King Vidor Biocriticalfilmography

Compiled by Tag Gallagher.

• = lost film.

King Wallis Vidor, born February 8, 1894, Galveston, Texas.[1]  Died November 1, 1982.  Vidor was a third-genera­tion Texan; his father’s father had emigrated from Hungary and married a Floridan of Scot-English descent; his mother’s family had long been American. 

    “My luck was my father not striking oil.  He was there in Texas at just the right time for it.  And he was just the person to do it.  He was kind of a business speculator—not exactly a gambler, but always looking for something, always finding some fortune-making scheme…, things like certain trees in the Dominican Republic for the wood, but something always went wrong.  If he’d stayed closer to home, he might have struck oil, and we’d have been rich.  I’d never have set out for Holly­wood with my camera, and I’d have had a lot less interesting life.” [chan]

    “In 1900, at the age of six, I went through a flood and hur­ricane in which the island was completely inundated with ten feet of water.  Out of a population of twenty-nine thousand, ten thousand were either drowned or killed.  The streets were piled high with dead people.  I saw that the bay was filled with dead bodies, horses, animals, people, everything.” [dga]

     He went to grade school at the Peacock Military Academy in San Antonio. “I detested that military school, I ran away.  Nonetheless I did learn a bit of technique.  Enough so that when I shot my first films I didn’t need an adviser.  Now I’m no longer the same individual as at thirteen or four­teen.  I can’t remember any longer if it was my father who sent me to that school or if I was the one why wanted to go there.” [pos]   He ran away, too, from a private high school in Maryland, three time.  He went once to New York where he haunted film studios, spent his money seeing movies and slept under a bridge.  At 16 he dropped out of school and got a job in a storefront nickelodeon in Galveston selling tickets and sometimes projecting.

   “The first movie I saw was A Trip to the Moon.  It was shown in the Grand Opera House in Galveston when I was about fifteen.  I did not know that the movie had been made in Paris, by Georges Méliès, seven or eight years earlier.  I sat with two other boys, and our discus­sion centered on the question of how moving pictures were made.  I claimed it was done by photography, at which the other two vigorously stood me down, the older boy claiming that all images were painted on the film, frame by frame.

    “I saw the two-reel Ben Hur, made in Italy, twenty-one times each day or one hundred and forty-seven times in its week’s run.…At one showing I would concentrate on the actors’ pantomime as expressed by their arms and hands; at the next I would decide to study only their fa­cial expressions; at another I would watch the thought expressed solely by the attitudes of their bodies.” [tree]

    “I tried selling used cars in east Texas.  It didn’t last long.  I guess that was my good luck too, that I didn’t show more promise at it, or I might have been an automobile dealer in Texas.  But I don’t really think so.  More and more, I believe each one of us has something he’s meant to do.  You know, the movies and I were born about the same time.  I’ve always felt it was my destiny.  I couldn’t have escaped it.  You have a destiny in life, and luck is finding that destiny.  Some peo­ple are unlucky and don’t find their destiny.” [chan]

•1909.   [Footage of hurricane in Galve­ston.]   Prod.-Ph.: King Vidor, Roy Clough.

   “I wrote to the New York office of Mutual Weekly (nesreels were theen called ‘weeklies’) and requested that I be made their cameraman in the state of Texas.  I immediately received the following telegram:

longest march of massed troops in this history of the united states army will be undertaken beginning next week.  over eleven thousand officers and men will march the hundred miles to houston and return.   we will pay sixty cents per foot for all usable film.  you are hereby appointed our representative for texas.”  [tree]

•1914.   [10,000 Army troops parade in Houston.]  Footage for Mutual Weekly.  Prods: King Vidor, John Boggs.  Dir.-Ph.: Vi­dor.

•1914.  WHO IS BARBARA? 

   Cited in La Revue du Cinéma, June 1930, as the first of a number of little comedies that Vidor shot with $600 earned from shooting newsreels; not cited by any subsequent source.

•1914.   IN TOW.   2 reels.  Exhibited locally.  Completed in August.

Dir.-Sc.: King Vidor.  Prods.: Vidor, John Boggs.  Ph.: Boggs.  With King Vidor (Carson, a race driver; and comic role), Pansy Buchanan (Helen), D.Y. Cole (Abie). 

    With Edward Sedgwick, also from Galveston and later Buster Keaton’s director at MGM, Vidor formed the Hotex Film Manufacturing Company, and tried to attract investors.

•1914.  Beautiful Love.  1-reel(?).  Hotex.  Completed in September.

Dir.: Edward Sedgwick.  Prod.: King Vidor.  Sc.: Sedgwick, Vidor. 

With King Vidor, Eileen Sedgwick, D.Y. Cole.

•1914.  The Heroes.  1-reel(?).  Hotex.  Com­pleted in September.

