Sidney Olcott

Directing

Sidney Olcott

Born 1873-09-20 · Toronto, Ontario, Canada

John Sidney Olcott was a Canadian-born film producer, director, actor and screenwriter. After making a number of very successful films for the Kalem studio, including "Ben Hur" (1907) with its dramatic chariot race scene, Olcott became the company's president and was rewarded with one share of its stock.

Acting credits

Bold Emmett, Ireland's Martyr poster
5.0

This play is enacted during the stormy days when Robert Emmett tried vainly to free Ireland. Con Daly loves Nora Doyle, who lives with her mother in a little cottage amid the hills and dales of old Erin. In a cave nearby the men who would free Ireland are making arms and ammunition. Robert Emmett visits them, and then goes into the enemy's camp disguised as a flute player, and returns safely. The constabulary visits a family and a riot starts, and as a result Major Kirk is shot. Desperately wounded, he is taken to the home of Mrs. Doyle. Nora and Con nurse him back to health.

Bold Emmett, Ireland's Martyr

1915

From the Manger to the Cross poster
5.1

The life of Jesus is played out in tableaux shot in the Holy Land.

From the Manger to the Cross

1912

No artwork available
NR

Larry Malone and Maggie McClusky get married, and for a honeymoon trip decide to journey through the home country of their ancestors.

The Irish Honeymoon

1911

No artwork available
7.0

The old musician playing his fiddle in his garret home dreams of his youth and his lost love. As the past unfolds itself he sees his sweetheart, Dolores, forced by her parents to sign a contract of marriage with Don Carlos, and he again reads over in memory her message of farewell: "My on Love, This is my marriage ever, the death day of my soul. I cannot go without one last farewell to you, whom I will never see again. Wait for ma by the lake until you hear the bells chime. Yours in spirit until death, Dolores." Meeting her at the lake as requested, she gives him her old violin, saying, "I have breathed my soul into this violin. Whene'er it plays, it is my soul that speaks."

The Fiddler’s Requiem

1911

2 A.M. in the Subway poster
4.5

A constable and a subway attendant are working late at night in an underground station when a well-dressed man with a cigar in his teeth enters with his arms around two women dressed in long skirts and jackets, gloves, and fancy hats. The trio laugh and stumble on the platform as if having a hilarious time, getting the attention of the policeman who attempts to stop their bawdy behavior.

2 A.M. in the Subway

1905

The Lad from Old Ireland poster
5.4

A young man leaves Ireland for America, but doesn't forget home.

The Lad from Old Ireland

1910

The Little Spreewald Maiden poster
9.0

Two American ladies touring through Germany happen on this little Spreewald girl and offer her a job in America.

The Little Spreewald Maiden

1910

No artwork available
NR

Kathleen, the daughter of a fisherman meets Henry, the son of a Wall Street Broker, her father forbids their relationship, Kathleen defies her father, and travels to New York to be reunited with Henry.

The Fishermaid of Ballydavid

1911

The Little Gluers poster
9.0

The Kerry Gow is a 1912 short

The Little Gluers

1912

The Colleen Bawn poster
7.4

A young Irish boy has fallen in love with a poor girl and wants to marry her, but his mother will stop at nothing, including murder, to see that he marries his rich cousin.

The Colleen Bawn

1911

No artwork available
7.0

Robert Ffolliott is a young Irish lad who is done out of his land and sent off to a penal colony in Australia following false accusations by the greedy Kinchella. Conn the Shaughraun comes to his rescue, helps him to escape from the prison ship and return to Ireland where he is united with his sweetheart.

The Shaughraun

1912

Ireland, the Oppressed poster
10.0

The story of the Emerald Isle years ago. Showing the struggle against poverty, evictions by hard-hearted landlords, hill fighting and the final triumph of the downtrodden.

Ireland, the Oppressed

1912

No artwork available
NR

A story of love triangle, between Nell, Big Jim and Tom.

Vagabonds

1912

For Ireland's Sake poster
5.0

Set in the late 1790s, a depiction of Irish villagers rebelling against British occupation (Red Coats) over the right to bear arms.

