A ROBERT BUCHANAN FILMOGRAPHY

Several of Buchanan’s works were adapted for the cinema during the early silent period. I came across the following passage from Alexis Weedon’s Victorian Publishing: The Economics of Book Publishing for a Mass Market 1836-1916 which gives a brief explanation of how this came about.

     “An opportune change in the copyright law in 1911 extended the right from seven to 50 years after the author’s death. Ouida’s and Collins’ copyrights - at least those owned by the publishers - became more valuable assets. The evidence in the agreement files suggests Chatto & Windus gradually came to see the film industry as a source of revenue. Originally it was not clear to the firm whether film rights were included in general book copyright or were part of performing rights - many of which they did not own - and they sought legal opinion. One incident aptly illustrates how Chatto & Windus were in a position to take advantage of the burgeoning film industry. On 22 November 1915, B. Nicholls of the M. P. Sales film agency wrote to Chatto & Windus enclosing royalties for a film of Ouida’s Under Two Flags. In what may be one of the earliest film tie-ins, Nicholls suggested the agency send the publishers a list of the bookings so that Chatto ‘could interest the local booksellers throughout the kingdom with one of your cheap editions’ (letter in agreements file). Obviously, opportunities to work with agencies such as M. P. Sales’ were to be seized upon. Nicholls indicated in his letter to Chatto & Windus that the agency was ‘always looking for new material’ and he would be ‘pleased to forward any suggestions you desire to my two American producers’, who, he said, were ‘putting out between them an average of ten subjects weekly’. So Chatto & Windus took the opportunity to recommend a range of their most popular novelists and Nicholls picked out the names of Robert Buchanan, Edward Dyson, Frank Barrett, Dick Donovan, W. Clark Russell, and Thomas Hardy.
     These authors illustrate the type of agreements and extent of the revenue Chatto & Windus received from selling film rights and options. At the time of Nicholls’ letter Buchanan (d. 1901) and Clark Russell (d. 1911) were already dead and the firm made arrangements with their heirs for the division of any monies that might become payable. In the case of Buchanan, British Cinema Productions tied up the film rights to all of his novels in April 1915; Harriet Jay, his collaborator and sister-in-law was the beneficiary and Chatto & Windus divided the proceeds with her. The contract stipulated that British Cinema Productions ‘agree to produce films of at least two of the said works each year from 31st May 1915’ or else the agreement lapsed. It appears they failed to meet the terms as by 1920 further offers were being made for Buchanan’s works, and throughout the 1920s Harriet Jay and Chatto & Windus irregularly received small sums for film royalties.”

(From Victorian Publishing: The Economics of Book Publishing for a Mass Market 1836-1916 by Alexis Weedon (Ashgate 2003) p. 152)

I doubt whether this agreement included Alone in London since Buchanan had sold the copyright long before his death. All the films, bar one, were made in England (although Alone in London had an American star in Florence Turner, “The Vitagraph Girl”, and as far as I know no copies have survived. The one exception is La Donna e l’uomo, which is Italian, and a restored copy of which was shown in 1996 at the La Rochelle International Film Festival.

The following information is courtesy of  IMDB and the British Film Institute:

FRA GIACONE (1913)
(based on the poem, Fra Giacomo)
Produced by Eric Williams Speaking Pictures
Starring Eric Williams as The Count

PHIL BLOOD’S LEAP (1913)
Directed by Wilfred Noy
Produced by Clarendon
Length: 1000 feet.
(This title does not appear in either the imdb or BFI databases, however it is listed on the Complete Index To World Film site.)

ALONE IN LONDON (1915)
(based on the play by Buchanan and Harriett Jay)
Directed by Larry Trimble
Produced by Turner Film Company
Cast:
Florence Turner          Nan Meadows
Henry Edwards           John Biddlecombe
Edward Lingard          Redcliffe
James Lindsay           Chick
Amy Lorraine             Mrs. Burnaby
Format: 35 mm. Length: 5 reels / 4525 feet.
BFI synopsis: “A crook tries to make a thief of his boss's son and ties a flower girl to gate of canal lock.”

