The Amateur Detective is a 1914 American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 silent

Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

 short comedy

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 directed by Carroll Fleming for the Thanhouser Film Corporation. The film starred Carey L. Hastings, Ernest C. Warde and Muriel Ostriche

Muriel Ostriche

Muriel Ostriche was an American silent film actress. She was also the face of Moxie.She was signed by the Thanhouser Company based in New York City and starred in 134 films in her career....

.

History and Preservation Status

This film represented a sub-genre of detective parodies common to the era of the Nickelodeon. It is preserved in the AFI/Alfred Bruzzese collection; the surviving print is only a fragment, consisting of 240 feet of the original 990-foot running length.

External links

• Silent Era Database Entry
• American Film Cycles: The Silent Era