Henry B. Walthall (left) and Frank Powell.     Frame enlargement: Silent Era low-res collection.

Cast: Frank Powell [the wheat king], Grace Henderson [his wife], James Kirkwood [the farmer], Linda Arvidson [the farmer’s wife], Gladys Egan [the farmer’s daughter], W. Chrystie Miller [her grandfather], Henry B. Walthall [wheat king’s main associate], Owen Moore [wheat king associate], Frank Evans [trader in ‘the wheat pit’; grain elevator attendant], William J. Butler [trader in ‘the wheat pit’], Charles Craig [trader in ‘the wheat pit’], Robert Harron [trader in ‘the wheat pit’], Arthur V. Johnson [trader in light suit in ‘the wheat pit’], George O. Nicholls [trader in ‘the wheat pit’], Anthony O’Sullivan [trader in ‘the wheat pit’], William A. Quirk [trader in ‘the wheat pit’], Mack Sennett [a moustached trader in ‘the wheat pit’], [?] Henry Lehrman? [trader in ‘the wheat pit’], Jeanie Macpherson [banquet guest and visitor to grain elevator], Blanche Sweet [visitor to grain elevator], Dorothy West [visitor to grain elevator], Kate Bruce [old woman with granddaughter in bakery], Edith Haldeman [woman in bakery], Ruth Hart [woman in bakery], Gertrude Robinson [woman in bakery], [?] Adele de Garde?, [?] Charles West?, [?] (unknown)? [first policeman], [?] (unknown)? [second policeman]

Biograph Company production; distributed by Biograph Company. / From the story “A Deal in Wheat” by Frank Norris and the novel The Octopus by Frank Norris. Cinematography by G.W. Bitzer. / © 15 December 1909 (as A Corner in Wheat) by Biograph Company [J134969]. Released 13 December 1909. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.37:1 format. / The production was shot on 3-13 November 1909 in the Biograph studio, with some location photography in Jamaica, Long Island, New York. Pratt-Spellbound p. ? notes that this film is not based on the novel The Pit by Frank Norris, as has been noted in Everson-American p. ? and elsewhere.

Drama: Social.

Survival Status: Prints exist in the Museum of Modern Art film archive [35mm nitrate positive], and in the Library of Congress film archive (paper print collection) [35mm paper positive, 35mm preservation negative, 35mm preservation positives]; also in private film collections [8mm reduction positives].

Keywords: Animals: Horses - Bakeries - Bread - Canes - Children - Commodities exchanges - Communication: Telephones - Crops - Death - Desks - Domestics: Butlers - Farming: Farmers, Farms, Fields, Seed, Seed sowing, Wheat - Furniture: Chairs - Grain elevators - Inflation - Mills - Offices - Paper bags - Police: Policemen - Poverty - Rope - Signage - Society - Tableaux - Toasts - Tobacco: Cigars - USA: New York: Long Island: Jamaica - Wealth - Weapons: Billyclubs, Guns - Wine

Listing updated: 18 September 2007.

References: Film credits, film viewing : Altman-Sound p. 20; Barry-Griffith pp. 5, 12, 41; Bohn-Light pp. 50, 110; Drew-Speaking p. 285; Everson-American pp. 47, 180, 368; Eyman-Pickford p. 49; Fell-History pp. 56, 63; Gallagher-Ford p. 295; Leyda-Before p. 141; Mottram-Danish p. 123; Niver-Early p. 66; Pratt-Spellbound p. ?; Robinson-Palace p. 130; Sinyard-Silent p. 22; Sklar-Movie p. 57; Sloan-Loud pp. 2, 17, 21-25, 45, 89, 98c, 147; Spehr-American p. 1; Usai-Griffith-3 p. 130.

Home Video: DVD.