The Woman in White (1912 film)

The Woman in White is a 1912 American short silent film based on the 1860 novel of the same name by Wilkie Collins, produced by the Gem Motion Picture Company. Unlike a second film adaptation of The Woman in White produced by the Thanhouser Company the same year, it is not a lost film; a copy is preserved at the George Eastman Museum[1] in Rochester, New York.

The Woman in White
Engagement of Laura (Janet Salisbury)
and Sir Percival (Charles Craig)
Directed byGeorge Nichols
Screenplay byGeorge Edwardes Hall
Based onThe Woman in White
by Wilkie Collins
StarringJanet Salisbury
Charles Perley
Charles Craig
Production
company
Release date
  • October 22, 1912 (1912-10-22) (US)
Running time
Two reels
CountryUnited States

The Thanhouser version was one of the silent films destroyed when their initial studio burned in 1913.

Production

Directed by George Nichols, The Woman in White was produced by Gem,[2]:183 a subsidiary of the newly formed Universal Film Manufacturing Company[3] and released on October 22, 1912.

The cast included Janet Salisbury[4] (Laura Fairlie and The Woman in White), Charles Perley (Walter),[5] Charles Craig (Percival), Alec Frank (Fosco), Viola Alberti (Countess Fosco) and Lyman Rabbe (Pesca).[2]:208 The story was adapted by George Edwardes Hall.[6]

Thanhouser Company production

Simultaneously, the Thanhouser Company was producing its own two-reel adaptation of The Woman in White, starring Marguerite Snow (Laura, Anne), James Cruze (Percival) and William Garwood (Walter). The screenplay was written by Lloyd F. Lonergan.[2]:208 Release dates were announced to the press and changed several times as the two companies competed for the first release. In the end, Thanhouser was able to deliver its film on October 20, 1912—two days before Gem.[2]:183–184

A summary of the plot of The Woman in White appeared in the November 1912 issue of The Motion Picture Story Magazine, accompanied by six still photographs from the Gem production. The photographs are captioned as they appear in the magazine.[6]

  • Walter Hartridge, Artist
  • The Engagement
  • The Conspiracy
  • The Wedding
  • The Abduction
  • The Death of Sir Percival

References
  1. George Eastman Museum Motion Picture Holdings Catalog. The archive possesses a 16mm acetate positive print from which a 35mm polyester negative and projection print were made in 2016.
  2. Laird, Karen E. (2015). The Art of Adapting Victorian Literature, 1848–1920: Dramatizing Jane Eyre, David Copperfield, and The Woman in White. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 9781472424396.
  3. "Studios". Fort Lee Film Commission. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
  4. "Janet Salisbury". BFI Film & TV Database. British Film Institute. Retrieved 2016-08-09.
  5. "Answers to Inquiries". The Motion Picture Story Magazine. January 1913. p. 142. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
  6. "The Woman in White". The Motion Picture Story Magazine. November 1912. pp. 49–56. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
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