Elettra (Original)
1909
Alternative Titles
N/ABFI identifier
523Synopsis
From the Greek myth. Agamemnon lies dying, murdered by his wife Clytemnestra. Before he is sent away from the palace, Orestes is begged by his sister Elektra to avenge their father one day. She waits ten years for him. On his return, she takes him to where Clytemnestra is sleeping. As he deliberates, armed guards force their way in. Orestes defeats them in swordplay and then kills his mother. Next, he kills her lover Aegisthus. Elektra and Orestes display the two dead bodies to the crowd outside the palace. (565ft)
- Production Country: USA
- Production Company: Aquila production
- BFI Category: N/A
- Source: N/A
Cast
Mary Fuller: Elektra
Among the extras is Florence Turner. NB Maurice Costello is mentioned in sources such as Silent Era, but older sources don't mention him and neither Steve Massa nor Ivo Blom have recognized him in the film.
Credits
Director: J. Stuart Blackton. Production: The Vitagraph Co. of America. Released 8 April 1910.
Original length: 942 feet./ 301 m.
Source: http://www.silentera.com/PSFL//data/E/Elektra1910.html; Davide Turconi, Paolo Cherchi Usai, 'Filmografia: La produzione Vitagraph da 1905 a 1916', in: Paolo Cherchi Usai ed., Vitagraph Co. of America. Il cinema prima di Hollywood (Pordenone: Edizioni Studio Tesi, 1987), p. 465.
Film Technical Information
- Original Length: 265 m
- Length of BFI Viewing Print: 563 ft
- Support: Viewable
- Black and White
- Format: 35 mm
Comments on the print:
Analysis pending as part of a cluster of 'Greek' films.
Source for original length: Aldo Bernardini, Il cinema muto italiano 1905-1909 (1996), p. 285. The BFI print appears to be unique.