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San Francisco Silent Film Festival

San Francisco Silent Film Festival

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public about silent film as an art form and as a culturally valuable historical record.

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SFSFF Collection

The Half-Breed

Directed by Allan Dwan
70 min | 1916 | United States
Program Essay Borrow Title Buy Now
Available Formats 35mm, DCP, Blu-ray
Music Donald Sosin (on digital formats)

About the Film

Ostracized from white society, Lo Dorman, a half-breed, lives in the forest on the outskirts of town with his adopted Indian grandfather. While there, he meets another outcast, Teresa, who has run away from authorities after stabbing her unfaithful lover. Seeing her from a distance, Sheriff Dunn mistakes Teresa for Nellie, his sweetheart, and, believing that she has begun an affair with Lo, decides to kill him. Because she has gone through some of Lo’s possessions, Teresa knows that Dunn is really his father, but as she tries to explain this to the sheriff, a forest fire breaks out. Lo tries to rescue both Teresa and Dunn, but finally must make a choice between them, and, unaware of their relationship, decides to leave Dunn to die. He is able to save Teresa, whom he later marries. American Film Institute

About the Restoration

A Library of Congress print of The Half-Breed’s original Fine Arts Corporation Pictures release in 1916 came from the infamous 1978 Dawson City find, when hundreds of pre-World War I films at the end of their distribution line were uncovered buried in a swimming pool in the former Gold Rush town in the Canadian Yukon. While closest to the original release, this nitrate print could only be used for intertitles and a small number of indispensable shots, including portions of Jack Brace’s pursuit of Teresa through the redwoods. The only other surviving 35mm source of the film is a 1924 re-release of the film held by the Cinémathèque française, which contributed 90 percent of the photographic shots used in the reconstruction. Finally, a 16mm abridgement print, provided by France’s Lobster Films, filled in some missing scenes, such as the fight between Lo Dorman and the group of drunken Indians in front of Nellie Wynn’s house.

Restoration

San Francisco Silent Film Festival
Cinémathèque Française
Film Preservation Society

Details

Director
Allan Dwan
Country
United States
Year
1916
Runtime
70 min
Cast
Douglas Fairbanks, Alma Reubens (a.k.a. Rubens), Sam De Grasse, Tom Wilson, Frank Brownlee, Jewel Carmen, George, André Beranger, Winifred Westover
Production Company
Triangle Film Corporation
FPS
19
Intertitle Language
English
Restored in
2013

Image Gallery

Images from the Film
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