Wallace Reid

Born: 1891-04-14

Wallace Reid was an American actor in silent film referred to as "the screen's most perfect lover". Wallace Reid appeared in several films with his father, and as his career in film flourished, he was soon acting and directing with and for early film mogul Allan Dwan. In 1913, while at Universal Pictures, Reid met and married actress Dorothy Davenport. He was featured as Jeff, the blacksmith, in The Birth of a Nation (1915) and had an uncredited role in Intolerance (1916), both directed by D. W. Griffith; he worked with leading ladies such as Florence Turner, Gloria Swanson, Lillian Gish, Elsie Ferguson, and Geraldine Farrar en route to becoming one of Hollywood's major heartthrobs. Already involved with the creation of more than 100 motion picture shorts, Reid was signed by producer Jesse L. Lasky and starred in over 60 films for Lasky's Famous Players film company, which later became Paramount Pictures. Frequently paired with actress Ann Little, his action-hero role as the dashing race-car driver drew young girls and older women alike to theaters to see his daredevil auto thrillers such as The Roaring Road (1919), Double Speed (1920), Excuse My Dust (1920), and Too Much Speed (1921). While en route to a location in Oregon during filming of The Valley of the Giants (1919), Reid was injured in a train wreck near Arcata, California and needed six stitches to close a 3-inch (8 cm) scalp wound. To keep on filming, he was prescribed morphine for relief of his pain and Reid soon became addicted, but kept on working at a frantic pace in films that were growing more physically demanding, and changing from 15–20 minutes in duration to as much as an hour. Reid's morphine addiction worsened at a time when drug rehabilitation programs were non-existent. He died in a sanatorium while attempting to recover.


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Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages

as Boy Killed in Battle (uncredited)
Released: 1916-09-04

The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven...

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The Birth of a Nation

as Jeff, the Blacksmith
Released: 1915-02-08

Two families, abolitionist Northerners the Stonemans and Southern landowners the Camerons,...

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The Avenging Conscience

as The Doctor (uncredited)
Released: 1914-08-02

Thwarted by his despotic uncle from continuing his love affair, a young man's thoughts turn dark...

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Joan the Woman

as Eric Trent 1431 / Eric Trent 1917
Released: 1916-12-25

A WWI English officer is inspired the night before a dangerous mission by a vision of Joan of...

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Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 1942-01-01

The edition of Screen Snapshots celebrates 25 years of production. It looks at the content of...

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The Roaring Road

as Walter Thomas 'Toodles' Walden
Released: 1919-04-26

"Toodles" Waldron, racing enthusiast and the best salesman for J. D. Ward's automobile company,...

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The Devil Stone

as Guy Sterling
Released: 1917-12-16

Fishermaid Marcia Manot finds an emerald which once belonged to a Norse queen and is cursed....

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Carmen

as Don Jose
Released: 1915-10-31

Hot-blooded gypsy Carmen attempts to seduce Don Jose, a lawman sent to thwart a gang of illegal...

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The Three Brothers

as Jean Gaudet / Will
Released: 1915-01-10

Three brothers: Bob, Will and Charlie, all are in love with Mae. Bob, the eldest, is sullen and...

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The Legend of Rudolph Valentino

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 1961-05-24

A documentary of Hollywood's first great Latin Lover, the contradictions in his personal life,...

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The House with the Golden Windows

as Tom Wells
Released: 1916-08-10

Tom Wells is dissatisfied with his lot in life. Wondering aloud whether he'd be happier if...

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Don't Tell Everything

as Cullen Dale
Released: 1921-11-13

Two men in love with the same woman are further complicated by the arrival of a second woman.

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The Woman God Forgot

as Alvarado
Released: 1917-10-27

Cortez sends Alvarado to Montezuma who throws him into a dungeon from which he is rescued by...

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The Spider and Her Web

as uncredited
Released: 1914-03-26

The Spider and Her Web is a 1914 silent film.

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Enoch Arden

as Walter Fenn
Released: 1915-04-08

Seamen Enoch Arden returns home after a long absence marooned on a desert island. At home he...

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The Chorus Lady

as Danny Mallory
Released: 1915-10-18

As baby-faced chorine "Pat" O'Brien, the star protects her virtue against various and sundry...