Dir.: Edward Sedgwick.  Prod.: King Vidor.  Sc.: Sedgwick, Vidor. 

With Edward Sedgwick, Eileen Sedgwick, D.Y. Cole, Josie Sedgwick.

    “They cost no more than the stock and lab costs, about ten cents a foot: approximately two or three hundred dollars each.  [hgm]  I met a girl who had ambitions, a beautiful, lovely girl who wanted to be an actress in films.”  [schic]

    In October 1914 Vidor married Florence Arto.  The same day they left for New York and contracted with Sawyer, Inc., to distribute Hotex’s films.  Sawyer failed a few days later and was taken over by The Colossus Feature Film Company, which accepted Hotex’s negatives, distributed them nation­wide and never paid a cent in royalties.

   “By that time we had a camera of our own mounted on a surveyor’s tripod and costing no more than a hundred and twenty-five dollars and finally we put together a laboratory.  Our open stage consisted of some telephone poles with cloth stretched over the top.  At that time, I didn’t know if I was go­ing to be an actor, a cameraman, a writer, or what.  There was no planning; it was a hand-to-mouth existence, whatever you could scrounge.”  [hgm]

•1915.   [Houston sugar refining docu­mentary.]

Dirs.-Sc.: King Vidor, John Boggs.

With Florence Arto (Vidor).

   Mitry gives title, The Sugar Industry.

•1915.  [Documentary on title insur­ance business.]

•1915.   [Simulated car theft in Fort Worth.]  Sent to Ford Motor Company; never shown.

Dirs.: King Vidor, Clifford Vick.

  Mitry gives title, The Upper T. 

•1915. [Documentary on industrial patents.]

•1915.   [Newsreel footage.]  for Ford Weekly.

Phs.: King Vidor, Clifford Vick.

    “We bought a Ford automobile with a $25 down payment and I figured out that if I could shoot enough footage for the Ford Motor Company to use in their films, we could make sixty cents per foot and be able to finance the trip.  We ran out of money long before the trip was over.[dga]  There were three of us: myself, my wife Florence Vidor, who later became a star, and a boy from Texas [Clifford Vick] who didn’t stay on.” [hgm] 

    Kevin Brownlow:  There were virtually no good roads outside the East, and their journey had all the drama of a covered-wagon trek.  It was still necessary to wait patiently while cowboys drove great herds of cattle past.  On a railroad embankment in New Mexico, the Vidors encountered a line of covered wagons. [brown war]

    “They were gipsies, the men with knives in their belts, the women with wild, flowing skirts.  The embankment was so narrow that we couldn't get by if they didn't pull over a bit.  We stopped, and suddenly the women were all over us, taking whatever they could, putting their hands into pockets of clothes in the car.  We had stuff tied all over the car, food, buckets, guns.  One of them reached over and turned off the ignition switch.  I kicked it back with my foot just before the engine died—otherwise it meant getting out and using the crank.  The car started off with all these women hanging on the running board.  I started going faster and faster and two or three of them got frightened and jumped off, but some of them stayed on.  We could still hear the men laughing and yelling, the women were still trying to grab stuff out of our pockets and claw our faces—so we pushed them off, prising open their fingers and pushing them in the face, and they went whirling through the air, skirts flying, hitting the dirt.  That's how we got away.  Soon afterwards, we met three fellows in a car with guns—a sheriff and two deputies.  They asked us if we'd seen a band of gipsies.  We told them our story and they said they had gone into a restaurant in Raton, New Mexico, and cleaned out all the shelves. [brown war]

   “At the end of that trip we stopped in San Francisco.  We were absolutely broke with twenty cents between us.  The Birth of a Nation was showing then, and reserve seats were $2.50, and that was a tremendous price.  When we sold the au­tomobile we had enough money to go see The Birth of a Na­tion, with just enough money to get down  to Los Angeles by boat.” [dga]

      Corinne Griffith, an old flame from Texas who was just starting her career, helped Florence find steady work acting at Vitagraph.  King took every odd job he could find, including a few days as an extra in Griffith’s Intolerance. 

      “I would do anything just to get inside a studio and watch directors working. [hgm]  

       “I really developed out of watching and studying Griffith films a thing I call silent music, which was to see how I could put into a silent film tempo and rhythm and crescendo and so forth, as in a musical composition.  And, of course, in the Griffith films he would have an orchestra playing with the films and he would use recurrent themes in Hearts of the World, Birth of a Nation and so forth.  All were worked out musically.  This inspired me to carry this idea on—to more study and more experimentation.” [schic]

Vidor wrote 52 scenarios before selling :

•1916.  When It Rains It Pours.  Vita­graph.  1 reel.  Jul. 15.

Prod.-dir.: William Wolbert.   Sc.: King Vidor.  Copyright: 9-6-1918.

