''The Great Problem'' is a 1916 American

silent Silent may mean any of the following: People with the name * Silent George, George Stone (outfielder) (1876–1945), American Major League Baseball outfielder and batting champion * Brandon Silent (born 1973), South African former footballer * C ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by Rex Ingram and starring

Violet Mersereau Violet Mersereau (October 2, 1892 – November 12, 1975) was an American stage and film actress. Over the course of her screen career, Mersereau appeared in over 100 short and silent film features. Early life Mersereau was born in New York City ...

Dan Hanlon Daniel E. Hanlon (1866–1951) was an American silent film actor born in San Francisco, California, of Irish heritage. He was best known for his debut film role as Professor Aronnax in ''20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ''Twenty Thousand Leagues U ...

and Lionel Adams. It marked Ingram's directorial debut of a

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

, having previously made a

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

. It was shot at Fort Lee in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

. A complete copy of the film is held by the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, ...

.Great Problem, The, International Federation of Film Archives, Brussels.

Cast

as Peggy Carson *

as Bill Carson * Lionel Adams as George Devereaux *

Kittens Reichert Kittens Reichert (March 3, 1910 – January 11, 1990) was an American child actress in silent films. Biography The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George C. Reichert, she was born Catherine Alma Reichert in Yonkers, New York, but was nicknamed "Kittens ...

as Peggy - as a child * William J. Dyer as Skinny McGee *

Mathilde Brundage Mathilde Brundage (September 22, 1859 – May 6, 1939) was an American actress. She appeared in 87 films between 1914 and 1928. Also known as Bertha Brundage, she was born in Louisville, Kentucky. For much of her life, her family thwarted her de ...

as Mrs. Devereaux *

Howard Crampton Howard Crampton (January 12, 1865 – June 15, 1922) was an American actor of the silent era. He appeared in more than 70 films between 1913 and 1922. He was born in New York, New York. Partial filmography * '' Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' ...

as Joseph

References

Bibliography

* Leonhard Gmür. ''Rex Ingram: Hollywood's Rebel of the Silver Screen''. 2013.

External links

* 1916 films 1916 drama films 1910s English-language films American silent feature films Silent American drama films Films directed by Rex Ingram American black-and-white films Universal Pictures films Films shot in Fort Lee, New Jersey 1910s American films {{drama-film-stub