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The Love Burglar

as David Strong
Released: 1919-07-13

A young man infiltrates the underworld by pretending to be a convicted burglar. While...

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The House That Shadows Built

as (archive footage)
Released: 1931-07-08

The House That Shadows Built (1931) is a short feature, roughly 48 minutes long, from Paramount...

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The Hell Diggers

as Teddy Darman
Released: 1921-09-04

Teddy Darman is the construction superintendent for the Continental Gold Dredging Company. But...

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Near To Earth

as uncredited
Released: 1913-03-20

This is the story of Gato, an Italian immigrant, who lives with his wife, Marie, and his younger...

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The Hostage

as Lieutenant Kemper
Released: 1917-09-10

The Highlanders and Lowlanders are sworn enemies until Lieutenant Kemper, the son of Brigadier...

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The Affairs of Anatol

as Anatol Spencer
Released: 1921-09-25

Socialite Anatol Spencer, finding his relationship with his wife lackluster, goes in search of...

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The Golden Chance

as Roger Manning
Released: 1915-12-30

Despite her well-bred upbringing, Mary had disobeyed her family’s wishes and married Steve...

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Rent Free

as Buell Arnister Jr
Released: 1922-01-01

A penniless artist moves into an abandoned house, but is discovered by the daughter of its...

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Station Content

as Jim Manning
Released: 1915-04-10

A dead child's broken doll reunites an estranged husband and wife.

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A Trip to Paramountown

as Self
Released: 1922-07-10

Documentary short film depicting the filmmaking activity at the Paramount Studios in Hollywood,...

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Thirty Days

as John Floyd
Released: 1922-12-10

John Cadwalader Floyd gets himself into a lot of trouble when hot-headed Italian Giacomo Polenta...

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Arms and the Gringo

as Sullivan
Released: 1914-06-28

ARCHIVE: George Eastman House

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Nice People

as Captain Billy Wade
Released: 1922-07-12

Teddy Gloucester, one of the group of jazz age "nice people," is caught in a farmhouse during a...

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Maria Rosa

as Andreas
Released: 1916-05-07

Ramon loves Catalonian peasant Maria Rosa. He uses a knife belonging to her love Andreas to kill...

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The Charm School

as Austin Bevans
Released: 1921-01-01

Austin Bevans, a lively car-salesman, suddenly finds himself heir to the Bevans School for...

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Clarence

as Clarence Smith
Released: 1922-10-15

Clarence Smith is an ex-soldier who is hired for odd jobs by Mr. Wheeler primarily because he...

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Too Many Millions

as Walsingham Van Doren
Released: 1918-12-08

Walsingham Van Dorn has a fancy name but no money until he inherits 40 million dollars from a...

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What's Your Hurry?

as Dusty Rhoades
Released: 1920-08-15

Truckdriver Dusty Rhoades leads a team of truckers over dangerous roads to deliver emergency...

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The Thing We Love

as Rodney Sheridan
Released: 1918-02-11

Just prior to America's declaration of war, Margaret Kenwood of the Kenwood Manufacturing...

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The Selfish Woman

as Tom Morley
Released: 1916-07-09

A young engineer, Tom Morley, is building a railroad through Imperial Valley. Tom's father also...

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The Ghost Breaker

as Walter Jarvis, a Ghost Breaker
Released: 1922-09-10

A young man and his manservant, escaping from a backwoods family feud, are persuaded by a...

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The Dictator

as Brooke Travers
Released: 1922-06-25

A silent romantic adventure melodrama (from the play and novel by Richard Harding) about a...

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Less Than Kin

as Hobart Lee / Lewis Vickers
Released: 1918-07-21

Lewis Vickers accidentally kills a man and goes to Central America. Here he meets Robert Lee,...

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The Dub

as John Craig (The 'Dub')
Released: 1919-01-19

John Craig is a struggling young contractor who falls into a crooked business scheme. A trio of...

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The Source

as Van Twiller Yard
Released: 1918-09-01

A young man of social standing chooses instead to live as a hobo. He gets work in a lumber camp,...

