the Pioneer
Cecil Hepworth Biography
A producer, director, writer, scenic photographer and film-maker who became one of the most respected and dynamic figures in British Cinema.
Cecil Hepworth was born in 1874 in Soth London, the son of celebrated magic lantern showman T.C. Hepworth.
In the late 1890’s Hepworth set up is own film company with his cousin Monty Wicks, in Walton-on-Thames, calling it Hepworth and Co. and having Hepwix as their trade logo.
Over the next few years Hepworth and Co. produced many scenic films and actualities, with Hepworth as cameraman/director. Their first popular success came with the filming of Queen Victoria’s funeral in 1901.
In 1903, Hepworth created the original film adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’. It is this film / theme that in this the 120th anniversary year, the 2023 Walton Film Festival is based.
In 1904 the company was renamed the Hepworth Manufacturing Company. The company developed its own unique style of film presentation, based on simple stories told with a very high standard of photographic excellence. Over three films a week were produced with a wide range of appeal for audiences.
Hepworth Picture Plays, as the company became, continued making modestly successful films into the 1920s. Comin’ thro’ the Rye was completed in 1923 and Hepworth regarded this as his greatest achievement and was convinced it would revive his ailing fortunes. Unfortunately this was not to be and in June 1924 Hepworth Picture Players went into receivership and was sold off at a fraction of its worth.
Hepworth has pride of place in cinema history and justly so. The appeal of his work is still with us. The interest in his films and information on life and cinema work shown on websites today are testament to the endearing quality and unique pioneering style of the early twentieth century film-making, which Hepworth made his own.
Curated by Maggs Latter, 2012
Alice in Wonderland
