Olaf—An Atom

1913 film

May 19, 1913 (1913-05-19)

Running time

17 minutes (16 frame/s)
1,003 feet^[1]CountryUnited StatesLanguageSilent with English intertitles

Olaf—An Atom is a 1913 American film directed by Anthony O'Sullivan and featuring Harry Carey.

Plot

Broken by grief after his mother's death, Olaf becomes a wanderer. He is treated cruelly until he is given a meal by a woman at the homestead where she lives with her husband and baby. Olaf is able to return her kindness when he overhears a plot to rob the settlers of their home. He alerts the couple and delays the would-be thieves long enough for the husband to file a claim on his land. Olaf is injured by the claim jumpers but he recovers, alone and forgotten by those he has helped. He then moves aimlessly along.

Cast

Olaf (Harry Carey, left) overhears a plot to seize the homestead of a couple that has been kind to him.

Harry Carey as Olaf^[2]
Kate Bruce as Olaf's mother^[1]
Charles Hill Mailes as a parent^[3]
Claire McDowell as a parent^[2]
Donald Crisp as the beggar
Frank Evans as the blacksmith
John T. Dillon as the claim jumper
Thomas Jefferson as the doctor (unconfirmed)

Production

Directed by Anthony O'Sullivan and written by William E. Wing, Olaf—An Atom was produced by the Biograph Company and released May 19, 1913, in the United States.^[4]^[5] The drama was released August 4, 1913, in the United Kingdom.^[6]

The film was retitled The Wanderer and re-released by the Aywon Film Corporation, a New York City company formed in early 1919. Aywon reissued films including the Biograph Company short films, which were often lengthened by the addition of intertitles.^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b Graham, Cooper C. (1985). D. W. Griffith and the Biograph Company. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. p. 181. ISBN 9780810818064.
^ ^a ^b "Answers to Inquiries". The Motion Picture Story Magazine. September 1913. p. 140. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
^ "Comments on the Films". The Moving Picture World. May 31, 1913. p. 919. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
^ "Calendar of Licensed Releases". The Moving Picture World. May 17, 1913. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
^ Katchmer, Gerald A. (1991). Eighty Silent Film Stars. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. p. 210. ISBN 9780899504940.
^ "Supplement to The Cinema". The Cinema News and Property Gazette. July 2, 1913. p. 100. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
^ Slide, Anthony (2001) [1998]. The New Historical Dictionary of the American Film Industry. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 17. ISBN 9781578860159.