Cecil Hepworth
Encyclopedia
Cecil Milton Hepworth was an English
film director
, producer
and screenwriter
. He was among the founders of the British film industry
and continued making films into the 1920s.
Hepworth was born in Lambeth
, South London
. His father, Thomas Cradock Hepworth, was a famous magic lantern
showman and author. Cecil Hepworth became involved in the early stages of British filmmaking, working for both Birt Acres
and Charles Urban
, and wrote the first British book on the subject in 1897. With his cousin Monty Wicks he set up the production company Hepworth and Co. (also known as "Hepwix" after the word mark in its trade logo), which was later renamed the Hepworth Manufacturing Company (officially: Hepworth Film
Manufacturing Company), and then Hepworth Picture Plays. In 1899 they built a small film studio in Walton-on-Thames
. The company produced about three films a week, sometimes with Hepworth directing.
Rescued by Rover
(1905), co-directed with Lewin Fitzhamon and starring a collie
in the title role, was a huge financial success. The film is now regarded as an important development in film grammar
, with shots being effectively combined to emphasise the action. Hepworth was also one of the first to recognise the potential of film stars
, both animal and human, with several recurring characters appearing in his films.
The company continued making popular films into the 1920s, despite Hepworth's now unchanging and increasingly old-fashioned film style. Boosted by the international success of Alf's Button (1919), the company went public
to fund a large studio development. He failed to raise the necessary capital and, also suffering the box office failure of Comin' Thro the Rye
(1923), the company went into receivership
the next year. All of the original film negatives in Hepworth's possession were melted down by the receiver in order to sell the silver, and his feature films have been considered lost
for many decades. However, an original 35mm. print of his 1920 film Helen of Four Gates
was located in a film archive in Montreal
, Canada
in 2008.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
. He was among the founders of the British film industry
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
and continued making films into the 1920s.
Hepworth was born in Lambeth
Lambeth
Lambeth is a district of south London, England, and part of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is situated southeast of Charing Cross.-Toponymy:...
, South London
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...
. His father, Thomas Cradock Hepworth, was a famous magic lantern
Magic lantern
The magic lantern or Laterna Magica is an early type of image projector developed in the 17th century.-Operation:The magic lantern has a concave mirror in front of a light source that gathers light and projects it through a slide with an image scanned onto it. The light rays cross an aperture , and...
showman and author. Cecil Hepworth became involved in the early stages of British filmmaking, working for both Birt Acres
Birt Acres
Birt Acres was a photographer and film pioneer.Born in Richmond, Virginia to English parents, he invented the first British 35 mm moving picture camera, the first daylight loading home movie camera and projector, Birtac, was the first travelling newsreel reporter in international film history and...
and Charles Urban
Charles Urban
Charles Urban was an Anglo-American film producer and distributor, and one of the most significant figures in British cinema before the First World War...
, and wrote the first British book on the subject in 1897. With his cousin Monty Wicks he set up the production company Hepworth and Co. (also known as "Hepwix" after the word mark in its trade logo), which was later renamed the Hepworth Manufacturing Company (officially: Hepworth Film
Manufacturing Company), and then Hepworth Picture Plays. In 1899 they built a small film studio in Walton-on-Thames
Walton-on-Thames
Walton-on-Thames is a town in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey in South East England. The town is located south west of Charing Cross and is between the towns of Weybridge and Molesey. It is situated on the River Thames between Sunbury Lock and Shepperton Lock.- History :The name "Walton" is...
. The company produced about three films a week, sometimes with Hepworth directing.
Rescued by Rover
Rescued by Rover
Rescued by Rover is a 1905 British short silent drama film, directed by Cecil Hepworth, about a dog who leads its master to his kidnapped baby, which was the first to feature the Hepworth's family dog Blair in a starring role; following the release, the dog became a household name and he is...
