''The New Disciple'' is a 1921 American

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, 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) ...

directed by

Ollie Sellers Ollie L. Sellers (born Oliver Sellers in 1885) was an American film director. Before becoming a director he was a production manager at Triangle Film Corporation. He worked with Gloria Swanson. He wrote the screenplay adapted from a novel and di ...

and produced by labor organization the Federal Film Corporation in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. It was the most widely viewed labor film of this period, with over one million viewers in the year of its release. The film featured Alfred Allen,

Norris Johnson ''For the publisher and activist see Buzz Johnson'' Norris Johnson (1898 - 1971) was an actress in silent films in the U.S. She had supporting roles in various films and also had lead roles in Thomas H. Ince and Samuel Goldwyn productions. Filmog ...

, and

Pell Trenton Pell Trenton (born William T. Baker; August 29, 1883 – March 3, 1924) was an actor in theater and Hollywood films during the silent film era. He was popular and had leading roles. Background Pell Trenton was born August 29, 1883, in New Y ...

. The

included titles from Woodrow Wilson's 1913 '' New Freedom'' and told the story of a war veteran and a corrupt capitalist war profiteer.

directed the anti-

open shop An open shop is a place of employment at which one is not required to join or financially support a union ( closed shop) as a condition of hiring or continued employment. Open shop vs closed shop The major difference between an open and closed ...

film which was an indictment of the American plan. Promotions for the film called for union members to "wait" on their film exchanges to show the film. Film production was supervised by John Arthur Nelson who wrote the story which was published at the same time. William Piggott wrote the screenplay. The film was made in Los Angeles.

Cast

Margaret Mann Margaret Mann (4 April 1868, in Aberdeen, Scotland – 4 February 1941, in Los Angeles, California), was a Scottish-American actress. Biography Margaret Mann starred in a number of major silent films such as '' Black Beauty'' in 1921 and play ...

* Alfred Allen *

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among ...

* Arthur Hall

References

1921 films American silent feature films American black-and-white films Films directed by Oliver L. Sellers 1920s American films {{Silent-film-stub