The Vicar of Wakefield

1916
Silent
88m

Leads and locations shine in this feature adaptation of Oliver Goldsmith's popular novel, a tale to soften hard hearts.

George Primrose, the titular vicar played by veteran stage actor John Hare, has always put others' needs first and trusted in his God. However, his family are left destitute when he is cheated out of his money by a rogue banker, and soon enough they are surrounded by swindlers and cads. Is his faith naÃ¯ve or will the Good Lord provide? The theft of Primrose's cash and the abduction of his daughter add drama to this otherwise slyly comic adaptation of Oliver Goldsmith's sentimental classic.

The 18th century novel The Vicar of Wakefield was widely read in the Victorian age, and would have been familiar to the 1916 audience, although it's less well known now. This very successful feature-length adaptation was directed by Swiss-born British filmmaker Fred Paul. The scenes in the debtors' jail are especially effective, and Hare's lead performance is very strong, supported notably by two other experienced actors, AE George as the venal Jenkinson, and Ben Webster as his benefactor Thornhill.

Forgotten Features

A hand-picked assortment of hard-to-see British feature films, featuring mischievous mermaids, murderous minors and military mayhem.

Thanks to decades of DVD and online publishing, not to mention archive revivals and restorations, more of Britain’s screen heritage is available today than ever before. You might even be forgiven for imagining that the whole of British cinema is now just a click away.

But much of that history - from the silent era to the relatively recent past - remains out of reach. This selection from the vaults, hand-picked by the BFI's curators, goes some way to remedying that. These fresh rediscoveries offer something for all tastes: whether futuristic fantasy, battle-of-the-sexes comedy, subversive provocation or an Indian-British rarity.