Smashing Barriers Explained

Smashing Barriers
Director:	William Duncan
Producer:	Vitagraph Company of America
Based On:	screen story by Albert E. Smith and Cyrus Townsend Brady
Starring:	William Duncan Edith Johnson
Distributor:	Vitagraph Company of America
Runtime:	15 chapters
Country:	United States
Language:	Silent (English intertitles)

Smashing Barriers is a lost^[1] 1919 15-part 1919 American film serial directed by and starring William Duncan. It was produced and distributed by the Vitagraph Company of America.

This serial was condensed down to a 6-reel feature and rereleased by Vitagraph in 1923 under the same title.^[2]

Cast

• William Duncan as Dan Stevens
• Edith Johnson as Helen Cole
• Walter Rodgers as Slicker Williams
• George Stanley as John Stevens
• Fred Darnton as Benjamin Cole
• Slim Cole as Long Tom Brown
• William McCall as Henry Marlin
• Joe Ryan as Wirenail Hedges
• Vincente Howard
• Dorothea Wolbert

Chapters

1. The Test of Courage
2. The Plunge of Death
3. The Tree Hut of Torture
4. The Deed of a Devil
5. The Living Grave
6. Downward to Doom
7. The Fatal Plight
8. The Murder Car
9. The Dynamite Tree
10. Overpowered
11. The Den of Deviltry
12. Explosive Bullets
13. The Deadfall
14. Trapped Like Rats
15. The Human Chain (alternate title: "The Final Barrier")

Preservation status

• The complete original chapter serial is lost. An incomplete abridgement of the 1923 feature version survives with a private collector.^[3]

External links

• • Lobby poster, color
• Better resolution version of poster

Notes and References

1. http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/S/SmashingBarriers1919.html Smashing Barriers at silentera.com
2. http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=12214 The AFI Catalog of Feature Films -- listing for the 1923 rereleased feature film version from the 1919 serial
3. ..Library of Congress Catalog