For Ireland's Sake

1914

The Railroad Raiders of '62 poster
NR

Lockwood, the old, one-armed flagman at Lone Point, tells Helen and a young soldier of his experiences during the Civil War, and how he lost his arm. The Civil War flashback sequences consist of archive footage from Kalem's Railroad Raiders of '62 (1911), rather than newly filmed footage.

The Railroad Raiders of '62

1915

All for Old Ireland poster
7.0

Eileen Donaghue loves Myles Murphy, a match which is approved by Mrs Donaghue. Colonel Reid of the British Army employs an informer, Fagin, who has designs on Eileen, but Myles gives him a beating for his presumption. As a result, Fagin tells Reid that Myles is plotting against the Crown.

All for Old Ireland

1915

No artwork available
NR

A group of English Soldiers take the Home of the Fitzgeralds from its rightful owners, and force the daughter Peggy to stay and entertain them. A resourceful girl she escapes but is pursued

Lady Peggy’s Escape

1913

No artwork available
NR

An exiled patriot returns home, disgusted by the poverty of his countrymen he becomes a highway man

The O'Neill

1912

Railroad Raiders of '62 poster
5.0

Union raiders infiltrate Confederate territory by train. Early film version of the Civil War incident on which Buster Keaton's The General and Disney's The Great Locomotive Chase was based.

Railroad Raiders of '62

1911

No artwork available
NR

Shamus, humiliated at a Country Dance by Bridget leaves Kerry to travel to New York, where he meets with success. Bridget and her husband Terry read of his success and emigrate to New York, but finds it harder than anticipated

The Mayor from Ireland

1912

No artwork available
NR

The story of a customs officer who pursues a trafficker between continents

The Eye of the Government

1914

Behind the camera

The Smugglers poster
5.0

While honeymooning in Paris, wealthy John Battleby Watts is persuaded to purchase a $20,000 necklace for his capricious young wife. When the jeweler refuses to accept his check, John heads to the bank for the necessary funds. En route, he passes a little shop specializing in imitation jewelry. Figuring his wife will never know the difference, he buys a cheap duplicate of the 20-grand bauble. Later on, however, he reconsiders and purchases the genuine article. But before he can reach his hotel, John is detained by saucy chorus girl Rita Bori, whom he presents with what he thinks is the imitation necklace.

The Smugglers

1916

Bold Emmett, Ireland's Martyr poster
5.0

This play is enacted during the stormy days when Robert Emmett tried vainly to free Ireland. Con Daly loves Nora Doyle, who lives with her mother in a little cottage amid the hills and dales of old Erin. In a cave nearby the men who would free Ireland are making arms and ammunition. Robert Emmett visits them, and then goes into the enemy's camp disguised as a flute player, and returns safely. The constabulary visits a family and a riot starts, and as a result Major Kirk is shot. Desperately wounded, he is taken to the home of Mrs. Doyle. Nora and Con nurse him back to health.

Bold Emmett, Ireland's Martyr

1915

Bold Emmett, Ireland's Martyr poster
5.0

This play is enacted during the stormy days when Robert Emmett tried vainly to free Ireland. Con Daly loves Nora Doyle, who lives with her mother in a little cottage amid the hills and dales of old Erin. In a cave nearby the men who would free Ireland are making arms and ammunition. Robert Emmett visits them, and then goes into the enemy's camp disguised as a flute player, and returns safely. The constabulary visits a family and a riot starts, and as a result Major Kirk is shot. Desperately wounded, he is taken to the home of Mrs. Doyle. Nora and Con nurse him back to health.

Bold Emmett, Ireland's Martyr

1915

Bold Emmett, Ireland's Martyr poster
5.0

This play is enacted during the stormy days when Robert Emmett tried vainly to free Ireland. Con Daly loves Nora Doyle, who lives with her mother in a little cottage amid the hills and dales of old Erin. In a cave nearby the men who would free Ireland are making arms and ammunition. Robert Emmett visits them, and then goes into the enemy's camp disguised as a flute player, and returns safely. The constabulary visits a family and a riot starts, and as a result Major Kirk is shot. Desperately wounded, he is taken to the home of Mrs. Doyle. Nora and Con nurse him back to health.

