A Child for Sale
| A Child for Sale | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Ivan Abramson |
| Produced by | Ivan Abramson |
| Written by | Ivan Abramson |
| Starring | Gladys Leslie, Creighton Hale |
| Cinematography | Louis Dunmyre |
Production company |
Graphic Films Corp. |
| Distributed by | Graphic Films Corp. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 6 reels (approximately 60 minutes) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
A Child for Sale is a 1920 American silent drama film directed by Ivan Abramson, starring Gladys Leslie and Creighton Hale.[1]
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.[2]
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
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The ad campaign for the film included a faux advertisement for selling a child.[3][4][5]
Reception
Critic Burns Mantle noted some shortcomings of the film in his review of the "melodramatic opus" in Photoplay,[6] 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."[2]
References
- ↑ (24 October 1920). "A Child For Sale" to be the Attraction For the Entire Week Starting Tomorrow, The Delmarvia Star
- 1 2 (24 March 1920). A Child for Sale (review), New York Clipper
- ↑ (25 June 1920). A Child for Sale (theatre advertisement), Tulsa World
- ↑ (22 September 1920). By the Way, The Outlook (New York)
- ↑ (29 October 1920). A Child for Sale (ad), Reading Eagle
- ↑ The Shadow Stage, Photoplay (June 1920)
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to A Child for Sale. |