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Checkers (1919 film)

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Checkers
Film poster
Directed byRichard Stanton[1]
Written byAdrian Johnson
Based onThe screenplay 'Checkers' by Henry Blossom
Produced byWilliam Fox
Production
company
Fox Film Corp.
Release date
  • August 24, 1919 (1919-08-24)[2]
Running time
7 reels
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Checkers is a 1919 American silent melodrama film, directed by Richard Stanton. There are no known archival holdings of the film, so it is presumably a lost film.[3] The film is based on the screenplay with the same name by Henry Blossom. Mazie LaShelle Hunt and Marjorie Seely Blossom, the widows of Kirke La Shelle and Henry Blossom respectively, filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court against Fox Film regarding the sale of the film.[4]

A scene from the film.

Cast list

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[5]

Reception

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The Film Daily gave it a positive review in July 1920, stating that it as a whole was a "Good, old-fashioned racing meller that contained thrills a-plenty, heart interest, and all the other elements that should make it go ver big; well-acted and well-produced.".[1] Photoplay also gave it a positive review, writing that it "[...] has a speed that never lets down, an electric sort of thrill in its most exciting episodes, and its heroics are of the style that recall those days when we shuffled our feet among the peanut-shells on the gallery floor and nearly fell over the rail whenever the heroine was in peril."[6]

By October 1919, the film had been seen by over 1,540,000 people, and had been shown 700 times in New York alone.[7]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Famous Racing Meller Scores on Screen. Has Many Thrills". The Film Daily. July 28, 1919. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  2. ^ ""Checkers" in a Broadway House". Motion Picture News. September 6, 1919. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  3. ^ "Checkers / Richard Stanton [motion picture]". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
  4. ^ "In the Courts". The Film Daily. December 22, 1919. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  5. ^ ""Checkers" (Fox)". Motion Picture News. August 9, 1919. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  6. ^ "The Month in Brief:". Photoplay. November 1919. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  7. ^ "Figures". The Film Daily. July 28, 1919. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
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