Elmer Clifton

Elmer Clifton (March 14, 1890 – October 15, 1949) was an American writer, director and actor from the early silent days. A collaborator of D.W. Griffith, he appeared in The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916) before giving up acting in 1917 to concentrate on work behind the camera, with Griffith and Joseph Henabery as his mentors. His first feature-length solo effort as a director was The Flame of Youth with Jack Mulhall.

Elmer Clifton
1917
Born	March 14, 1890 Toronto
Died	October 15, 1949 (aged 59) Los Angeles
Other names	Elmer Forsyth
Occupation	Film director, screenwriter and actor
Years active	1912–1950

Clifton honed his talents during the late 1910s, directing vehicles for Mulhall and Herbert Rawlinson at Universal and then for Dorothy Gish for Famous Players-Lasky. Two of his projects with Gish, Nobody Home and Nugget Nell, featured performances from pre-stardom Rudolph Valentino. Most of this early output has been lost.[1] He was the first filmmaker to discover the talents of Clara Bow, whom he cast in Down to the Sea in Ships, released on March 4, 1923.[2] The independently produced film was well reviewed for its visual authenticity.

During the 1920s, Clifton directed films for several different studios. During the filming of The Warrens of Virginia (1924) for Fox Film Corporation, lead actress Martha Mansfield suffered a fatal accident from burns when her costume caught fire. Clifton directed The Wreck of the Hesperus for Cecil B. deMille's production company, and filmed on location in the Grand Canyon for The Bride of the Colorado. He also directed some Technicolor short films, including Manchu Love with an all-Asian cast.[3]

In the sound era, Clifton wrote and directed many poverty row Westerns and "exploitation" classics, among them the anti-marijuana polemic Assassin of Youth (1937). He also directed the vice films Gambling with Souls (1936), Slaves in Bondage (1937) and City of Missing Girls (1941), all of which portrayed addiction and white slavery to some degree. His last film was Not Wanted (1949), which was finished by producer Ida Lupino when Clifton became ill and was unable to work anymore. He died in 1949 of a cerebral hemorrhage shortly after the film's release.

Selected filmography

Director

Year	Title
1917	High Speed
	Flirting with Death
	The Flame of Youth
	The High Sign
	The Man Trap
	Her Official Fathers
	The Midnight Man
	A Stormy Knight
1918	Hearts of the World
	Battling Jane
	Brace Up
	The Guilt of Silence
	The Eagle
	The Flash of Fate
	Kiss or Kill
	The Two-Soul Woman
	Smashing Through
	Winner Takes All
1919	Peppy Polly
	I'll Get Him Yet
	Boots
	Nugget Nell
1922	Down to the Sea in Ships
1923	Six Cylinder Love
1926	Wives at Auction
1926	The Virgin Wife
1928	Tropical Nights
1928	Beautiful But Dumb
1929	The Devil's Apple Tree
1935	Pals of the Range
	Cyclone of the Saddle
1943	Days of Old Cheyenne
1944	Gangsters of the Frontier
1946	Swing, Cowboy, Swing
1949	Not Wanted
1949	The Judge
1949	Red Rock Outlaw
1950	The Silver Bandit

Actor

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1912	An Assisted Elopement	Young Tom Richmond
1914	John Barleycorn	Jack, 3rd period
	Martin Eden	Cub reporter
	Burning Daylight: The Adventures of 'Burning Daylight' in Alaska	Charley Bates
1915	The Birth of a Nation	Phil - Stoneman's Elder Son
	Strathmore	Marc
	The Fox Woman	Marashida
	The Lily and the Rose	Allison Edwards
	The Sable Lorcha	Clyde
1916	The Missing Links	Horace Gaylord
	Acquitted	Ned Fowler
	The Little School Ma'am	Wilbur Howard
	Intolerance	The Rhapsode
	The Old Folks at Home	Steve Coburn
1917	Nina, the Flower Girl	Jimmie
1919	The Fall of Babylon	The Rhapsode	(final film role)

References

1. Golden, Eve; Golden Images: 41 Essays on Silent Film Stars; Jefferson: McFarland & Co; p 40. Web August 17th, 2012
2. "Real life story of Clara Bow", in sixteen parts, by Louella Parsons, published by San Antonio light, May 15 - June 4, 1931
3. Slide, Anthony; Silent Topics: Essays On Undocumented Areas Of Silent Film; Scarecrow Press; p. 37; Web August 17th, 2012

External links

• Elmer Clifton at IMDb
• Elmer Clifton at Find a Grave