Votes for Women (1912)
Synopsis
Named by historian Kevin Brownlow as “the first important suffrage film”, this melodrama follows suffragist May Fillmore in her fight to sway Senator Herman, whose vote could pass a key reform bill. After exposing him and his fiancée Jane Wadsworth to the dire living conditions of a motherless tenement family—unsanitary housing, child labor, and workplace exploitation—Jane turns against her negligent fiancé and joins the suffrage cause. Ultimately, both Herman and Jane’s father are persuaded to support reform, and the film ends with the characters proudly taking part in a suffrage parade. (Note: This silent narrative film is distinct from Edison’s Votes for Women (1913), a Kinetophone short that recorded real suffragist leaders delivering speeches.)
Release Date: 1912-06-25
Runtime: 20 minutes
Director: Hal Reid
Top Cast
- Edgena De Lespine as Jane Wadsworth
- Gertrude Robinson as
- Sue Balfour as
- Pearl Egan as
- Gladys Egan as
- Charles Herman as
- Edward P. Sullivan as
- J.W. Backus as
- Jane Addams as Self
- Frances Maule Bjorkman as Self
Soundtrack
Original Music Composer(s): N/A
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