Rolfe Photoplays

Rolfe Photoplays

Industry	Motion picture
Founded	1915^[citation needed]
Founder	B.A. Rolfe
Defunct	1920^[citation needed]
Key people	Maxwell Karger

B.A. Rolfe's "Houdini Serial", 1919

Silent movie The Master Mystery (1919). Running time: 09:39. Episode of a serial in fifteen episodes with magician and escape artist Houdini in the lead.

Rolfe Photoplays Inc., originally B. A. Rolfe Photoplays Company, was an American motion picture production company established by musical entertainer B.A. Rolfe. Its productions were primarily filmed on the East Coast, usually in and around Fort Lee, New Jersey, although the company also filmed in California. Its films were distributed through an agreement with Louis B. Mayer's Metro Pictures Corporation.

Between 1915 and 1918, B.A. Rolfe used Rolfe Photoplays Inc. to produce forty-nine silent films, several of which were collaborations with director/screenwriter Oscar A.C. Lund including the 1916 drama "Dorian's Divorce" starring Lionel Barrymore. As well, he used the corporate name "B.A. Rolfe Photoplayers Inc." and "B.A. Rolfe Productions" to produce another three films including the 1919 fifteen-part mystery serial The Master Mystery starring Harry Houdini. Maxwell Karger was an executive at the studio.^[1] By 1920, the B.A. Rolfe production companies ceased operating.

Films

• Rip Van Winkle (1914)
• The Three of Us (1914)
• Satan Sanderson,^[2] adapted from a 1907 book by Hallie Erminie Rives
• The Cowboy and the Lady (1915)
• Destiny (1915)
• Cora (1915)
• Marse Covington (1915)
• Dorian's Divorce (1916)
• The Purple Lady (1916)
• The Sunbeam (1916)
• The Brand of Cowardice (1916)
• The Awakening of Helena Richie^[3]
• The White Raven (1917)^[4]
• The Trail of the Shadow (1917)
• Miss Robinson Crusoe (1917)
• The Duchess of Doubt (1917)
• The Girl Without a Soul (1917)
• The Barricade (1917)

References

1. Gmür, Leonhard (November 14, 2013). Rex Ingram: Hollywood's Rebel of the Silver Screen. epubli. ISBN 9783844246018 – via Google Books.
2. "Benny Rolfe of Brasher Falls: Pioneer of Silent Films -". 8 December 2014.
3. "The Awakening of Helena Richie. Motion picture copyright descriptions collection. Class L, 1912-1977". Library of Congress.
4. "This page no longer exists". Archived from the original on 2022-07-29.