The Alien
Cast & Crew
Thomas H. Ince
George Beban
Blanche Schwed
Edward Gillespie
Jack Nelson
Hayward Ginn
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Pietro Massena, a poor Italian ditch-digger, lovingly raises his motherless daughter Rosina. Phil Griswold, in order to throw a party to celebrate his expected inheritance, induces his friend Robbins to rob the flower shop where he works. After the inheritance goes to Phil's brother William, who refuses Phil money to return to the flower shop, Phil kidnaps William's daughter Dorothy and sends a "Black Hand" ransom demand to throw suspicion onto Pietro, who earlier frightened Dorothy when he delivered a Christmas tree to William's house. William drives into the slums looking for Pietro and accidentally runs down Rosina. The grieving Pietro goes to the flower shop on Christmas morning to buy a rose for Rosina's coffin and is accused of the kidnapping, because Phil arranged to have a man known by "the sign of the rose" pick up the ransom money there. Pietro threatens to kill the arresting detective so that he can return to his "bambino," when William arrives with news that Dorothy has been found. William offers Pietro compensation, but he refuses and sorrowfully returns home.
Director
Thomas H. Ince
Cast
George Beban
Blanche Schwed
Edward Gillespie
Jack Nelson
Hayward Ginn
Andrea Lynne
Thelma Salter
Jack Davidson
Edith Macbride
J. Frank Burke
William J. Kane
Ida Lewis
Fanny Midgley
Maude Gilbert
Claire Hillier
Nona Thomas
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The Sign of the Rose was originally a vaudeville piece in which Beban starred for five years, playing around the world. Klaw and Erlanger produced the subsequent four-act play from which the film was based. The film opened in Los Angeles on April 12, 1915 in nine reels under the name The Sign of the Rose, at Clune's Auditorium, where The Birth of a Nation had just finished its nine-week run. The film opened under the title The Alien in New York on May 31, 1915. In both of these showings, and in subsequent showings in large theaters around the country, the film ended as the character Pietro enters the flower shop to buy a rose for his daughter's coffin. The curtain then rose and lights came up on a stage set of the flower shop. The actors from the film then appeared live and enacted the denouement, which lasted for approximately thirty minutes. The film was released nationally in July 1915 in eight reels, with a filmed ending replacing the staged one. The Los Angeles showing had a musical score by Lloyd Brown and Carli D. Elinor, which included vocal selections. Some sources call the character played by Blanche Schwed "Rosa" rather than "Rosina." Some scenes in this film were shot at Mt. Baldy, CA. Some reviews refer to the film's title as An Alien. In 1922 George Beban Productions produced a film from the same source entitled The Sign of the Rose, which in its pre-release showings included live action mixed with filmed action during the last two reels (see below).
