The Death of Poor Joe is a 1901 British short silent drama film, directed by George Albert Smith, which features the director's wife Laura Bayley as Joe, a child street-sweeper who dies of disease on the street in the arms of a policeman.[2] The film, which went on release in March 1901, takes its name from a famous photograph posed by Oscar Rejlander after an episode in Charles Dickens' 1853 novel Bleak House, and is the oldest known surviving film featuring a Dickens character.[3][4] The film was discovered in 2012 by British Film Institute curator Bryony Dixon, after it was believed to have been lost since 1954.[5][6] Until the discovery, the previous oldest known Dickens film was Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost, released in November 1901.[7]
The Death of Poor Joe | |
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Full film | |
Directed by | George Albert Smith |
Starring | Laura Bayley Tom Green |
Distributed by | Warwick Trading Company |
Release date |
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Running time | One minute[1] |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | Silent |
Films directed by George Albert Smith | |
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Charles Dickens's Bleak House | |
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Films |
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Television |
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Related |
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