Bold Emmett, Ireland's Martyr

1915

Madame Butterfly poster
4.5

The story of a Japanese woman and the tragedy that ensues when she loves an American naval officer.

Madame Butterfly

1915

Marriage for Convenience poster
9.0

Barbara Rand is blinded when she leaps through a window to escape an assailant. Her sister, Natalie, reluctantly abandons her fiancé, Ned Gardiner, and marries Oliver Landis, who can provide the money needed for Barbara's operation. Unaware that Oliver was Barbara's attacker, Natalie blames his business partner, Howard Pollard, who was with Barbara on the night she was injured. Natalie holds Howard at gunpoint, but when her husband arrives, he promises to deal with the villain making sure Howard falls to his death. Upon Barbara’s release from the hospital, Oliver tries to blind her once. Natalie threatens him with a pistol, but Oliver wrests it away from her. He then realizes that he can no longer hide his guilt from Natalie or the police and shoots himself. Barbara has been avenged, and Natalie is free to marry Ned.

Marriage for Convenience

1919

The Humming Bird poster
7.5

A pickpocket falls in love with a newspaperman. When he is sent off to war and she disguises herself as a boy, joins a gang and sets out to save him.

The Humming Bird

1924

Salome of the Tenements poster
10.0

A young East Side Jewish reporter gets into a sticky situation when she finds that her new beau is indicting a banker she owes money to.

Salome of the Tenements

1925

Evangeline poster
10.0

About an Acadian girl named Evangeline and her search for her lost love Gabriel, set during the time of the Expulsion of the Acadians, the forced removal by the British of the Acadian people from the present day Canadian Maritime provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island - parts of an area also known as Acadia.

Evangeline

1908

The White Black Sheep poster
7.0

Robert Kincairn, the dissolute son of a British colonel, is gallant enough to take the blame for a robbery perpetrated by his fiancee Enid. Thrown out of his home, he changes his name and joins the army.

The White Black Sheep

1926

Ranson's Folly poster
7.2

U. S. Cavalry Lieutenant Ranson belittles the exploits of a bandit known as "The Red Rider," and boasts to his fellow officers that he could hold up a stagecoach with a pair of scissors. And rides out and does so. But the next day, the postmaster, returning from a neighboring town, is also held up and his bodyguard is killed. Ranson is arrested on suspicion and placed on trial. But at the trial suspicion point to Cahill, post trader, and father of Ranson's sweetheart, Mary. In order to save him, Ranson pleads guilty but, in return and knowing that his daughter loves Ranson, Cahill admits he is "The Red Rider." Meanwhile, the real "Red Rider" is still at large.

Ranson's Folly

1926

The Amateur Gentleman poster
7.0

Barbanas Barty inherits some money, sets off to London, meets and falls in love with Lady Cleone Meredith, and this does not set well with Sir Mortiner Carnaby, who has eyes on the fair lady himself. Barnaby becomes friend with Viscount Devehon, buys a horse from him and enters it in the big steeplechase. Sir Mortimer takes steps to rid society of the presence of this non-gentleman.

The Amateur Gentleman

1926

Pardon My French poster
10.0

A traveling theatrical troupe is stranded in a small town, and the leading ingenue, Polly, returns to her New York City hometown broke. She and her friend Bunny, desperate for a job, convince the Hawkers, a "nouveau riche" family from Kansas, that they are French and an experienced maid-and-butler team. Young Zeke Hawker is smitten with Polly, but Polly is attracted to their neighbor, a famous actor named MacGillicuddy. One night at a swanky party given by Mrs. Hawker, her jewels wind up stolen, and Polly is suspected of it. Complications ensue until Polly discovers who the real thieves are.

