USA 1916 B&W
Sound Mix: Silent
Produced by: Selznick Enterprises
7 reels.

Release Date: 15 Oct 1916 
Status: LOST

Directed by: Albert Capellani

Written by Beryl Morhange
from the novel by Robert W. Chambers

Cinematography by
Jacques Montéran 
Hal Young 

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Henri Menessier .... assistant director

Other crew
Lewis J. Selznick .... presenter

The Common Law (1916) Clara Kimball Young Film Corp. Distributor: Lewis J. Selznick Enterprises, Inc; Selznick Pictures. Director: Albert Capellani. Assistant Director: Henri Menessier. Scenario: Beryl Morhange. Camera: Jacques Monteran and Hal Young. Cast: Clara Kimball Young, Conway Tearle, Paul Capellani, Edna Hunter, Lillian Cook, Julia Stuart, Edward M. Kimball, Lydia Knott, D.J. Flanagan. Refined but impoverished woman becomes an artist's model and falls in love with a painter whose parent's don't approve. 7 reels. LOST

Her mother's death leaves Valerie West destitute, so she goes to work as an artist's model and becomes romantically involved with two painters: the unpredictable Querida, who does not believe in marriage, and the wealthy Neville, who wants Valerie for his wife. Stephanie, a young woman who had been engaged to Neville, pleads with Valerie not to marry him, and she agrees, knowing that Neville's parents do not approve of her lower-class background. At a New Year's party Valerie tries to placate Neville by agreeing to spend the night with him on June 1. In the months leading up to June, Valerie kills Querida when he tries to force himself upon her, and Neville's parents, realizing how deeply their son loves Valerie, finally consent to their marriage.

The Common Law
Director: Albert Capellani (Dir)
Release Date: 15 Oct 1916
Duration (in reels): 7
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Cast: Clara Kimball Young (Valerie West)
Conway Tearle (Neville)
Paul Capellani (Querida)
Edna Hunter (Rita)
Lillian Cook (Stephanie)
Julia Stuart (Mrs. Neville)
Edward M. Kimball (Mr. Neville)
Lydia Knott (Mrs. West)
D. J. Flanagan (Ogilvy)
Summary: Her mother's death leaves Valerie West destitute, so she goes to work as an artist's model and becomes romantically involved with two painters: the unpredictable Querida, who does not believe in marriage, and the wealthy Neville, who wants Valerie for his wife. Stephanie, a young woman who had been engaged to Neville, pleads with Valerie not to marry him, and she agrees, knowing that Neville's parents do not approve of her lower-class background. At a New Year's party Valerie tries to placate Neville by agreeing to spend the night with him on June 1. In the months leading up to June, Valerie kills Querida when he tries to force himself upon her, and Neville's parents, realizing how deeply their son loves Valerie, finally consent to their marriage.
Production Company: Clara Kimball Young Film Corp.
Distribution Company: Lewis J. Selznick Enterprises, Inc.; Selznick Pictures
Director: Albert Capellani (Dir)
Henri Menessier (Asst dir)
Producer: Lewis J. Selznick (Pres)
Writer: Beryl Morhange (Scen)
Photography: Jacques Monteran (Cam)
Hal Young (Cam)
Source Text: Based on the novel The Common Law by Robert Chambers (New York, 1911).
Authors: Robert Chambers
Copyright Claimant Copyright Date Copyright Number
Clara Kimball Young Film Corp. 25/9/1916 dd/mm/yyyy LP9169
Physical Properties: b&w:
Si:

Genre: Drama

Subjects (Major): Class distinction
Marriage
Models
Painters (Of paintings)
Self-sacrifice

Subjects (Minor): Attempted rape
New Year's Eve
Parties
Self-defense
Note: This was the first film produced by the Clara Kimball Young Film Corp. Selznick Pictures remade The Common Law in 1923, with Corinne Griffith. (See AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30 ; F2.0987.) RKO Pathé did a sound remake in 1931, directed by Paul L. Stein and starring Constance Bennett.
Bibliographic Sources: Date Page
Motog 7 Oct 16 p. 838.
MPN 7 Oct 16 p. 2229.
MPN 16 Dec 16 p. 3847.
MPW 19 Feb 16 p. 28.
NYDM 30 Sep 16 p. 30.
Variety 29 Sep 16 p. 24.

