The Land Beyond the Sunset

The Land Beyond the Sunset is a 1912 short, silent drama film which tells the story of a young boy, oppressed by his grandmother, who goes on an outing in the country with a social welfare group. It stars Martin Fuller, Mrs. William Bechtel, Walter Edwin and Bigelow Cooper. Produced by Edison Studios in collaboration with the Fresh Air Fund, the screenplay was written by Dorothy G. Shore and directed by Harold M. Shaw.

The Land Beyond the Sunset
Film's original title card with credit to the author of the story
Directed byHarold M. Shaw
Written byDorothy G. Shore
StarringMartin Fuller
Mrs. William Bechtel
Walter Edwin
Bigelow Cooper
Distributed byThomas A. Edison, Inc.
Release date
  • October 28, 1912 (1912-10-28)
Running time
1 reel (1000 feet); originally 14-15 minutes[1][2]
CountryUnited States
LanguagesSilent film
English intertitles

In 2000, The Land Beyond the Sunset was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[3][4] It is included on the DVD Treasures from American Film Archives (2000).

Plot

Joe is an impoverished New York newsboy who lives with his abusive grandmother. While selling papers, he is given a ticket for a children's excursion sponsored by the Fresh Air Fund. The next morning, Joe sneaks out of his tenement home to join the excursion, where he sees the countryside and the ocean for the first time. After a picnic, an adult volunteer reads to the children a fanciful tale from storybook, a tale about a young prince who is beaten by an old witch. A group of fairies rescues the boy, take him to a boat, and sail off for "the Land Beyond the Sunset, where he lived happily ever after." Joe imagines himself as the boy in the story. When the other children and adults begin their return to the city, Joe manages to get the book, linger, and then hide, afraid that his grandmother will be mad at him and dreading the prospect of returning to his wretched life in the city's slums. Next he wanders to the beach, where he finds a rowboat and decides to embark alone on a voyage to the wonderful, far-off land. He pushes the oarless boat into the water and climbs aboard. The film ends with a distant view of Joe, holding the storybook against his chest, slowly drifting out to sea toward the horizon and most likely to his death.

Cast
  • Martin Fuller as Joe, the Newsboy
  • Mrs. William Bechtel as Joe's Grandmother
  • Walter Edwin as Manager of the Fresh Air Fund
  • Ethel Jewett as Committee Woman
  • Elizabeth Miller as Committee Woman
  • Gladys Du Pell as Committee Woman
  • Margery Bonney Erskine as Committee Woman (as Mrs. Wallace Erskine)
  • Bigelow Cooper as The Minister

Production

The film was shot in studio at the Edison Company's plant at Decatur Avenue and Oliver Place in New York City, in the Bronx, as well as on location in a Bronx-area park that afforded a view of Long Island Sound.[5]

References and notes
  1. "Edison Kinetoscope / "The Land Beyond the Sunset", The Moving Picture World (New York, N.Y.), 26 October 1912, p. 315. Internet Archive (I.A.), San Francisco, California. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  2. Kawin, Bruce F. How Movies Work. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1987, pp. 46-47. According to this reference, a full 1000-foot reel of film in the silent era had a maximum running time of 15 minutes. Projection-speed rates of films in the silent era varied somewhat due to equipment inconsistencies, although the "standard" speed was generally considered to be 16 frames per second, much slower than the 24 frames of later sound films.
  3. "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-05-04.
  4. "Librarian of Congress Names 25 More Films to National Film Registry". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-05-04.
  5. Eagan, Daniel. America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry. New York: Continuum. p 26. Retrieved 28 December 2015 ISBN 978-0826-41849-4 ISBN 978-0826-42977-3
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
  • The Land Beyond the Sunset essay by Scott Simmon on the National Film Registry website
  • The Land Beyond the Sunset at IMDb
  • The Land Beyond the Sunset essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 ISBN 0826429777, pages 25–27
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