Independent Films, Film Profiles

A Lad from Old Ireland
by Sidney Olcott

A Lad from Old Ireland is a 1910 American made motion picture. It is the first ever production by an American movie studio to be filmed on location outside of the United States.In August 1910, the Kalem Company of New York City sent director Sidney Olcott and a film crew to Ireland. There, Olcott first made A Lad from Old Ireland from a script written by Gene Gauntier. Shot by cinematographer George K. Hollister, the film was described in the publicity releases for its November premiere as "Kalem’s Great Trans-Atlantic Drama."A Lad from Old Ireland told the story of a boy who emigrated to America to escape the desperate poverty of Ireland. After becoming successful in his adopted country he returns to retrieve his sweetheart just as her destitute family is being forced off their land.