Clara Kimball Young .... Valerie West
Conway Tearle .... Neville
Paul Capellani .... Querida
Edna Hunter .... Rita
Lillian Cook .... Stephanie
Julia Stuart .... Mrs. Neville
Edward Kimball .... Mr. Neville (as Edward M. Kimball)
Lydia Knott .... Mrs. West
D.J. Flanagan .... Ogilvy
Barry Whitcomb

rest of cast listed alphabetically

Charles Craig
Edmund Mortimer

The Common Law (1916) Clara Kimball Young Film Corp. Distributor: Lewis J. Selznick Enterprises, Inc; Selznick Pictures. Director: Albert Capellani. Assistant Director: Henri Menessier. Scenario: Beryl Morhange. Camera: Jacques Monteran and Hal Young. Cast: Clara Kimball Young, Conway Tearle, Paul Capellani, Edna Hunter, Lillian Cook, Julia Stuart, Edward M. Kimball, Lydia Knott, D.J. Flanagan. Refined but impoverished woman becomes an artist's model and falls in love with a painter whose parent's don't approve. 

Synopsis:   The Common Law  proved a major step upward in the career of Clara Kimball Young. Young plays a woman of wealth who is left penniless when her mother dies. Supporting herself as an illustrator's model, Young is forced to defend herself against a hotblooded Spanish artist (Paul Cappelani), and to briefly, and tearfully, distance herself from the man she truly loves. Based on a novel of the same title by Robert W. Chambers, The Common Law  was filmed three times. The 1923 version starred Corinne Griffith, while the 1931 talkie adaptation top-billed Constance Bennett. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
 

Lewis J. Selznick has released the first of the Clara Kimball Young pictures, a seven reeler entitled "The Common Law," from the book of the same title by Robert W. Chambers, directed by Albert Capellani. From an artistic standpoint the picture is very well done, following the story of the book so closely that it contains all the weakness of the original novel as well as all the strong punches, and to Mr. Capellani must be given credit for having achieved an exceedingly artistic production from the scenic, lighting and acting standpoint. A splendid cast was assembled to support the acting of Miss Young, who played the stellar role with distinction. But the picture in itself is too long from the exhibitors' standpoint. It ran just a little longer than an hour and three-quarters at the private showing which was given at the St. Regis Hotel last week. But for that matter nearly all seven-reel pictures are too long for the big business possibilities of the usual exhibitor, and in the case of "The Common Law there are several scenes that could be cut out entirely, not only as an aid to the picture itself, but as a help to the story. It would be a simple matter to cut at least a thousand feet from the picture, and this would speed up the action, which at times is draggy and help the picture from the exhibitor's standpoint by shortening the running time. At the very start of the picture there is entirely too much cutting back and forth in the scenes leading up to the real action of the pictures's plot. Valerie West (Clara Kimball Young) is a girl of refinement and education who left practically destitute through the death of her mother, is forced into accepting a position as a model. The most thrilling scenes are those in the studio of Neville, where Valerie is posing "in the nude." Here the director has done his best work. He has worked out an idea of showing but part of the form of the woman and leaving those who view the picture to use their imagination as to the rest. They are scenes that could have easily been overdone and made salacious and suggestive in the hands of an overzealous producer, but Mr. Capellani has given just the required touch. At this time Valerie is in demand and Querida (Paul Capellani), a Spanish artist, becomes infatuated with her. His law in regard to women is "the common law;" no marriage for him. His life is "just one woman after another." However at this point Stephanie (Lillian Cook), Neville's adopted sister, who is in love with him and who, it is generally conceded by relatives and friends, is to wed him enters the picture. She has been neglected by Neville, who has fallen in love with his model. She pleads with Valerie to leave him before he ruins his career, and Valerie promises that she will never marry him. Then to crush down her emotion she joins Querida at a New Year's Eve party. (Here is where a slight doubt enters the mind as to how a girl who has been naught but a model and who a short time before was poverty stricken, managed to gather so many wonderful clothes in so short a time by simply posing.) Neville sees her at the party and takes her from it to his studio, proposes to her and is put off, after being refused, by Valerie promising to give herself to him on the first of June without the formality of a ceremony. In the intervening months the tangled threads of the plot are straightened out and after Valerie manages to kill Querida by throwing him out of the window of her apartment when he attacks her, the Neville family give their consent to the marriage of the son and his model. As a money-getter "The Common Law" will prove a box-office attraction of the first rank, but it is a picture that one will have to play for more than a day in order to get the benefit of the cumulative advertising value.
Fred.

"The Common Law"
Clara Kimball Young Irresistible in Seven-Reel Adaptation of Robert W. Chambers' Novel Presented by Lewis J. Selznick.
Reviewed by Ben H. Grimm.