With Mary Anderson (Sue Monroe), Reggie Morris (Bobby), Otto Lederer (Mr. Monroe), Anne Schaefer (Aunt Susan).

1916.  The Intrigue.  Paramount/Pallas.  5 reels.  September.

Dir.: Frank Lloyd.

With Lenore Ulrich (countess), Cecil Van Auker (hero), Howard Davies (villain), Flo­rence Vidor (countess’s maid), Paul Weigel, King Vidor (chauffeur).

•1917. The Fifth Boy.  Universal/Victor.  1 reel.  Oct. 29.

Dir.: Raymond B. Wells.  Sc.: King Vidor.

With Buster Emmons, Guy Hayman, Gilbert Kurland, Wesley Barry.

•1917.  What’ll We Do with Uncle?  Uni­veral/Victor.  1 reel.  Oct. 22

Dir.: William Beaudine.  Sc.: King Vidor.

With Henry Murdock (Henry), Mildred Davis (Flossie), Milt Uhl (dealer), Edwin K. Baker.

    A comedy.  An artist attempts various forms of suicide after mistaking Flossie’s theatrical rehearsal for infidelity.

•1917.  A Bad Little Good Man.  Univer­sal/Nestor.  1 reel.  October.

Dir.: William Beaudine.  Sc.: King Vidor.  Oct. 29.

With Mattie Commont (Idaho Ida), Henry Mur­dock (Texas Tommy), Edwin Baker (Montana Joe).

    A western.  Dancehall girl with six-gun protects Texas Tommy, who in turn saves her from Montana Joe.

•1917.  Dan’s Daring Drama; or, Harem-Scare Em.  Universal/Nestor.  2 reels.

Dir.: Al Santell.  Sc.: King Vidor.

With Dave Morris (Sultan), Harry Mann (Harmon Naigs), Gladys Tennyson (Lily White).

    Apparently released under another title.  Listed here under Vidor’s original title.

•1917.  Just My Sister.  Universal/Nestor.  2 reels.

Dir.: Al Santell.  Sc.: King Vidor.

    Apparently released under another title.  Listed here under Vidor’s original title.

    “Finally I got one as a writer in the story department at Universal.  There I met a man named George Brown who was making a series of half-hour films.  Although I hadn’t directed, I told him I had, so he sent me out as a cameraman for two or three days on one of his projects.  I did know how to operate a camera, however, and had in fact sold one of my short two-reel comedies of the Vitagraph Company for thirty dollars.

      “Soon after that, George Brown left Universal, founded his own company and hired me as a director.  I must have made about fifteen or twenty half-hour films for him, mainly stories concerning juvenile delinquency.” [hgm]

      Kevin Brownlow.  Judge Willis Brown  established “Boy Cities” in Charlevoix, Michigan, and Gary, Indiana, in the 1900s  on the lines of Father Flanagan’s Boys Town.  (Selig made a one-reeler about these operations.)  Brown then presided over the juvenile court of Salt Lake City.  [Challenged by an editor, the judge wrote and] directed a five-reeler about an immigrant lad who benefited from “Boy City,”  A Boy and the Law (1914).  For his later films, he hired the young King Vidor first to write, then to direct his scipts.  Brown rented a group of buildings in Culver City, Cal­ifornia, where he hoped to establish a studio-cum-“Boy City.”  He called it the Boy City Film Corporation.  Vidor de­scribed how he would pick up newsboys to play in these pic­tures, offering them a two-dollar cash advance.  [brown mas]

      “The films invariably started with a group of boys seated around a large conference table with Judge Brown.  The parents of some unruly boy would present a seemingly insoluble prob­lem of an erring son.  Judge Brown would always prescribe some unorthodox but deeply human remedy.  The main film story would concern itself with the manner in which these in­tensely human problems worked themselves out.  I deeply be­lieved in these films and I put my heart and soul into making them.” [tree.]

      Kevin Brownlow.  When he first began making pic­tures, King Vidor told his wife that he intended to become a second D.W. Griffith.  “He said this without conceit.  It was just a simple statement,” said Florence Vidor.  [brown war]

    “From one film to another, as with the canvases of a painter, it is indispensable that a director be recognizable by his style.  My ambition was always that people would recog­nize a Vidor the way they do a Renoir or a Monet.”  [legu]

1918.  BUD’S RECRUIT.  Boy City Film Corp.—General Film Corp.  2 reels.  Jan. 19.

Dir.: King Vidor.  Prod.-Sc.: Judge Willis Brown.

With Wallis Brennan (Bud), Robert Gordon (Reggie), Ruth Hampton (Reggie’s fiancée).

