Checkers (1919 film) explained

Checkers
Director:Richard Stanton[1]
Producer:William Fox
Based On:The screenplay 'Checkers' by Henry Blossom
Studio:Fox Film Corp.
Runtime:7 reels
Country:United States
Language:English

Checkers is a 1919 American silent melodrama film, directed by Richard Stanton. There are no known archival holdings of the film, so it is presumably a lost film.[2] The film is based on the screenplay with the same name by Henry Blossom. Mazie LaShelle Hunt and Marjorie Seely Blossom, the widows of Kirke La Shelle and Henry Blossom respectively, filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court against Fox Film regarding the sale of the film.[3]

Cast list

[4]

Reception

The Film Daily gave it a positive review in July 1920, stating that it as a whole was a "Good, old-fashioned racing meller that contained thrills a-plenty, heart interest, and all the other elements that should make it go ver big; well-acted and well-produced.".Photoplay also gave it a positive review, writing that it "[...] has a speed that never lets down, an electric sort of thrill in its most exciting episodes, and its heroics are of the style that recall those days when we shuffled our feet among the peanut-shells on the gallery floor and nearly fell over the rail whenever the heroine was in peril."[5]

By October 1919, the film had been seen by over 1,540,000 people, and had been shown 700 times in New York alone.[6]

Notes and References

  1. News: Famous Racing Meller Scores on Screen. Has Many Thrills.. May 4, 2020 . The Film Daily. July 28, 1919.
  2. Web site: Checkers / Richard Stanton [motion picture] ]. Library of Congress . 2019-12-27.
  3. Web site: In the Courts. May 4, 2020 . The Film Daily. December 22, 1919.
  4. Web site: "Checkers" (Fox). May 4, 2020 . Motion Picture News. August 9, 1919.
  5. News: The Month in Brief:. May 4, 2020 . Photoplay. November 1919.
  6. News: Figures. May 4, 2020 . The Film Daily. July 28, 1919.