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The Deerslayer

as Chingachgook
Released: 1913-05-06

Wah-Ta-Wah, or Hist, the lady-love of Chingachgook, a Delaware chief, has been captured by the...

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The Little Country Mouse

as Lieutenant Hawkhurst
Released: 1914-11-16

Country girl May loses at cards and must borrow $250 from Captain Stiles, but the wealthy roué's...

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Too Much Speed

as 'Dusty' Rhoades
Released: 1921-06-05

Egotistical race-car driver Dusty Rhoades learns that humility pays off even better than acclaim.

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The World's Champion

as William Burroughs
Released: 1922-03-12

Young William Burroughs comes from wealth but not nobility, so despite his income he is not...

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The Golden Fetter

as James Roger Ralston
Released: 1917-01-25

Faith Miller, a school teacher, inherits ten thousand dollars. Edson, McGill and Slade, three...

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His Only Son

as Bob Madden
Released: 1912-10-09

Bob Madden returns home slightly intoxicated and his father angrily commands him to leave the...

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The Dancin' Fool

as Sylvester Tibble
Released: 1920-05-02

Sylvester Tibble is a clerk in his uncle's restaurant. Sylvester dreams of becoming a famous...

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You're Fired

as Billy Deering
Released: 1919-06-15

Railroad magnate Gordon Rogers agrees to allow his daughter, Helen, to marry wealthy idler Billy...

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The Yellow Pawn

as James Weldon
Released: 1916-11-23

An artist is in the countryside, painting, when he meets a girl in a roadster. They fall in...

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The Man from Funeral Range

as Harry Webb
Released: 1918-10-06

While out West, prospector Harry Webb makes enemies of a con artist, Mark Brenton and the con's...

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The Den of Thieves

as Wallace
Released: 1914-06-24

Lillian is an unfortunate woman. After leaving her baby at the door of a hospital she meets...

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The Love Mask

as Dan Derring
Released: 1916-04-13

During the California gold rush, four unsuccessful miners assume that a woman prospector will...

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Sick Abed

as Reginald Jay
Released: 1920-06-27

When showing a woman customer some ranch property, real estate agent John Weems's car is...

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The Mother of the Ranch

as The Mother's Friend Back East
Released: 1911-09-14

James Collins leaves his dear old mother and goes West, where he becomes connected with the Bar...

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Fortunes of a Composer

as Opera Attendee (uncredited)
Released: 1912-05-20

A drama about a poor composer who is betrayed by his family and left alone.

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Forever

as Peter Ibbetson
Released: 1921-10-16

Architect Peter Ibbetson is hired by the Duke of Towers to design a building for him. Ibbetson...

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Indian Romeo and Juliet

as Oniatore / Romeo
Released: 1912-01-30

Oniatare, a young brave of the tribe of the Hurons, and Kowa, a chief of the Mohicans, are in...

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Big Timber

as Jack Fife
Released: 1917-07-04

Stella Benton, a young society girl who has lost her beautiful voice through the death of her...

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The Seventh Son

as One of the Beecham Brothers
Released: 1912-04-03

At the outbreak of the Civil War in the United States, the six sons of widow Beecham enlist. The...

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Rimrock Jones

as Rimrock Jones
Released: 1918-01-21

Rimrock Jones is the toughest and most likeable prospector in a thriving Arizona copper camp....

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The World Apart

as Bob Fulton
Released: 1917-06-04

Bob Fulton is the superintendent of a mine in the West. He wins the enmity of dancehall owner...

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The Lost House

as Ford
Released: 1915-03-25

Before his niece and ward, Dosia Dale, comes of age, her uncle, who has spent her entire...

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The Prison Without Walls

as Huntington Babbs
Released: 1917-03-15

Helen Ainsworth, a young philanthropist, who is interested in a prison reform movement, is...

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The Spirit of the Flag

as Dr. Reid
Released: 1913-06-07

Dr. Reid, a young American physician in the Philippines, risks his life in the cause of...

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The Squaw Man's Son

as Lord Effington, aka Hal
Released: 1917-07-26

Hal, now fully grown, leaves his wife Edith and his estate in England to return to the land of...

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The Lottery Man

as Jack Wright
Released: 1919-10-12

Young Jack Wright offers his hand in marriage to the winner of a lottery, but after committing...