      Kevin Brownlow.  One of the first propaganda objec­tives [when America entered World War I] was directing public opinion against men who evaded the draft.  Children were used  to shame their fathers and brothers into enlisting.  One of these, Bud’s Recruit, featured a boy nmed Bud (Wallis Brennan), who organizes his pals into a military unit and drills them regularly.  Bud’s elder brother Reggie (Robert Gordon) is a slacker who attends pacifist meetings with his mother, much to Bud’s disgust.  Bud disguises himself in a mustache and goes down to the recruiting station, where he fills in an application in Reggie’s name.  “This,” [wrote Mov­ing Picture World]. “results in an awakening of Reggie’s man­hood and also raises him in his sweetheart’s estimation.”  [brown war]

•1918.  THE CHOCOLATE OF THE GANG.  Boy City Film Corp.—General Film Corp.  2 reels.  Jan. 26.

Dir.: King Vidor.  Prod.-Sc.: Judge Willis Brown.

With Thomas Bellamy (Chocolate), Judge Willis Brown.

•1918.  THE LOST LIE.  Boy City Film Corp.—General Film Corp.  2 reels.  Mar. 2.

Dir.: King Vidor.  Prod.-Sc.: Judge Willis Brown.

With William Vaugh, Mike O’Rourke (two boys), Ruth Hampton (Mike’s sister), Judge Willis Brown.

    Working title: Two Boys and Two Lies.

•1918.  TAD’S SWIMMING HOLE.  Boy City Film Corp.—General Film Corp.  2 reels.  Feb. 20.

Dir.: King Vidor.  Prod.-Sc.: Judge Willis Brown.

With Ernest Butterworth (Tad), Ruth Hampton (rescued girl), Judge Willis Brown, Guy Hayman.\

•1918.  MARRYING OFF DAD.  Boy City Film Corp.—General Film Corp.  2 reels.  Mar. 16.

Dir.: King Vidor.  Prod.-Sc.: Judge Willis Brown.

With Wallis Brennan, Ernest Thompson (two brothers), Sadie Clayton (housekeeper/wife), Ruth Hampton (girl next door), Judge Willis Brown.

•1918. Eddie Get the Mop.  Universal/ Nestor.  1 reel.  Mar. 18.

Dir.: William Beaudine.  Sc.: King Vidor.

With Harry Murdock, Mattie Commont.

•1918.  THE PREACHER’S SON.  Boy City Film Corp.—General Film Corp.  2 reels.  Mar. 30.

Dir.: King Vidor.  Prod.-Sc.: Judge Willis Brown.

With Guy Hayman (Charles), Wharton Jones (his father), Ernest Thompson, William Du­Vaull, Charles Force, Judge Willis Brown.

•1918.  THIEF OR ANGEL.  Boy City Film Corp.—General Film Corp.  2 reels.  Mar. 30.

Dir.: King Vidor.  Prod.-Sc.: Judge Willis Brown.

With Ruth Hampton (Antonetta/Tony), Charles Richards (doctor), W.T. Horn (judge), Helen Muir, Ernest Thompson, Grace Marvin, Judge Willis Brown.

•1918.  THE ACCUSING TOE.  Boy City Film Corp.—General Film Corp.  2 reels.  Mar. 3.

Dir.: King Vidor.  Prod.-Sc.: Judge Willis Brown.

With Dale Fath (Steve), Wharton Jones (miller), Judge Willis Brown, Sadie Clayton.

•1918.  THE REBELLION.  Boy City Film Corp.—General Film Corp.  2 reels.  Apr. 27.

Dir.: King Vidor.  Prod.-Sc.: Judge Willis Brown.

With Doug Lansing, Robert Planett, Martin Pendleton (three boys), William White, Wharton Jones, J.G.Underhill, Sadie Clayton, Hugh Saxon, Judge Willis Brown.

•1918.  I’M A MAN.  Boy City Film Corp.—General Film Corp.  2 reels.  Apr. 21.

Dir.: King Vidor.  Prod.-Sc.: Judge Willis Brown.

With Martin Pendleton (Frank Eisel), Whar­ton Jones (Jules de Courcey), Ruth Hampton (Ruth Eisel), Lloyd Hughes (David Smith), William Davenport (Simon Eisel), Judge Willis Brown.

•1918.  There Goes the Bride.  Universal Star Comedy.  1 reel.  Jun. 8.

Dir.: Roy Clements. Sc.: Eddie Lyons, Lee Moran.  Story: King Vidor.

With Eddie Lyons, Lee Moran, Betty Brown, Margaret Culington, Beatrice Van.

•1918. The Pursuing Package.  Universal/ Nestor.  1 reel.  July 1.

Dir.: Al Santell. Sc.: King Vidor.

With Harry Mann, Kathleen O'Connor, William Carlock.

•1919.  THE TURN IN THE ROAD.  Brent­wood/Robertson-Cole—Exhibitors Mutual.  5 reels.  March 8.