The Devil's Needle & Other Tales of Vice and Redemption (Blu-ray)

Often dismissed as products of a more innocent time, films of the 1910s frequently confronted incendiary social issues with remarkable frankness. By wrapping explosive subject matter within layers of melodrama, filmmakers dodged public criticism while making their political views even more compelling, demonstrating the cinema’s potential as a persuasive cultural force.

THE DEVIL'S NEEDLE stars silent goddess Norma Talmadge as a morphine-addicted artist’s model who sends a neurotic painter (Tully Marshall) down a path of moral deterioration. One of the most notorious films of the silent era, THE INSIDE OF THE WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC dramatizes the methods by which a network of American pimps force unsuspecting women into lives of prostitution (and even includes a handy glossary of underworld slang). Attacking child labor and the unhealthy living conditions of the urban tenement, CHILDREN OF EVE climaxes in a detailed reenactment of the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911.

Kino Classics is proud to help resurrect these rare motion pictures—ravaged by time and all but forgotten—and provide a precious glimpse at a fascinating chapter of American film history.

Derived from the only known surviving copies, some of the films presented here suffer significant wear and nitrate decomposition. This collection is a sobering reminder of the importance of film preservation.

THE DEVIL’S NEEDLE
U.S. 1916 B&W 66 Min.
Directed by Chester Withey
With Norma Talmadge, Tully Marshall
Music by Rodney Sauer

THE INSIDE OF THE WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC
U.S. 1913 B&W 28 Min.
Directed by Frank Beal
With Ninita Bristow, Edwin Carewe
Music by Ben Model

CHILDREN OF EVE
U.S. 1915 B&W 73 Min.
Directed by John H. Collins
With Viola Dana, Robert Conness, Nellie Grant
Music by Rodney Sauer