{{short description|1916 silent film by John B. O'Brien, Christy Cabanne}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2019}} {{Infobox film | name = The Flying Torpedo | image = Flying Torpedo poster.jpg | alt = Film poster showing dramatic scenes with explosions and characters | caption = Film poster | director = {{Plainlist| * John B. O'Brien * Christy Cabanne }} | writer = {{Plainlist| * Robert M. Baker * John Emerson * D. W. Griffith (uncredited) }} | producer = D. W. Griffith | starring = {{Plainlist| * John Emerson * Bessie Love }} | cinematography = George W. Hill | editing = | music = | studio = Fine Arts Film Company | distributor = Triangle Film Corporation | released = {{Film date|1916|3|12|U.S.}} | runtime = 50 minutes; 5 reels | country = United States | language = Silent (English intertitles) }}
'''''The Flying Torpedo''''' is a 1916 American silent drama directed by John B. O'Brien and Christy Cabanne. It was produced by the Fine Arts Film Company and distributed by the Triangle Film Corporation. The film was written by John Emerson (who also stars), Robert M. Baker and D. W. Griffith (who was not credited). The film is now considered lost.<ref name="Lennig">{{cite book |last=Lennig |first=Arthur |title=Stroheim |year=2004 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=978-0-8131-3750-6 |page=37}}</ref>{{sfn|Soister|2012|p=207}}
== Plot == thumb|alt=Two men in period costume, in conversation|Thompson (Aitken) and Clavering (Emerson)
In 1921, novelist Winthrop Clavering (Emerson), known as "The World's Greatest Detective", befriends young inventor Bartholomew Thompson (Spottiswoode Aitken), who has just invented a radio controlled flying bomb (weaponry that would come to be known as guided missiles).<ref name="Lennig" /><ref name="silentera">{{cite web |url=http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/F/FlyingTorpedo1916.html |website=Silent Era |title=Progressive Silent Film List: ''The Flying Torpedo'' |access-date=January 6, 2015 |last=Bennett |first=Carl |date=October 13, 2004}}</ref> Bartholomew is soon murdered by spies, described as "yellow men from the East" in the film, who steal his new invention. Clavering and his Swedish maid Hulda (Bessie Love) set out to find the spies who have been invading the United States. Clavering and Hulda catch up with spies just as they invade California and force them out of the country with the same device they stole.<ref>{{cite book |last=Paris |first=Michael |title=From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema |year=1995 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-0-7190-4073-3 |pages=31–32}}</ref>
== Cast == thumb|alt=Young woman in period dress winking at camera|Hulda (Love) distracts the apothecary by winking at him
{{Cast listing| * John Emerson as Winthrop Clavering * Spottiswoode Aitken as Bartholomew Thompson * W. E. Lawrence as William Haverman * Fred J. Butler as Chief of International Crooks * Raymond Wells as Accomplice * Lucille Young as Accomplice * Eric von Stroheim as Accomplice * Viola Barry as Adelaide E. Thompson * Bessie Love as Hulda * Ralph Lewis as Head of The Board }}
Erich von Stroheim played a small supporting role as An Evil German Officer.
== Production notes == thumb|alt=A young woman grabs the arm of an older man|Hulda (Love) and Clavering (Emerson)
John Emerson had previously portrayed the role of Winthrop Clavering in the play ''The Conspiracy'', from December 1912 to March 1914.{{sfn|Soister|2012|p=209}}
thumb|alt=Young woman in a straw hat and braids|Bessie Love as Hulda, the Swedish maid
The film was produced by D. W. Griffith's film production company Fine Arts and was distributed by Triangle Film Corporation. Griffith also helped to write the film's scenario with lead John Emerson and Robert Baker.{{sfn|Soister|2012|p=207}} Griffith was also responsible for casting a teenage Bessie Love in the film whom he discovered and cast in several of his films in 1915.{{sfn|Soister|2012|pp=209–210}} Filming began in July 1915 under the working title ''The Scarlet Band''.{{sfn|Soister|2012|p=210}} Christy Cabanne directed the battle sequences.<ref name="silentera" />
== References == {{Reflist|30em}}
== Sources == * {{cite book |last=Soister |first=John T. |date=2012 |title=American Silent Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Feature Films, 1913–1929 |publisher=McFarland & Company |isbn=978-0-7864-8790-5}}
== External links == {{Commons category}} * {{IMDb title|0006692}} * {{AFI film|14100}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20170722081946/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7197334c ''The Flying Torpedo''] at the British Film Institute{{better source needed|reason=Help request: a live link can be searched for at https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/search/expert - if available, replace the archive URL with the live link. Or if none found, remove this 'better source needed' template. | date=October 2023}} * {{TCMDb title|492760}} * [http://www.movieposterdb.com/movie/0006692/The-Flying-Torpedo.html Lobby poster]
{{Christy Cabanne}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flying Torpedo, The}} Category:1916 drama films Category:1916 lost films Category:1916 films Category:American black-and-white films Category:American silent feature films Category:Films based on short fiction Category:Films directed by Christy Cabanne Category:Films set in 1921 Category:Films set in the future Category:Triangle Film Corporation films Category:1916 American films Category:1916 English-language films Category:English-language drama films Category:Lost American silent drama films