J. Stuart Blackton

Directing

J. Stuart Blackton

Born January 5, 1875 · Sheffield, Yorkshire [now South Yorkshire], England, UK

Died August 13, 1941 · aged 66

James Stuart Blackton was a pioneer Anglo-American filmmaker and can be credited with the first feature-length American production. He founded Vitagraph Studios in 1897 and was among the first filmmakers to use stop-motion and drawn animation.

Known For

King LearKing Lear · 1909
King Lear
★ 4.21909
MovieDrama
An impressively tactile, if slightly over-ambitious, adaptation of King Lear from Vitagraph Studios.
Princess NicotinePrincess Nicotine · 1909
Princess Nicotine
★ 5.81909
MovieComedyFantasy
A smoker falls asleep, and two mischievious fairies play with his pipe. He discovers this, and imprisons them in a cigar box. He removes a flower from the box, which contains a fairy smoking a cigarette. Next, he leaves briefly while his smoking paraphenalia clears itself from the table and the flower reassembles itself into a cigar. He lights the cigar, then breaks a bottle containing the fairy, who interacts with him in various ways reeling from his cigar smoke, building a bonfire that he extinguishes, etc.
MissingMissing · 1918
Missing
1918
MovieDramaWar
When a woman's husband is presumed dead in the war, her sister, for her own unscrupulous reasons, attempts to get her remarried. But the husband, it seems, is not dead after all.
Womanhood, the Glory of the NationWomanhood, the Glory of the Nation · 1917
Womanhood, the Glory of the Nation
1917
MovieDramaWar
When the nation of Ruthania declares war on the United States, an army of enemy soldiers invades the U.S. and captures New York. But the American forces have prepared adequately for such an event, and hidden booby traps, trick fortifications, and remote-controlled bombs...
Antony and CleopatraAntony and Cleopatra · 1908
Antony and Cleopatra
★ 2.51908
MovieDrama
A short film based on William Shakespeare's play of the same name. It was the first film to dramatize the ill-fated romance between Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII of Egypt.
The Life and Death of King Richard IIIThe Life and Death of King Richard III · 1912
The Life and Death of King Richard III
★ 4.71912
MovieDramaHistory
Shakespeare's tragedy of the wicked and hump-backed Duke of Gloucester, who rises to the throne of England by chicanery, treachery, and brilliance.
DawnDawn · 1919
Dawn
★ 7.01919
MovieDrama
Keith, an artist, begins to go blind as a result of having fallen out of a tree as a child. His fiancé Dorothy, a wealthy heiress, had previously said that she thought blind people were "disgusting", and he refuses to see her. Dorothy plans to have her father, an eye surgeon, perform an operation on Keith that may help him regain his sight, but things don't go as planned.
A Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's Dream · 1909
A Midsummer Night's Dream
★ 4.81909
MovieFantasyComedy
An early film adaptation of the Bard's comic fantasy.

Filmography

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The Artist's DilemmaThe Artist's Dilemma · 1901
The Artist's Dilemma
★ 6.01901
MovieFantasyComedy
In the artist's studio, he asleep in his chair. A large old fashioned clock opens and a young lady comes out and awaking the artist, requests him to paint her picture. While the artist is executing the work a clown comes from the clock, takes in the situation and begins to make love to the lady. The artist detects him and compels him to desist his love making. He continues to paint. The clown becomes interested and asks the artist to allow him to paint the picture, and begins smearing a whitewash brush over the canvas, and a most perfect image of the young lady appears. The image then steps down from the frame, joins the young lady in the studio, and the figures, each a perfect counterpart of the other begin to dance to the great astonishment of the artist. The clown waves his hand causing the figures of the two girls to merge into one. The artist then assumes his seat and awakens in shock. The film was a Vitagraph production, but later acquired and copyrighted by the Edison Company.

Director