''The Kidnappers Foil'' is the name of several American short films, made by Melton Barker between the 1930s and 1970s. Each iteration featured small-town children as actors (a different small-town in each version), the parents of whom paid Barker a fee in exchange for appearing in the film. Although the film was made dozens, perhaps hundreds, of times, only a few versions survive. The Texas Archive of the Moving Image holds a collection of these itinerant films and hosts Internet resources for those who appeared in them as children. The surviving copies were added as a group to the

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...

in 2012 being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and recommended for preservation.

Plot

In the plot of the films, a young girl is kidnapped from her birthday party and rescued by a search party of local kids. The relieved neighbors celebrated with a party where youngsters would display their musical talents. A few weeks after filming, the town would screen the 15- to 20-minute picture to the delight of the local audience.

External links

*
Texas Archive of the Moving Image site about Barker and the film

References

* United States National Film Registry films American short films 1930s short films 1940s short films 1950s short films 1960s short films 1970s short films American black-and-white films Films about kidnapping {{short-film-stub