(1905), co-directed with Lewin Fitzhamon and starring a collie
Collie
The collie is a distinctive type of herding dog, including many related landraces and formal breeds. It originates in Scotland and Northern England. It is a medium-sized, fairly lightly built dog with a pointed snout, and many types have a distinctive white pattern over the shoulders. Collies...
in the title role, was a huge financial success. The film is now regarded as an important development in film grammar
Film grammar
In film, film grammar is defined as follows:# A frame is a single still image. It is analogous to a letter.# A shot is a single continuous recording made by a camera. It is analogous to a word....
, with shots being effectively combined to emphasise the action. Hepworth was also one of the first to recognise the potential of film stars
Movie star
A movie star is a celebrity who is well-known, or famous, for his or her starring, or leading, roles in motion pictures. The term may also apply to an actor or actress who is recognized as a marketable commodity and whose name is used to promote a movie in trailers and posters...
, both animal and human, with several recurring characters appearing in his films.
The company continued making popular films into the 1920s, despite Hepworth's now unchanging and increasingly old-fashioned film style. Boosted by the international success of Alf's Button (1919), the company went public
Public company
This is not the same as a Government-owned corporation.A public company or publicly traded company is a limited liability company that offers its securities for sale to the general public, typically through a stock exchange, or through market makers operating in over the counter markets...
to fund a large studio development. He failed to raise the necessary capital and, also suffering the box office failure of Comin' Thro the Rye
Comin' Thro the Rye (1923 film)
Comin' Thro the Rye is a 1923 British silent drama film directed by Cecil Hepworth and starring Alma Taylor and Ralph Forbes. A woman is prevented from marrying the man she loves by the interference of another woman. It was based on a novel of the same name by Helen Mathers...
(1923), the company went into receivership
Receivership
In law, receivership is the situation in which an institution or enterprise is being held by a receiver, a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights." The receivership remedy is an equitable remedy that emerged in...
the next year. All of the original film negatives in Hepworth's possession were melted down by the receiver in order to sell the silver, and his feature films have been considered lost
Lost film
A lost film is a feature film or short film that is no longer known to exist in studio archives, private collections or public archives such as the Library of Congress, where at least one copy of all American films are deposited and catalogued for copyright reasons...
for many decades. However, an original 35mm. print of his 1920 film Helen of Four Gates
Helen of Four Gates
Helen of Four Gates is a British silent film melodrama, directed by cinema pioneer Cecil Hepworth and starring Alma Taylor , James Carew and Gerald Ames.-Production background:...
was located in a film archive in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in 2008.
Filmography (partial)
- 1896: The Egg-Laying Man
- 1900: The Beggar's DeceitThe Beggar's DeceitThe Beggar's Deceit is a 1900 British short film directed by Cecil Hepworth. The film is a comedy sketch shot from a static camera position, with the composition divided into thirds: on the left the beggar, in the centre the pavement and pedestrians, and to the right the road and vehicle...
- 1900: How It Feels to Be Run OverHow It Feels to Be Run OverHow It Feels to Be Run Over is a one-minute British silent film, made in 1900, and directed by Cecil M. Hepworth. As in other instances of the very earliest films, the film presents the audience with the images of a shocking experience, without further narrative exposition.- Plot summary :A coach...
- 1900: Explosion of a Motor CarExplosion of a Motor CarExplosion of a Motor Car is a 1900 British short black-and-white silent comedy film, directed by Cecil M. Hepworth, featuring an exploding automobile scattering the body parts of its driver and passenger...
- 1903: Alice in WonderlandAlice in Wonderland (1903 film)Alice in Wonderland is a 1903 British silent film directed by Cecil Hepworth and Percy Stow. It is the first movie adaptation of Lewis Carroll's children's book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland....
- 1905: Rescued by RoverRescued by RoverRescued by Rover is a 1905 British short silent drama film, directed by Cecil Hepworth, about a dog who leads its master to his kidnapped baby, which was the first to feature the Hepworth's family dog Blair in a starring role; following the release, the dog became a household name and he is...
