Contributor
The Kalem Film Company of America
Films related to The Kalem Film Company of America
His Mother
A wealthy American tourist couple happen upon a talented violinist, Terence, and his mother in a small cottage in rural Ireland. Terence grasps the opportunity and, thanks to his mother’s meagre savings, leaves his peasant roots in Ireland for the bright lights of the New York stage. He thrives in New York society but, back in Ireland, his pining mother is encouraged by the local priest to join him. She finally arrives at a concert Terence is playing in Carnegie Hall. Like the earlier The Lad From Old Ireland, this film was also shot on two continents in rural and urban locations and aboard a transatlantic liner in between, adding visual variety and authenticity to the tale.
The Lad From Old Ireland
Terry (Sidney Olcott) , a poor Irish farmer, dreams of a better life and is tired of working the land. He decides to head west to build a better, more prosperous future in the USA. He bids farewell to his darling Aileen (Gene Gauntier) but promises he will return to her some day when he has made his fortune. In New York he finds work on a building site and quickly establishes himself in New York society until he eventually enters politics and becomes the mayor of the city’s Tammany Hall. Meanwhile, Aileen pines for him and, with little money left to her name, is soon to face eviction. Terry is faced with a decision – to forfeit all he has achieved in America to return home and help his beloved in her hour of need. With sequences filmed in Ireland and in the United States (and indeed on board ship in between), this film is widely acknowledged as the first film ever made on two continents and is also regarded as the first film made by an American production company outside the USA.
You Remember Ellen
Adapted by Kalem scenarist Gene Gauntier from the Thomas Moore poem of the same title, You Remember Ellen is a romantic drama of love across the economic divide. A humble, hard-working farmer’s daughter (Gauntier) lives a simple life until she happens upon a handsome young man on a country road. They fall in love, marry and live at first in her modest family home. However, when it is time to visit his homestead, she discovers her new husband isn’t quite the man she thought. The film shares the picturesque surroundings of Killarney, Co. Kerry which were a significant part of the appeal to US emigrant audiences.
The Colleen Bawn
The Colleen Bawn is an ambitious story which evolves from a simple rural tale to a complex narrative of social status, love, murder and deception. The film is inspired by the true events of the 1819 murder of 15 year-old Ellen Scanlan in Co. Clare, and based on the 1860 play of the same name by Dion Boucicoult. On the brink of financial disaster, Mrs Cregan hatches a plan to regain her social status and wealth through an arranged marriage of her son, Hardress. His heart longs for a poor farmer’s daughter (The Colleen Bawn) and they decide to marry in secret. However, realising the impact this marriage has on his family’s fortune, he plans to free himself from this union by having his bride killed. The film uses the beautiful rural locations of Co. Kerry to great advantage.
Rory O’More
Inspired by the character of Sir Rory O’Moore, leader of the 1641 Rebellion, this short drama re-imagines the dramatic story of Rory O’More’s (sic). The film depicts his capture and escape from British soldiers, and locates it in the Lakes of Killarney in 1798. Rory flees from English soldiers after he is betrayed by an informer, Black William. He escapes thanks to the help of his sweetheart Kathleen, who distracts the officer in command with her feminine charm. He heads to the hills and then to the lakes with soldiers in hot pursuit. When he sees that one of the soldiers is in trouble he abandons his opportunity to escape and returns to save the soldier from drowning. He is captured, imprisoned and sentenced to death. On the scaffold he declares ‘If to fight for Ireland be a crime, then I am guilty’. Black William demands the reward for his capture. But all is not lost. A sympathetic priest, Father O’Brien, loosens Rory’s bonds on the scaffold and he escapes to meet Kathleen and sail off to a new life in America. The film, like the songs, poems and plays composed in his honour, celebrates the many deeds of valour and acts of kindness attributed to one of Ireland’s great rebels.