Uncle Tom as Six-Reeler


  Available below are the scenes from the 3-reel (c. 42-minute) 1910 Vitagraph production, as re-released about 1927 by the Empire Safety Film Company in a 6-reel 20-minute format. We hope someday to have the all the original film in the archive, but in the meantime there is one way to recover some of the missing parts (though not to view them). The Moving Picture World NOTICE OF THE FILM, which reads more like a description from an exhibitor's catalogue or even a script for a showman's narration than like a review, describes the 3-reel treatment in some detail. You can read it all for yourself. We've also copied the passages that describe each section into the display of the clips. There the italicized passages describe episodes or shots that aren't in the film we have.

REEL A: ON THE PLANTATION
  • Raising cotton and tobacco was Mr. Shelby's business.
  • Failure of crops compelled the selling of the slaves.
  • Eliza was the maid.
  • Uncle Tom was a good old slave.
  • "I'll take him or no one."
  • All evening they argued over whom to buy and sell . . .
  • Late at night they agreed, and Eliza overheard . . .
  • REEL B: ELIZA'S FLIGHT
  • Eliza hurried to Uncle Tom's cabin for advice.
  • "I'll stay, you go, The Lord be with you."
  • [Eliza's flight]
  • "Bloodhounds! I can hear them now."
  • [Eliza crosses the river]
  • Phineas the Quaker gave a helping hand . . .
  • REEL C: DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI
  • . . . Haley started down the River with Tom.
  • On the boat, Uncle Tom made friends with Little Eva.
  • One day . . . Little Eva fell overboard.
  • "Thank you, I hope good people will get you."
  • "Oh Daddy buy me Uncle Tom"
  • [St. Clare buys Tom]
  • "Uncle Tom you are coming home with us."
  • REEL D: UNCLE TOM AND LITTLE EVA
  • . . . it was Uncle Tom's duty to take care of Eva.
  • . . . Eva was always ailing.
  • Everyone came to visit Little Eva . . .
  • "Topsy, you must always be good."
  • . . . Eva went to play with the angels.
  • [Eva's death, continued]
  • REEL E: THE SLAVE MARKET
  • . . . Eva's parent had to sell the slaves again.
  • . . . human beings were sold like animals.
  • Simon Legree, a brutal planter, bought Tom . . .
  • Tom was a good worker, and helped [others] . . .
  • The pickers' work was carefully weighed.
  • "Master, that new nigger Tom helped her."
  • "Tom, beat that woman for loafing."
  • "Whip him until he does."
  • REEL F: THE WHIPPING BLOCK
  • . . . Tom has been sold to the brutal Legree.
  • "You're no good, you helped those two niggers . . ."
  • "A hundred lashes a day until they come back."
  • But Uncle Tom was not forgotten . . .
  • "There's what's left of him."
  • "Uncle Tom, it's George."
  • ". . . I'm going to my Little Eva . . ."


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