Pardon My French

1921

Ben Hur poster
4.4

The first adaptation of Lew Wallace's novel, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.

Ben Hur

1907

My Lady Incog. poster
NR

Financial troubles force Nell Carroll, a thoroughbred, to seek employment in a detective agency which has just taken up the trail of a very baffling jewelry robbery in an exclusive summer colony. In order to work from the inside, she is sent to the place as the Baroness Du Vassey.

My Lady Incog.

1916

Uncle Tom's Cabin poster
8.0

Uncle Tom and Eliza's child are sold to Haley, a slave dealer. When Eliza learns that her son is to be taken from her, she steals the boy and runs away.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

1913

No artwork available
9.0

Alice Durand, after weeks of discouragement, reads the following advertisement in the New York Herald: "Governess wanted. Young American woman, well educated and speaking French and German, may obtain lucrative position with prominent Egyptian. Fare and expenses will be advanced. Write, enclosing photograph, to Mahmoud Pasha, Sphinx Club, Cairo, Egypt." Answering the advertisement, Alice seven weeks later, secures the position and leaves her New York boarding-house for Egypt.

A Prisoner of the Harem

1912

The Darling of the CSA poster
4.0

Anna Q. Nilsson is the title character, Agnes Lane, a daring spy for the South during the Civil War. She delivers an important message regarding an attack on a Yankee fort, then infiltrates the fort and turns herself in, only to change into a Union soldier’s clothes and escape with more confidential information. The Confederate soldiers love her, and treat her with respect, despite her un-ladylike profession. During the attack, morale appears to flag, but she sneaks out a message that she has been captured by the Yankees and is due to be executed, urging the boys to greater heroism. As they capture the fort, she again infiltrates and pretends to be grateful to her “rescuers.”

The Darling of the CSA

1912

No artwork available
9.0

"The Scarlet Letter" is a story of early Puritan days in New England. Hester, a beautiful young Englishwoman, is sent to America by her husband, with a promise that he will follow on the next ship. But he falls to keep his promise and Hester does not hear from him in years. In the meantime she is befriended by a young Puritan minister. Friendship ripens into love and Hester, thinking her husband dead, loves the handsome young clergyman with her whole heart. But when the baby is born the minister, fearing the wrath of the Pilgrim Fathers, denies it and Hester is condemned to wear the Scarlet Letter and to stand in the pillory. And it is only after several years of Hester's shame and ignominy that the little child finally reaches the father's heart. Then comes the great scene. The minister, on a fête day, ascends the pillory, places himself where Hester had been placed, and publicly proclaims his sin.

Scarlet Letter

1908

Little Old New York poster
6.5

An Irish girl comes to America disguised as a boy to claim a fortune left to her brother who has died.

Little Old New York

1923

Monsieur Beaucaire poster
5.6

The Duke of Chartres is in love with Princess Henriette, but she seemingly wants nothing to do with him. Eventually he grows tired of her insults and flees to England when Louis XV insists that the two marry. He goes undercover as Monsieur Beaucaire, the barber of the French Ambassador, and finds that he enjoys the freedom of a commoner’s life. After catching the Duke of Winterset cheating at cards, he forces him to introduce him as a nobleman to Lady Mary, with whom he has become infatuated. When Lady Mary is led to believe that the Duke of Chartres is merely a barber she loses interest in him. She eventually learns that he is a nobleman after all and tries to win him back, but the Duke of Chartres opts to return to France and Princess Henriette who now returns his affection.

Monsieur Beaucaire

1924

The Daughter of MacGregor poster
7.0

1916 American silent film.

The Daughter of MacGregor

1916

The Navajo's Bride poster
4.0

A short Western. Ivi, the beautiful daughter of an Indian chief, has three suitors. A competition will decide who gets to marry her. The winner is not Panther, who was Ivy’s favourite. But after he manages to catch a horse thief, he does wind up marrying her after all.

The Navajo's Bride

1910

From the Manger to the Cross poster
5.1

The life of Jesus is played out in tableaux shot in the Holy Land.

From the Manger to the Cross

1912