Evangeline

Evangeline (1914)

In the Canadian province of Acadia, young Evangeline is betrothed to Gabriel. But before their wedding can take place, the British imprison the men and send them into exile with their lands forfeit to the Crown Evangeline follows the exiled men in hopes of finding her beloved, but even after he and the other Acadians are released in Louisiana, she cannot find him, always arriving at some locale just after he has departed. But she dedicates her life to searching the continent for the man she loves.

Date of release
1914-02-02
Runtime
1h 15m
Genres
Drama
Director
Edward P. Sullivan, William Cavanaugh

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Based on: Evangeline
  • Filmed in: Nova Scotia

Evangeline is a 1914 Canadian silent drama film directed by Edward P. Sullivan and William Cavanaugh and starring Laura Lyman and John F. Carleton. The screenplay was adapted from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1847 poem Evangeline by Marguerite Marquis. It is the earliest recorded fictional Canadian feature film.

Production

The Canadian Bioscope Company was established by Herbert H.B. Holland in 1912, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. H.Thomas Oliver, an American cinematographer who had previous worked for Edison Studios was the company's general manager and vice-president. The company produced seven films and three shorts before going bankrupt.

Marguerite Marquis wrote a screenplay based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem Evangeline which had already been adapted into a film in 1911, and again in 1919 and 1929. The film was produced at a cost of $30,000 (equivalent to $826,067 in 2025).

William Cavanaugh, who worked for Pathe Freres, and Edward P. Sullivan, who worked for Edison Studios, directed the film. The directors and lead actors, Laura Lyman and John F. Carleton, were Americans while Canadians played the supporting roles.

It is the earliest recorded fictional feature film produced in Canada. Sam Kula, the leader of the National Film Archives of Canada, stated in 1975 that Madeleine de Verchères, by the British American Film Manufacturing Company, was the first Canadian feature film as it started filming in 1912. However, it is a lost film and is lacking evidence of its existence.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended