''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' is a 1914 American silent

historical History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

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. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

William Robert Daly William Robert Daly (born William Robert Dailey; October 24, 1872 – 1935) was an actor and director of silent films. Early life Daly was born on October 24, 1872, in Boston, Massachusetts, as William Robert Dailey. Career He became a "stage ...

using

Vitagraph Vitagraph Studios, also known as the Vitagraph Company of America, was a United States motion picture studio. It was founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York, as the American Vitagraph Company. By 1907 ...

and starring

Sam Lucas Sam Lucas (August 7, 1840 – January 10, 1916) was an American actor, comedian, singer and songwriter. His birth year has also been reported as 1839, 1841, 1848 and 1850. Lucas' career began in blackface minstrelsy, but he later became one of ...

, Walter Hitchcock, and

Hattie Delaro Hattie Delaro (1861 – April 18, 1941) was an American actress. She had a career in theater, then became an actress in silent film in the 1910s and 1920s. Delaro was born in Brooklyn. Delaro debuted on stage in 1881 at Brooklyn's Grand Ope ...

. It was based upon playwright George L. Aiken's theatrical adaptation of

Harriet Beecher Stowe Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American author and Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and wrote the popular novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (185 ...

's 1852 novel ''

Uncle Tom's Cabin ''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two Volume (bibliography), volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans ...

''. It was produced at

Fort Lee, New Jersey Fort Lee is a Borough (New Jersey), borough at the eastern border of Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, situated along the Hudson River atop The Palisades (Hudson River), The Palisades. As of the 2020 Uni ...

by the newly founded World Film studio. The film is historically notable for being the first movie with a black actor playing a leading role. Its PR proclaimed that (unlike earlier versions) it used "real ice, real bloodhounds, real negroes, real actors, real scenes from real life as it really was in the

antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern US ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum architectu ...

days". In 2012, this film was selected for preservation in the United States

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...

by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Cast

as Uncle Tom * Walter Hitchcock as George Shelby *

as Mrs. Shelby * Master Abernathy as George Shelby Jr. * Teresa Michelena as Eliza *

Irving Cummings Irving Cummings (October 9, 1888 – April 18, 1959) was an American movie actor and director. Career Born in New York City, Cummings started his acting career at age 16 in ''Diplomacy (play), Diplomacy''. His Broadway theatre, Broadway, p ...

as George Harris *

Paul Scardon Paul Scardon (6 May 1874 – 17 January 1954) was an actor, a producer, and a director on both Australian and New York stages. When he was 15, Scardon debuted on stage as a contortionist in vaudeville. He progressed from that to pantomime and t ...

as Haley *

Marie Eline Marie Eline (February 27, 1902 – January 3, 1981) was an American silent film child actress and sister of Grace Eline. Their mother was an actress. Eline acted on stage for three years before she acted in films. Nicknamed "The Thanhouser ...

as Little Eva St. Clair * Garfield Thompson as St. Clair *

Roy Applegate Roy Applegate (7 December 1878 – 9 February 1950) was an American actor Background He played Judge Gates in ''The Child of Destiny'' (1916), Opera House Manager in ''The Musician's Daughter'' (1911), Arthur Jepson in ''All for a Girl (1915 fil ...

as Simon Legree * Boots Wall as Topsy

References

Bibliography

* Goble, Alan. ''The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film''. Walter de Gruyter, 1999.

External links

* * *''Uncle Tom’s Cabin'' essa

by Stephen Railton at

* 1914 films 1910s English-language films American silent feature films American black-and-white films World Film Company films Films set in the 19th century 1910s historical drama films American historical drama films Films shot in Fort Lee, New Jersey Uncle Tom's Cabin United States National Film Registry films 1914 drama films Silent American drama films Films directed by William Robert Daly 1910s American films English-language historical drama films Articles containing video clips {{1910s-drama-film-stub