 210 films between 1905 and 1929. He was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania and died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from card ...

, Bradley Barker, and

Flora Finch Flora Finch (17 June 1867 – 4 January 1940) was an English-born vaudevillian, stage and film actress who starred in over 300 silent films, including over 200 for the Vitagraph Studios film company. The vast majority of her films from the sile ...

. The film was released on September 20, 1925, by

First National Pictures First National Pictures was an American motion picture production and distribution company. It was founded in 1917 as First National Exhibitors' Circuit, Inc., an association of independent theatre owners in the United States, and became the count ...

Plot

As described in a film magazine reviews, The Great Maranelli, who does a head slide on a wire for a circus, is forced to give up this work. He becomes a salesman for a light and power company owned by Henry Langdon. Langdon has started an amusement park in partnership with George Trent, who seeks to gain entire control by telling Landon that he cannot sell the concessions. Langdon gives his stock to his daughter Dorothy, who engages Maranelli and Sawdust Sam to help her. Maranelli soon disposes of the concessions. Trent, in an endeavor to force Dorothy to sign over her stock to him, takes her prisoner. He also instructs one of his henchman to wreck the plant used to furnish light for the opening night of the park. In making the connection from the main power plant to the park plant, Sam sees Dorothy imprisoned. He notifies Maranelli, who rescues Dorothy. She makes Maranelli and Sam her partners and agrees to give her hand to Maranelli in matrimony.

Cast

Preservation

An incomplete print of ''The Live Wire'' is held by 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 ...

and

George Eastman Museum Motion Picture Collection The George Eastman Museum Motion Picture Collection in Rochester, New York comprises about 28,000 titles, including features, shorts, documentaries, newsreels, and experimental moving images. The collection is renowned for its holdings of silent f ...

.Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: ''The Live Wire''
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References

External links

* * 1925 films 1920s English-language films Silent American comedy films 1925 comedy films First National Pictures films American silent feature films American black-and-white films 1920s American films {{silent-film-stub