The Black Viper is a 1908 film directed by D. W. Griffith

D. W. Griffith

David Llewelyn Wark Griffith was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance .Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera...

. The film was made by the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company

American Mutoscope and Biograph Company

The American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, was a motion picture company founded in 1895 and active until 1928. It was the first company in the United States devoted entirely to film production and exhibition, and for two decades was one of the most prolific, releasing over three thousand short...

 when it and many other early film studios in America's first motion picture industry were based in Fort Lee, New Jersey

Fort Lee, New Jersey

Fort Lee is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 35,345. Located atop the Hudson Palisades, the borough is the western terminus of the George Washington Bridge...

 at the beginning of the 20th century.

Plot

A thug accosts a girl as she leaves her workplace but a man rescues her. The thug vows revenge and, with the help of two friends, attacks the girl and her rescuer again as they're going for a walk. This time they succeed in kidnapping

Kidnapping

In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...

 the rescuer. The girl runs home and gets help from several neighbors

Neighbourhood

A neighbourhood or neighborhood is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town or suburb. Neighbourhoods are often social communities with considerable face-to-face interaction among members. "Researchers have not agreed on an exact definition...

. They track the ruffians down to a cabin in the mountains where the gang has trapped their victim and set the cabin on fire

Fire

Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Slower oxidative processes like rusting or digestion are not included by this definition....

.

Cast

Actor/Actress	Role
Edward Dillon	Mike
George Gebhardt George Gebhardt George Gebhardt was a Swiss-born American silent film actor. He appeared in 128 films between 1908 and 1922. He was born in Basel, Switzerland and died in Edensdale, New York from tuberculosis.-Selected filmography:...	Viper
Mack Sennett Mack Sennett Mack Sennett was a Canadian-born American director and was known as the innovator of slapstick comedy in film. During his lifetime he was known at times as the "King of Comedy"...	Rescuer
D.W. Griffith	Rescuer
Anthony O'Sullivan Anthony O'Sullivan Anthony O'Sullivan was an American silent film actor and director. He appeared in 163 films between 1906 and 1918. He also directed 35 films between 1913 and 1915...	Gang Member