- 1905: Baby's ToiletBaby's ToiletBaby's Toilet is a 1905 British short film directed by Cecil Hepworth. The film features Hepworth's baby daughter Elizabeth being bathed and dressed by her nurse, and was categorised by Hepworth as a "Domestic Scene". In the film Hepworth combines a series of shots to produce a narrative...
- 1913 David CopperfieldDavid Copperfield (1913 film)David Copperfield is a 1913 British black-and-white silent film based on the novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. It is the second-oldest known film adaptation of the novel....
- 1915: The Baby on the BargeThe Baby on the BargeThe Baby on the Barge is a 1915 British silent film drama directed by Cecil Hepworth and starring Alma Taylor and Stewart Rome. No print of the film is known to survive and it is presumed lost.-Plot:...
- 1916: Annie LaurieAnnie Laurie (1916 film)Annie Laurie is a 1916 British silent romance film directed by Cecil Hepworth and starring Alma Taylor, Stewart Rome and Lionelle Howard . It is loosely based on the poem Annie Laurie.-Cast:* Alma Taylor ... Annie Laurie...
- 1919: City of Beautiful NonsenseCity of Beautiful Nonsense (1919 film)City of Beautiful Nonsense is a 1919 British silent film drama directed by Henry Edwards, who also starred in the film with Chrissie White. The film is based on the best-selling 1909 novel of the same name by E...
(producer) - 1919: Broken in the WarsBroken in the WarsBroken in the Wars is a 1919 British silent drama film directed by Cecil Hepworth and starring Henry Edwards, Chrissie White and Alma Taylor. The Pensions Minister John Hodge appeared in the film to promote the King's Fund, which supported recently demobalised ex-servicemen...
- 1919: The Forest on the HillThe Forest on the HillThe Forest on the Hill is a 1919 British silent crime film directed by Cecil Hepworth and starring Alma Taylor, James Carew and Gerald Ames. It was based on a novel by Eden Philpotts.-Cast:* Alma Taylor - Drusilla Whyddon* James Carew - Timothy Snow...
- 1920: Helen of Four GatesHelen of Four GatesHelen of Four Gates is a British silent film melodrama, directed by cinema pioneer Cecil Hepworth and starring Alma Taylor , James Carew and Gerald Ames.-Production background:...
- 1921: The Narrow ValleyThe Narrow ValleyThe Narrow Valley is a 1921 British silent drama film directed by Cecil Hepworth. As of August 2010, the film is missing from the BFI National Archive, and is listed as one of the British Film Institute's "75 Most Wanted" lost films.-Cast:...
- 1921: TansyTansy (film)Tansy is a 1921 British silent drama film directed by Cecil Hepworth and starring Alma Taylor, Gerald Ames and James Carew. The film was based on a popular rural novel of the time by Tickner Edwardes, and was filmed largely on location on the Sussex Downs....
- 1921: Wild HeatherWild HeatherWild Heather is a 1921 British film directed by Cecil Hepworth and starring Chrissie White, Gerald Ames, James Carew and George Dewhurst. It was based on a play by Dorothy Brandon....
- 1923: Comin' Thro the RyeComin' Thro the Rye (1923 film)Comin' Thro the Rye is a 1923 British silent drama film directed by Cecil Hepworth and starring Alma Taylor and Ralph Forbes. A woman is prevented from marrying the man she loves by the interference of another woman. It was based on a novel of the same name by Helen Mathers...
- 1923: Mist in the ValleyMist in the ValleyMist in the Valley is a 1923 British silent crime film directed by Cecil Hepworth and starring Alma Taylor, G.H. Mulcaster and James Carew. It was based on a novel by Dorin Craig.-Cast:* Alma Taylor - Margaret Yeoland* G.H. Mulcaster - Denis Marlow...
External links
- Cecil Hepworth at screenonline