"The Common Law," a seven-reel picturization of the novel by Robert W. Chambers presented by Lewis J. Selznick and Clara Kimball Young Film Corporation, is truly a remarkable production. The appeal of Clara Kimball Young in this picture is irresistible, and she is surrounded by an excellent cast. If the characters in Mr. Chambers's novel had walked out of the pages of his book they could scarcely have been more true to type than they appear in this picture. The seven reels are a quite faithful visualization of the sociological plot, with the exception that several of the more objectionable -- or what could have been made more objectionable -- situations are noticeable by their propriety.
     Continuity throughout the picture could hardly be improved upon, and the story is smoothly narrated on the screen with the use of fewer subtitles than many productions of shorter length. The subtitles, too, are made artistically attractive by the use of decorative designs. Director-General Albert Capellani has lent artistic touches to the whole that add to the production's worth. Many of the settings, particularly in the studio scenes, are magnificent.
     Throughout the development of the character of a young girl of education and refinement who is forced to seek employment as an artists' model, Clara Kimball Young draws the spectator into a state of sympathetic solicitude for her. The story abounds with dramatic situations which are interpreted to their fullest possibilities by Miss Young, a Valerie West, artist's model, and Conway Tearle as Louis Neville, the artist. A situation in which Miss Young is called upon to reach the highest degree of her ability occurs when Valerie, pure in heart, sets a day upon which she tells Neville she will come to him as his common law wife. In this scene Miss Young is supreme. She compels the sympathy of the spectator, especially so when the spectator has followed her through the previous action in which the adopted daughter of Neville's parents, who is also in love with the artist, has extracted Valerie's promise not to marry Neville because it would ruin his career if he were to marry his model. In fact the role of Valerie is a difficult one, which has been handled by Miss Young in a manner that proves she is an emotional actress of high calibre.
     The heavy role in the production -- Querida -- has been ably and forcefully portrayed by Paul Capellani, and a personality that charms is that of Lillian Cook, who plays the adopted daughter of the Nevilles. Edna Hunter plays the rather sympathetic part of Rita. Others in the cast are Julia Stuart, Edward Kimball, Lydia Knott, D.J. Flannigan, and Edmund Mortimer.
     On the whole, "The Common Law" will prove a box office magnet.

USA 1916
Color: Black and White
Sound Mix: Silent 

Written by ???
from the novel by Robert W. Chambers

Art Direction by
Henry Allen Farnham 

Violet Horner .... Silvia
E.K. Lincoln .... Stephen Siward

The Fighting Chance
Release Date: Dec 1916
Duration (in reels): 5
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Cast: E. K. Lincoln (Stephen Siward)
Violet Horner (Silvia)
Summary: Sylvia has had a life-long determination to marry a wealthy man, so she must fight against her own feelings when she falls in love with penniless Stephen Siward. Stephen, too, has to fight a battle against himself, but his struggle started generations before he was born, as he comes from a family of alcoholics. Stephen makes vow after vow to stop drinking, but always, finally, succumbs once again. For awhile, even Sylvia cannot help him, because although she loves him, she is also repelled by him and by everything for which he stands. Finally, however, Sylvia gets over her prejudice against poverty, helps Stephen reform and then marries him.
Distribution Company: Mutual Film Corp.
Art Direction: Henry Allen Farnham (Art dir)
Source Text: Based on the novel The Fighting Chance by Robert Chambers (New York, 1906).
Authors: Robert Chambers
Physical Properties: b&w:
Si:

Genre: Drama

Subjects (Major): Alcoholism
Fidelity
Gold diggers
Poverty
Regeneration

Subjects (Minor): Heredity
Bibliographic Sources: Date Page
MPN 30 Dec 16 p. 4239.
31 Mar 16 p. 24.

USA 1916 Black and White
Sound Mix: Silent
Produced by: Vitagraph Company of America
("A Vitagraph Blue Ribbon Feature")

