Mary Pickford Season: FD Cinematheque

The Usurer (1910)

Director: D W Griffith

Cast: Mary Pickford, George Nichols, Grace Henderson, Mack Sennett, Edward Dillon, Anthony O’Sullivan, Alfred Paget, Kate Bruce, Henry B Walthall, Claire McDowell, Linda Arvidson, Florence Barker, Dorothy West

17 min

D W Griffith

The Usurer is a silent short film made in 1910 directed by David W. Griffith for Biograph Company .

Griffith employs many of his favorite actors of that period: Linda Arvidson (wife of Griffith), George Nichols (in the title role), Jeanie Macpherson , who three years later will start a successful career as a screenwriter and the young Mary Pickford in a young girl invalid role.

Plot 

A wealthy, callous moneylender finds a terrifying way to learn about money’s limitations.

Production 

The short film was produced by the Biograph Company . It was shot – from 10 to 15 July 1910 – in New York, at the Biograph studios on Fourteenth Street ^[1] .

Distribution 

Distributed by the Biograph Company , this film was released in US cinemas on August 15, 1910. A copy of the film is kept in the archives of the Library of Congress and Museum of Modern Art . The rights of the film are in the public domain ^[1] .

In 2002, Kino on Video published an anthology on DVD entitled Griffith Masterworks: Biograph Shorts (1908-1914) lasting 362 minutes which also contained this film in a version of 18 minutes ^[2] .

Notes 

See also 

• David Wark Griffith Filmography
• George Nichols Filmography
• Mary Pickford filmography
• Biograph Company Filmography