"The Boy Detective" (1908)

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Out Yonder 1919 The Woman God Forgot 1917 That Model from Paris 1926 For Better for Worse 1919 Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall 1924

OUR DOCUMENTARY

We are proud to present to all silent film lovers our multiple award-winning documentary! In March 2015 it won the distinction "Award of Merit" at the San Francisco Film Awards. In May it won the Silver Award at the 2015 International Independent Film Awards. In September 2015 it won the Award of Recognition at the Accolade Global Film Competition. Of equal merit is the inclusion of the documentary in the Official Selection of the San Jose International Short Film Festival in October 2015. In December the documentary won the extremely prestigious Diamond Award at the 2015 California Film Awards. The amazing run of recognition for our documentary continued in 2016. In February it was included in the Official Selection of the Buffalo Niagara International Film Festival.

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Robert Harron and the newspaper boy, who will become the boy detective

Directed by       Wallace McCutcheon
Cinematography by       Billy Bitzer
Starring       unknown (the newspaper boy), Robert Harron (the messenger boy), Edward Dillon
Distributed by       Biograph Company
Release date    March 11, 1908
Country       United States
Running time          5 m.

This film is part of our series 'Hidden Gems'. It can be watched by registered users who make a donation. For more details, please click here.

"The Boy Detective, or The Abductors Foiled" is a short crime drama. The film is included in our program to illustrate the work of our stars Robert Harron and Billy Bitzer.

This is the earliest surviving film with Robert Harron that we have. He was one month short of 15 y.o. Robert Harron plays the messenger boy, as was often the case in his first roles. Thus, we can glance at the humble beginning of his illustrious career, which would take him to star roles in such masterpieces as "Intolerance" (1916) and "True Heart Susie" (1919), to mention just a couple.

We trust that silent film lovers will not judge harshly the quality of the print. Many early films are only available in a paper print format, and we are all very lucky that they have survived the trials of time for us to enjoy.

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Registered users who made the required donation please click here to watch this gem.

Below is a short preview of the film.