Edgar Allen Poe (film)

Edgar Allen Poe
(official title)
Film still of actor Herbert Yost (left) as Poe with Anita Hendrie and David Miles
Directed byD. W. Griffith
Written byD. W. Griffith
Frank E. Woods
Produced byBiograph Company
New York, N.Y.
StarringHerbert Yost
Linda Arvidson
CinematographyG. W. Bitzer
Release date
  • February 8, 1909 (1909-02-08)
Running time
6–7 minutes (release length 450 feet); distributed on a "split reel" with another film, A Wreath in Time[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguagesSilent
English intertitles

Edgar Allen Poe [sic] is a 1909 American silent drama film produced by the Biograph Company of New York and directed and co-written by D. W. Griffith.[2] Herbert Yost stars in this short as the 19th-century American writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe, while Linda Arvidson portrays Poe's wife Virginia.[3] When it was released in February 1909 and throughout its theatrical run, the film was consistently identified and advertised with Poe's middle name misspelled in its official title, using an "e" instead of the correct second "a". The short was also originally shipped to theaters on a "split reel", which was a single reel that accommodated more than one film. This 450-foot drama shared its reel with another Biograph short, the 558-foot comedy A Wreath in Time.[1] Prints of both films survive.[4]

  1. ^ a b "Edgar Allen Poe" and "A Wreath in Time, Biograph advertisement, The Moving Picture World (New York City), 6 February 1909, p. 135. Internet Archive, San Francisco, California (hereinafter cited "I.A."). Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  2. ^ "Edgar Allen Poe (1909)". American Film Institute.
  3. ^ Graham, Cooper C.; Higgins, Steve; Mancini, Elaine; Viera, João Luiz. Entry for "Edgar Allen Poe", D. W. Griffith and the Biograph Company. Metuchen, New Jersey and London: The Scarecrow Press, 1985, p. 37. I.A. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  4. ^ "Edgar Allan Poe". Silent Era. Retrieved January 3, 2014.