Collection search - A Beast at Bay

Record information – Brief

1

A Beast at Bay

Item number (ISN):

265523

Hierarchical level:

Item (Accession level)

Date:

1912-03

Item number (ISN):

265523

Type of material:

Moving images

Found in:

Archives / Film, Video and Sound

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Record information – Details

Fonds/collection:

HISTORICAL FILMS

Accession:

1973-0275

Media:

Film

Original title:

A Beast at Bay

Part:

1 of 1

Production date:

1912-03

Release date:

1912-05-27

Production company:

Biograph Company

Production credit:

director, D.W. Griffith; scenario, George Hennessy; photography, G.W. "Billy" Bitzer

Cast credit:

Mary Pickford, Lottie Pickford, Edwin August, Alfred Paget, Frank Grandon, Charles Hill Mailes, Henry "Pathé" Lehrman

Country of production:

us

Description:

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After a young man refuses to be provoked by an abusive tramp his girl (Mary Pickford) tells him she thinks him a coward. She drives him to the railway station and leaves him. Shortly after an escaped convict, who has succeeded in taking both rifle and uniform from a pursuing guard, gets into her car and forces her to help his escape. Seeing that something is amiss, the young man joins the pursuing guards and with their help commandeers a steam locomotive to give chase. The track runs parallel to the road and the chase is presented with the cross cutting for which Griffith was noted. However, the locomotive (of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad) fails to catch the fleeing car. Other guards stop two bloods in a roadster, climb into the dicky, and in turn give chase. The convict abandons the car and, with the girl, takes refuge in a deserted cabin in the woods. Here, uncharacteristically, the film permits itself an intertitle which neither advances nor explains the plot: The convict says, "Huh! You with your silk curls and fine clothes, me striped canvas" as he examines her clothes. He then starts firing at his pursuers who have reached the edge of the clearing where the cabin is located. Now the young man makes his way across the clearing under rifle fire, bursts into the cabin, and overpowers the convict. The guards arrive to take away the convict and the girl sees the young man in a new light. <11mn 4s>

Language:

Silent with English intertitles

Notes:

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1. The running time is based on the measured length of the archives' print calculated at 24 fps.~2. US Copyright 29 May 1912; J169785.~3. The main title card is not the original; the title appears on each intertitle.~4. Assuming D.W. Griffith to be the creator of this film, this material is out of copyright as Griffith died in 1948.

Genre:

DRAMA

Detailed holdings information:

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Vault ISN:

223158

Format:

VIDEO

Location number:

V1 8103-0054

Number of items:

1

Status:

REF

Vault ISN:

301938

Format:

VIDEO

Location number:

13-0211

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

SIL

Duration:

47:00

Made from:

7301-0097

Status:

REF

Vault ISN:

328130

Format:

FILM

Location number:

7301-0097/B

Vault code:

GAT

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

SIL

Stock:

REL PRT

Made from:

DEPOSIT

Status:

REF

Vault ISN:

505068

Format:

VIDEO

Location number:

V1 2009-12-0004

Number of items:

1

Duration:

120:00

Status:

REF

Vault ISN:

983029

Format:

VIDEO

Location number:

V4 2009-12-0010

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

SIL

Status:

MASTER

Vault ISN:

1185921

Format:

VIDEO

Location number:

V4_2009-12-0010.MXF

Number of items:

1

Made from:

V4 2009-12-0010

Status:

MASTER

Vault ISN:

1185922

Format:

VIDEO

Location number:

V4_2009-12-0010.MP4

Number of items:

1

Made from:

V4 2009-12-0010

Status:

REF
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

Open

Consultation copy number:

V1 8103-0054
V1 2009-12-0004

Copyright status:

Copyright expired.

Reproduction access:

with written permission of copyright owner : no donor restrictions~Copyright has expired on all titles except the D.W. Griffith material.~Assuming director D.W. Griffith to be the creator, the D.W. Griffith material should be clear of copyright restrictions January 1, 1999: Griffith died in 1948.~Kemp Niver died in 1996.~Historical Films is now defunct.

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