Uncle Tom's Cabin (1914)

Synopsis: In the beginning of the film, we are informed that a slave named Jim Vance has escaped and a reward is being offered. Subsequently, we find that George Shelby, a farmer, is going through financial troubles and is being threatened by a certain Haley, who will foreclose on him unless Shelby gives him two of his slaves, an old man known as Uncle Tom and a little boy called Harry, the son of George Harris and Eliza. Meanwhile George Harris (described as a 'mulatto') escapes with Jim Vance to Canada, where he expects to gather enough money to buy his freedom and his family's. Eliza takes her child and escapes before he is given to Haley. Thus Haley takes Uncle Tom, who is a very religious man and much liked by everyone, to New Orleans. Meanwhile, a fierce hunt for both George Harris and Eliza is led, but they manage to elude their persecutors; George and Eliza finally meet and head to Canada. Meanwhile, in the ship to New Orleans Uncle Tom saves little Eva St. Clair from drowning and is bought by her family. Tom is happy with them. Later, Eva gets sick and dies. Mr. St. Clair is killed while trying to stop a bar fight and Tom is sold at an auction to the cruel and permanently drunken Simon Legree. Tom is put to work in the fields. After an argument between Tom, the supervisor and one worker, Tom is ordered to flog the worker but refuses and is himself flogged as punishment. Cassy the housekeeper intercedes in defense of Tom and is sent to work in the fields as punishment; young Emmeline is assigned as her replacement in the housekeeping duties (and, it is insinuated, as Legree's lover), but the two women plot their escape. Meanwhile, George Shelby's son, who had made a promise when he was a child to seek Tom, keeps his promise and the two finally meet; Tom dies shortly thereafter. Meanwhile the slave whom Tom had refused to flog avenges Tom's flogging by killing Legree.
Appraisal: This silent version of the famous 1852 novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe is a decent film considering the year it was made. The story itself is rather corny; I confess I have never read the novel. My copy lasted 43 minutes; IMDb states the film's length to be 54 minutes.