[advert from The Scotsman 28th October, 1915]

MASTER AND MAN (1915)
(based on the play, The Trumpet Call, by Buchanan and George R. Sims - US title: THE TRUMPET CALL)
Script by Brian Daly and John East, directed by Percy Nash
Produced by Neptune Film Company
Cast:
Gregory Scott          Cuthbert Cuthbertson
Joan Ritz                  Constance Barton
Douglas Payne         James Redtruth
Daisy Cordell           Paula Redtruth 
Douglas Cox            Sergeant-Major Milligan
Brian Daly               Stage Manager
Biddy de Burgh       Cuthbert
Jack Denton            Tommy Wicklow
John East                 Professor Ginnifer
Agnes Paulton          Lavinia Ginnifer
Stella St. Audrie       Mrs. Wicklow
Frank Tennant         Richard Featherstone
Cecil Morton York  Sir William Barton
The BFI listing differs slightly from the IMDB entry given above. It is listed as The Trumpet Call, no alternative title is given and there are the following differences in the cast list:
Daisy Cordell           Bertha Redruth (alias “Astraea”)
Douglas Payne         James Redruth
Jack Denton            Tommy Dutton
Agnes Palton            Lavinia Ginnifer
Biddy de Burgh        Little Cuthbert
John M. East           Professor Ginnifer
The BFI also gives the following synopsis of the plot:
“A rich man’s wife elopes with a squire who subsequently deserts her. She dies in church while he remarries.”

THE CHARLATAN (1916)
(based on the play)
Script by Austin Fryers, directed by Sidney Morgan
Produced by Famous Authors
Cast:
Eille Norwood            Dr. O'Kama
Violet Graham           Isobel Arlington
Anna Mather             Madame Obnowsky
Frederick de Lara     Earl of Wansborough
Ernest A. Dagnall     Colonel Arlington
R. van Courtland       Lord Dewsbury
Format: 35 mm. Length: 5 reels / 4363 feet.
BFI synopsis: “A fake occultist, reformed by a colonel’s daughter, saves an earl from his ex-partner.”

GOD AND THE MAN (1918)
(based on the novel)
Script by Eliot Stannard, directed by Edwin J. Collins
Produced by Ideal Film Company
Cast:
IMDB version:
Langhorn Burton        Christiansen
Joyce Carey               Priscilla Sefton
Bert Wynne                Richard Christiansen
Edith Craig                  Dame Christiansen
Sybil Arundale            Kate Orchardson
Henry Vibart               Mr. Sefton
Nelson Ramsey          Squire Christiansen
E. Vivian Reynolds     John Wesley
BFI version:
Bert Wynne                Richard Orchardson
J. Nelson Ramsey      Squire Christianson
Jeff Barlow                 Squire Orchardson
Edith Craig                 Dame Christianson
Sybil Arundale            Kate
Langhorne Burton      Christianson
Joyce Carey               Priscilla Sefton
Henry Vibart              Mr. Sefton
E. Vivian Reynolds    John Wesley
Format: 35 mm Film. Length: 6935 feet.
BFI synopsis: “1745: Melodrama of a family feud and the effect on the younger members.”

MATT (1918)
(based on the novel)
Script by Rowland Talbot, directed by A. E. Coleby
Produced by I. B. Davidson & Tiger
Cast:
Greta MacDonald        Matt
A.E. Coleby                 Charles Brinkley
Ernest A. Douglas        Squire Monk
IMDB synopsis: “Devon artist proves a wrecker’s adopted child is an heiress just in time to prevent her unwilling marriage to a crooked squire.”

