A Child for Sale
A Child for Sale | |
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![]() Film poster | |
Directed by | Ivan Abramson |
Written by | Ivan Abramson |
Produced by | Ivan Abramson |
Starring | Gladys Leslie Creighton Hale |
Cinematography | Louis Dunmyre |
Production company | Graphic Films Corp. |
Distributed by | Graphic Films Corp. |
Release date |
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Running time | 6 reels (approximately 60 minutes) |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
A Child for Sale is a lost[1] 1920 American silent drama film directed by Ivan Abramson, starring Gladys Leslie and Creighton Hale.[2]
Plot
Charles Stoddard (played by Hale) is a poor artist living with his wife and two children in Greenwich Village. Destitute after his wife dies, he is forced to sell one of his children for $1,000 to a childless rich woman. He soon comes to his senses however, and backs out of the deal. From there, the story takes a number of twists and turns involving Ruth Gardner (Leslie) (the wife of Dr. Gardner who treats Stoddard's child for illness) and Ruth's parents -- whose father is also Stoddard's landlord and mother is later revealed to be Stoddard's long-lost mother from a prior marriage.[3]
Cast
- Gladys Leslie as Ruth Gardner
- Creighton Hale as Charles Stoddard
- Bobby Connelly as Walter Stoddard (Charles' son)
- Julia Swayne Gordon as Paula Harrison
- William H. Tooker as William Harrison
- Anna Lehr as Catherine Bell (Dr. Gardner's nurse)
- William B. Davidson as Dr. Gardner
- "Baby" Ruth Sullivan as Sylvia Stoddard (Charles' daughter)
Publicity
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/36/A_Child_for_Sale_%281920_film_ad%29.jpg/195px-A_Child_for_Sale_%281920_film_ad%29.jpg)
The ad campaign for the film included a faux advertisement for selling a child.[4][5][6]
Reception
Critic Burns Mantle noted some shortcomings of the film in his review of the "melodramatic opus" in Photoplay,[7] stating that "Ivan Abramson's idea of what constitutes a coherent and convincing dramatic story, taking this picture as a sample, offer many opportunities for the raucous hoot and the mirthful snort. ...His picture is an inartistic jumble of unrelated incidents to me ..." Other contemporary reviews were of a more non-specific and generally positive nature, such as the review by the New York Clipper which described the picture as "intensely interesting from start to finish."[3]
References
- ^ American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: A Child for Sale
- ^ (October 24, 1920). "A Child For Sale" to be the Attraction For the Entire Week Starting Tomorrow, The Delmarvia Star
- ^ a b (March 24, 1920). A Child for Sale (review), New York Clipper
- ^ (June 25, 1920). A Child for Sale (theatre advertisement), Tulsa World
- ^ (September 22, 1920). By the Way, The Outlook (New York)
- ^ (October 29, 1920). A Child for Sale (ad), Reading Eagle
- ^ The Shadow Stage, Photoplay (June 1920)
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)