Vanity Fair (1911 film) explained

Vanity Fair
Director:	Charles Kent
Starring:	Helen Gardner Leo Delaney Rose E. Tapley
Studio:	Vitagraph Studios
Country:	United States
Language:	Silent (English intertitles)

Vanity Fair is a 1911 silent film adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's 1848 novel of the same name. Produced by Vitagraph Studios, it was one of the company's first three-reel productions, along with A Tale of Two Cities (1911).

Plot

^[1]

Cast

Vanity Fair reportedly made use of Vitagraph's entire company of stock players. The following cast members are named by The Moving Picture World:^[2]

• Helen Gardner as Becky Sharpe
• William V. Ranous as Lord Steyne
• Harry Northrup as Rawdon Crawley
• Alec B. Francis as Pitt Crawley
• John Bunny as Jos Sedley^[3]
• Leo Delaney as George Osborne
• Tefft Johnson as Captain Dobbin
• Kate Price as Miss Crawley
• William Shea as Sir Pitt Crawley
• Charles Kent as John Sedley
• B. F. Clinton as Mrs. Sedley
• Rose E. Tapley as Amelia Sedley

Production

The Moving Picture World reported in October 1911 that the film was nearly completed.^{[4] [5]} The film was directed by Charles Kent.^[6]

Release and reception

The film was released on December 19, 1911. In contrast to A Tale of Two Cities (1911), all three reels of Vanity Fair were released on the same day.

According to The Moving Picture World, the film "comes nearer to being a flawless adaptation than anything else that has appeared in moving pictures".^[2]

Vitagraph continued making three-reelers based on classic literature throughout the 1910s.

References

• Book: Pointer, Michael . Charles Dickens on the Screen: The Film, Television, and Video Adaptations . . 1996 . 0-8108-2960-6 .
• Book: Slide . Anthony . Gevinson . Alan . The Big V: A History of the Vitagraph Company . revised . Scarecrow Press . 1987 . 0-8108-2030-7 .
• Book: Uricchio . Pearson . Roberta E. . Reframing Culture: The Case of the Vitagraph Quality Films . . 1993 . 0-691-04774-X.

External links

• • Vanity Fair at Letterboxd
• Vanity Fair at the Silent Film Still Archive

Notes and References

1. Licensed Film Stories: Vanity Fair . . December 16, 1911 . 920 .
2. Reviews of Notable Films: 'Vanity Fair' (Vitagraph) . The Moving Picture World . December 16, 1911 . 886–87 .
3. News: Classics of Fiction Being Popularized by the Movies . . New York . May 28, 1916 . Sec. 4, p. 7.
4. Vitagraph Doings . The Moving Picture World . October 7, 1911 . 47 .
5. Working Far Ahead . The Moving Picture World . October 21, 1911 . 194 .
6. Web site: Vanity Fair (1911) | BFI . . October 1, 2018.