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Always Audacious

as Perry Dayton / 'Slim' Attucks
Released: 1920-11-14

Reckless heir of an influential San Francisco family, Perry Danton must prove his worth by...

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The Firefly of France

as Devereux Bayne
Released: 1918-06-23

The "Firefly of France" is an elusive master criminal of uncertain loyalties. When the Firefly...

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Excuse My Dust

as 'Toodles' Walden
Released: 1920-03-20

A top race-car driver leaves the sport to get married and settle down, because his new wife...

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Curfew Shall Not Ring Tonight

as Basil Underwood
Released: 1912-05-29

The story of "Curfew" tells of a soldier who deserted his post during wartime to keep a tryst...

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Old Heidelberg

as Prince Karl Heinrich
Released: 1915-11-14

Karl Heinrich is the heir to the throne of the small European principality of Rutania, but he's...

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The Valley of the Giants

as Bryce Cardigan
Released: 1919-08-31

Rival logging companies battle for the Valley of the Giants (redwood trees) when a young...

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The Heart of the Hills

as Dave - the Woodsman
Released: 1914-03-12

Two brothers live together in the Kentucky mountains. Wally, the younger, is a wood-cutter,...

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Playmates

as Party Guest at Piano (uncredited)
Released: 1912-02-10

A short film about the friendship between a little girl and a stray dog.

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Alias Mike Moran

as Larry Young
Released: 1919-03-02

Department-store clerk Larry Young is determined to marry a rich girl. He falls for Elaine...

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To Have and to Hold

as Captain Ralph Percy
Released: 1916-03-05

Lady Jocelyn, a favorite in the court of England's King James, escapes a forced marriage to the...

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Double Speed

as 'Speed' Carr
Released: 1920-02-01

Auto racer Speed Carr enters a marathon race across the United States, from New York to Los...

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Diamond Cut Diamond

as Clerk
Released: 1912-05-23

A silent comedy in which a jealous woman wants to catch her husband in the act of infidelity.

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Hawthorne of the U.S.A.

as Anthony Hamilton Hawthorne
Released: 1919-11-30

A light-hearted romantic adventure.

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Night Life in Hollywood

as Self
Released: 1922-11-15

A picture depicting the engrossing adventures of a small town youth in Hollywood and showing the...

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The House of Silence

as Marcel Levington
Released: 1918-04-08

A wealthy young criminologist Marcel Leviget is seen forcibly dragging his fellow clubman Dr....

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The Powder Flash of Death

as Captain Bruce Douglas
Released: 1913-07-08

Three pals, Reid, Neilan and Kirkland breast the breakers of their roving life with but one...

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Across the Continent

as Jimmy Dent
Released: 1922-06-04

Jimmy Dent , son of John Dent, the maker of the reliable but plain Dent automobile, is dismissed...

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The Love Special

as Jim Glover
Released: 1921-03-20

Jim Glover is an engineer in charge of constructing a railroad to the sea. He gives the company...

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Nan of Music Mountain

as Henry de Spain
Released: 1917-12-12

Henry de Spain is determined to find the man who murdered his father. He becomes sort of an...

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'Cross the Mexican Line

as Lt. Wallace
Released: 1914-06-17

Lieut. Wallace leaves his fiancée, Dorothy West, to cross the border with his troops into...

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Believe Me, Xantippe

as George MacFarland
Released: 1918-06-02

George MacFarland, a wealthy young man who loves adventure, bets his friends Thornton Brown and...

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The Victoria Cross

as Lt. Cholmodeley
Released: 1912-04-27

Ellen Carson volunteers to serve with Florence Nightingale in the Crimean war and witnesses the...

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At Cripple Creek

as Joe Mayfield
Released: 1912-07-17

Belle Gordon, an orphan, finds an advertisement in the papers for a governess to apply to the...

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Chumps

as George - the Denouement
Released: 1912-01-16

Bunny and Marsh attend a show and both fall in love with a charming danseuse.

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The Illumination

as Giuseppe's Father
Released: 1912-04-05

Set in Biblical times, this tells the story of how Jesus affected the lives of two people:...

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