Directed by S. Rankin Drew

Written by ???
from the novel by Robert W. Chambers

Cinematography by
Arthur T. Quinn 

Other crew
Albert E. Smith .... presenter

The Girl Philippa
Director: S. Rankin Drew (Dir)
Release Date: 21 Jan 1916
Duration (in reels): 8
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Cast: Anita Stewart (Philippa)
S. Rankin Drew (Warner)
Frank Morgan (Halkett)
Miss Curley (Sister Ella)
Billie Billings (The Countess)
Captain Eyerman (General Delisle)
Ned Hay (Gray)
Stanley Dunn (Schmidt)
Alfred Rabock (Hoffman)
Jules Cowles (Asticot)
Betty Young (Madame Arlone)
L. S. Johnson (Esser)
Anders Randolf (Wildresse)
Frank Crayne
Summary: Philippa is raised in Ausone by her guardian Wildresse. As a young woman, she becomes a dancer at the Café de Biribi where Wildresse asks her to spy on an Englishman. Warner, an American artist who is in love with Philippa, becomes acquainted with the Englishman, named Halkett, and through this relationship introduces Halkett to Philippa. The three become close friends. After many adventures, Halkett is able to save his country's secrets from Wildresse, who is a German spy, and Philippa falls in love with Warner. In the end, it is revealed that Philippa is actually a Balkan princess who was stolen at birth.
Production Company: Vitagraph Co. of America; A Blue Ribbon Feature
Distribution Company: Greater Vitagraph (V-L-S-E, Inc.)
Director: S. Rankin Drew (Dir)
Producer: Albert E. Smith (Supv)
Photography: Arthur T. Quinn (Cam)
Source Text: Based on the novel My Girl Philippa by Robert W. Chambers (New York, 1916).
Authors: Robert W. Chambers
Copyright Claimant Copyright Date Copyright Number
Vitagraph Co. of America 12/1/1917 dd/mm/yyyy LP9996
Physical Properties: b&w:
Si:

Genre: Drama

Subjects (Major): Americans in foreign countries
English
Espionage
Friendship
Germans

Subjects (Minor): Artists
Balkan Peninsula
Cafés
Dancers
Parentage
Royalty
Spies
Wards and guardians
Note: Chambers' novel was serialized in Cosmopolitan in 1916. The film, according to news items, broke all previous world-wide records for box office receipts in a single day when it took in $3,471 at the Rialto Theater in New York City. Other cities reported record-breaking earnings as well when the film opened in Jan 1917 across the country. This film was released 21 Jan 1917 in the East and 28 Jan 1917 in the West. The NYT noted that the film displayed an unusual effect by the use of two projectors used simultaneously, projecting both a proclamation of war and scenes of mobilization, to create an effect similar to that of double exposure.
Bibliographic Sources: Date Page
ETR 13 Jan 17 p. 422.
Motog 27 Jan 17 p. 208.
MPN 30 Dec 16 pp. 4087-90.
MPW 7 Jan 17 p. 139.
MPW 27 Jan 17 p. 588.
NYDM 6 Jan 17 p. 33.
NYDM 13 Jan 17 p. 26.
NYDM 20 Jan 17 p. 29.
NYDM 27 Jan 17 p. 55.
New York Times 1 Jan 17 p. 10.
Variety 5 Jan 17 p. 27.
Wid's 14 Jan 17 p. 5.

Anita Stewart .... Philippa
S. Rankin Drew .... Warner
Frank Morgan .... Halkett (as Francis Morgan)
Pauline Curley .... Sister Ella (as Miss Curley)
Billie Billings .... The Countess
Captain Eyerman .... General Delisle
Ned Hay .... Gray
Stanley Dunn .... Schmidt
Alfred Raboch .... Hoffman (as Alfred Rabock)
Jules Cowles .... Asticot
Betty Young .... Madame Arlone
Lou Johnson .... Esser (as L.S. Johnson)
Anders Randolf .... Wildresse
Frank Crayne .... Undetermined Role

Philippa, a Balkan princess, is kidnapped and taken to France as a child at the turn of the century. There she is raised among spies and in low society. As Philippa matures, and war approaches, she falls in love with an American artist, who helps her when she discovers her true identity and endeavors to return to her native land.

Summary written by Jim Beaver {jumblejim@prodigy.net}

Synopsis: :  S. Rankin Drew, son of noted stage star Sidney Drew, directed this feature and co-starred in it, along with lovely Anita Stewart . Like an uncountable number of other films throughout the teens and twenties, it was based on a Robert W. Chambers story. Drew plays an American artist in France who snubs a cabaret cashier (Stewart) until he finds out she's a longlost princess. A romance grows from this unpromising start, and the pair help an English secret service agent (Frank Morgan) in his efforts against the Germans. Meanwhile, the owner of the cabaret (Anders Randolph ) is willing to go with whichever side offers the most money. No film set in Europe during this era could escape without a few battle scenes, and this picture has its share for a climax. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

NOTE: Remember, romantic Frank Morgan would go on to be the wonderful Wizard of Oz in the classic 1938 version.