The Unwritten Law (1907 film)
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| The Unwritten Law: A Thrilling Drama Based on the Thaw-White Tragedy | |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Siegmund Lubin |
Production company | Lubin Manufacturing Company |
Release date | 1907 |
Running time | 12 min. |
| Country | USA |
The Unwritten Law: A Thrilling Drama Based on the Thaw-White Case is a 1907 film produced by the Lubin Manufacturing Company in the true crime genre, about Harry Kendall Thaw's killing of Stanford White over his involvement with model and actress Evelyn Nesbit.[1][2] Produced and released concurrently with Thaw's trial, its depiction of a recent sexual scandal led to widespread controversy, becoming "the first film in the United States to be widely construed as 'scandalous'".[3]
Plot[edit]
The plot closely follows Nesbit's own testimony regarding White's seduction and assault, followed by a scene of the killing and Thaw's imprisonment in New York prison The Tombs. Finally, the film shows Thaw's acquittal, though in reality, he had not yet been acquitted at the time of the film's release.[2]
Reception[edit]
The film was denounced in the motion picture press and banned in several cities.
In his book Policing Cinema: Movies and Censorship in Early-Twentieth Century America, film scholar Lee Grieveson situates the film within the broader discourse on sexuality, morality, and cinema in the United States.
References[edit]
- ^ Grieveson, Lee, 1969- (24 May 2004). Policing cinema : movies and censorship in early-twentieth-century America. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-520-93742-0. OCLC 56713994.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b Fronc, Jennifer, 1974- (15 November 2017). Monitoring the movies : the fight over film censorship in early twentieth-century urban America (First ed.). Austin. pp. 8–9. ISBN 978-1-4773-1379-4. OCLC 978351907.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Grieveson, Lee (2004). Policing Cinema: Movies and Censorship in Early Twentieth-Century America. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 38. ISBN 0-520-23965-2.
External links[edit]
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