1916
FILM
Sold for Marriage
DIRECTOR
Christy Cabanne (Sold for Marriage)
John Emerson (His Picture in the Papers)
Mauritz Stiller (Kärlek och journalistik / Love and Journalism)
ACTOR
Richard Lund (Love and Journalism)
Tully Marshall (The Devil’s Needle)
ACTRESS
Lillian Gish (Sold for Marriage)
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Frank Bennett (Sold for Marriage)
George Fawcett (The Habit of Happiness)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Stina Berg (Love and Journalism)
Norma Talmadge (The Devil’s Needle)
SCREENPLAY
John Emerson & Anita Loos (His Picture in the Papers)
William E. Wing (Sold for Marriage)
CINEMATOGRAPHY
H. Lyman Broening (Snow White)
Eugene Gaudio (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea)
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Though all but completely forgotten today, Christy Cabanne (at times billed as William Christy Cabanne) was a respected name in the 1910s and 1920s.
An apprentice to D. W. Griffith, Cabanne seems to have not only learned a good deal from the (now all but insufferable) Master, but during the 1910s he also seems to have used his cinematic know-how to create films that, in terms of narrative, character development, and acting are superior to any of the Griffith productions I have seen from the same period.
Sold for Marriage is a good example of Cabanne's naturalistic and quite modern approach to filmmaking. The tale (written by William E. Wing) of a young Russian immigrant who almost becomes the victim of an arranged marriage in early 20th-century Los Angeles, Sold for Marriage is filled with true-to-life details and fully believable performances. (Besides Lillian Gish's beautifully played heroine, there's also handsome Frank Bennett doing excellent work as her romantic interest.)
Additionally, Sold for Marriage demonstrates that feature films produced at the dawn of the "multi-reel" era could flow as smoothly and be as technically proficient as if they had been made yesterday.
Cabanne's career went downhill at about the time films learned to talk. He continued working in B films, usually adventure flicks and Westerns, until the late 1940s. He died of a heart attack in 1950.
Note: I saw Sold for Marriage back in the 1990s, at the Silent Movie in West Hollywood. It was a beautiful print, accompanied by quality organ playing.