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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

When the Earth Trembled

Directed by Barry O'Neil
48 min | 1913 | United States
Program Essay Borrow Title Watch Now
Available Formats 35mm, Blu-ray
Music Stephen Horne and Frank Bockius

About the Film

In 1913, early film mogul Siegmund Lubin decided it was time to produce films longer than the normal one or two reels. His philosophy that “spectacles and disasters” were what audiences wanted to see informed his first mega-production, this three-reeler featuring the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire as its centerpiece.

About the Restoration

When the Earth Trembled or The Strength of Love was released in three reels by the Lubin Film Company in November 1913. Three 35mm sources of the film are known to survive: – A tinted nitrate print with Dutch intertitles in the Van Liemt Collection preserved at Eye Filmmuseum (875m). – A black and white preservation negative with Dutch titles held by the Museum of Modern Art, originally from the Jean Desmet Collection (375m). – A black and white preservation negative with original English titles held by the British Film Institute (630m). Elements from each of these sources have been used to complete this restoration. Where possible, the original English titles are included. When original titles were not available, translations of the Dutch titles in the Eye and MoMA materials have been substituted. The recreated titles are identified with the notation “2015” a the bottom of the frame. The original color tinting has been reproduced to match the colors present in the Eye nitrate print and by following the notations indicated in the BFI negative. This restoration was completed in March 2015 as a collaboration between Eye Filmmuseum and the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.

Restoration Partner

British Film Institute, EYE Filmmuseum

Details

Director
Barry O'Neil
Country
United States
Year
1913
Runtime
48 min
Cast
Harry Myers, Ethel Clayton, Bartley McCullum, Peter Lang, Richard Morris, Mary Walters, Mary Powers, and Layton Meisle
Production Company
Lubin Manufacturing Company
Alternate Title
The Strength of Love
FPS
18
Intertitle Language
English
Year Added to SFSFF Collection
2015

Image Gallery

Images from the Film
Download

Watch Film

Reconstruction Demo

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