A MAN’S SHADOW (1920)
(based on Buchanan’s play, adapted from Jules Mary’s Roger la Honte)
Written and directed by Sidney Morgan
Produced by Frank E. Spring for Progress
Cast:
Langhorn Burton          Peter Beresford/Julian Grey
Violet Graham              Vivian Beresford
Gladys Mason               Yolande Hampton
Arthur Lennard             Robert Hampden
J. Denton-Thompson     Williams
Sidney Paxton                Billings
Babs Ronald                  Helen Beresford
Warris Linden                Simon Oppenheim

THE LIGHTS OF HOME (1920) [review]
(based on the play by Buchanan and George R. Sims)
Script by Charles Barnett and  J. Bertram Brown, directed by Fred Paul
Produced by  Screen Plays (The BFI lists the production company as the Master Film Company.)
Cast:
George Foley                Dave Purvis
Nora Hayden                Tress Purvis
Jack Raymond              Mark
Moya Nugent                Sybil Garfield
John Stuart                   Philip Compton
Cecil Morton York        Squire Garfield
Frank Tennant              Arthur Tredgold

THE ENGLISH ROSE (1920)
(based on the play by Buchanan and George R. Sims)
Script by Paul Rooff, directed by Fred Paul
Produced by John Robyns for British Standard
Cast:
Fred Paul                         Father Michael
Humberston Wright        Captain MacDonnell
Sydney Folker                 Harry O'Malley
Mary Morton
Jock Raymond
Amy Brandon Thomas
George Turner
Clifford Desborough

LOVE IN AN ATTIC (1923)
(based on the poem, The Little Milliner)
Script by Eliot Stannard, directed by Edwin Greenwood
Produced by Edward Godal for British & Colonial Kinematograph Company
(No cast details)

BFI synopsis: “Gillian is married to Philip O'Mara, who leaves her and their baby, and goes to Australia. When she meets a rich baron who wishes to marry her, Philip starts persecuting her with letters and requests for money. Gillian almost goes mad and at the last minute Philip is killed, freeing her.”

From The Times (8 May, 1922 - p.5):

     “The newest move in film production has taken the form of a combination of French, Italian, and English producers, who are working on pictures, parts of which are being produced in the three countries. The Film La Grande of Paris has recently completed a film of Oscar Wilde’s story of “Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime,” the principal features of which are scenes taken in various parts of London. The Renaissance Film Company of Rome are now in London making preparations for filming Mr. Robert Buchanan’s “Woman and the Man,” which is to be followed by Sir H. Rider Haggard’s “Jane Haste.” Signor Amato, who is directing the production, is returning to Italy in a few days to take the interior scenes. The object of both French and Italian producers is to make pictures that will unify the tastes and interests of the three nations, and to combine in their productions the best that is in all three in a European atmosphere, as opposed to that of America.”

A restored version of La Donna e l’uomo was shown at the La Rochelle International Film Festival in 1996.

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Three film versions were also made of Harriett Jay’s 1907 play, When Knights Were Bold. Click below for further details.

When Knights Were Bold

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Film Reviews

The Lights of Home from The Times (20 December, 1920 - p.8)

“THE LIGHTS OF HOME”

     The Lights of Home, the new film based on the play by Mr. George R. Sims and Mr. Robert Buchanan, is full of excitements, with one notably fine piece of acting by Mr. George Foley as an old Cornish fisherman, whose daughter has been betrayed by an artist “from London.” The artist then tries to marry the niece of the squire, but is duly frustrated in his schemes and is finally kicked out of the village. But to us the method of production of the film is more interesting than the film itself. To a large extent “studio work” has been done away with. There are very few interior scenes at all, and most of those that there are are laid in humble cottages. The film was taken in the neighbourhood of Fowey, the players being taken to their destination by charabanc. An electrical installation was carried and driven from the charabanc so that when it was not in use for touring purposes it became a generator of power. When a cottage scene was required wires were run into the actual cottage and the scene enacted therein, thus saving the heavy expense of erecting scenes in the studio and ensuring an absolute fidelity to Cornish conditions that could not be obtained by any other means. The results were eminently successful, but all through the film the lighting is one of the strongest points. There are some beautiful sea and sky effects which add considerably to the value of the picture. The weakest point is the acting, apart from that of Mr. George Foley. Some of the efforts in this direction are decidedly amateurish.

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