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Voidsville Follies

Works featuring "ex-con" (5)

The Ex-Convict

Edwin S. Porter (director)
Robert Hilliard (author)
Edwin Holland (author)
Edison (production)

Language: Silent, English titles, released in Dec 1904
Minutes: 10

Message: Social problems of the working class can only be resolved for certain individuals - and only when that serves the interest of some middle-class individual.

Featured elements:

: ex-con; family; home invasion; prejudice; rescue; social commentary; unemployment

Alias Jimmy Valentine

Maurice Tourneur (director)
O. Henry (author)
Robert Warwick (lead)
Ruth Shepley (lead)
Johnny Hines (lead)
Peerless (production)

Language: Silent, English titles, released in Feb 1915
Minutes: 65

Despite the staunchly corny story of redemption, this is redeemed by its inventive proto-noir visuals (and a "haunted by the past" plot that would become a noir theme), colorful characters, and a story full of nuances yet told with very few title cards. Also includes Sing Sing prison yard scenes that appear authentic, as several prisoners can clearly be seen to be hiding their faces from the camera.

Featured elements:

: action; antihero; comic sidekick; crime; death scene; detective; ex-con; gentleman thief; noir; prison; redemption; rescue; romance; sidekick; train

Blind Justice

Benjamin Christensen (director/lead/writer)
Johan Ankerstjerne (cinematographer)

Language: Silent, English titles, released in Sep 1916
Minutes: 100

Intertitle: "...A new clue...those words had an ominous sound to Mr. Wilken". Then, about 15 seconds later, the next intertitle: "...A new clue...those words seem to burn". And it painfully drags on like this, every scene taking twice the time needed (when half the scenes were not needed at all) in this 100-minute remake of the 6-minute "Physician Of The Castle" (1908), that simply adds 94 minutes of bloated backstory.

Featured elements:

: alienation; antihero; crime; death scene; distress call; ex-con; falsely accused; family; flashback; home invasion; invasion-call-rescue; melodrama; psycho; rescue; revenge; treachery

Judex: Prologue

Louis Feuillade (director/writer)
Arthur Bernède (writer)
André Glatti (cinematographer)
Léon Klausse (cinematographer)
René Cresté (lead)
Yvette Andréyor (lead)
Musidora (lead)
Louis Leubas (lead)
Marcel Lévesque (lead)
Jean Devalde (lead)
Gaumont (production)

Language: Silent, English titles, released in Jan 1917
Minutes: 35

WATCH THIS FIRST! This prologue not only introduces the characters, but lays out important elements in the plot scheme. I'd already watched the first episode before I found this, and regretted it.
Highlights:

The more natural acting styles of Musidora and Louis Leubas
The comic flair of the unidentified actor that played Jonas the office assistant.

Featured elements:

: automobile; business; comedy; comic sidekick; crime; detective; ex-con; family; femme fatale; metatheatre; prejudice; servitude; sidekick; swindling

The Pearl Necklace (一串珍珠)

C. Y. Lee/李澤源 (director)
Hou Yao/侯曜 (writer)
Guy de Maupassant (author)
P. L. Chan/程沛霖 (cinematographer)
Harding Louie/雷夏電 (lead)
H. June Liu/劉漢鈞 (lead)
Liu Ji-Qun/劉繼群 (lead)
E. E. Dick/翟綺綺 (lead)
Great Wall Film/上海長城畫片 (production)

Language: Silent, Chinese and English titles, released in Jan 1926
Minutes: 102

A rather lifeless morality tale adapted from the 1888 short story “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, warning of the perils of vanity, that is brightened only by its lavish set designs.

Featured elements:

: crime; ex-con; family; fighting; flashback; melodrama; prison; redemption; social commentary; treachery; unemployment

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