The Committee on Credentials

The Committee on Credentials
The Committee on Credentials
Directed by	George Marshall
Written by	Harvey Gates; Peter B. Kyne
Produced by	Bison Motion Pictures
Starring	Harry Carey
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	July 8, 1916;
Running time	3 reels; rereleased at 2 reels
Country	United States
Language	Silent

The Committee on Credentials is a 1916 American silent film featuring Harry Carey. It is based on the novel The Pride of Palomar by Peter Bernard Kyne. It follows the protagonist Ballrat Bob, who tries to protect an acquaintance and squatter, Clem, from gambling away all of his money.

Plot[]

In an attempt to protect the welfare of Clem's wife, Ballarat Bob takes Clem's savings and puts them in safe keeping with Clem's wife. This causes Clem to think his wife is having an affair; he goes on to shoot up the town and eventually ends up in a confrontation with Bob.^[1]

Kyne said of his novel, "I have at last finished writing "The Pride of Palomar." It isn't at all what I wanted it to be; it isn't at all what I planned it to be, but it does contain something of what you and I both feel, something of what you wanted me to put into it. Indeed, I shall always wish to think that it contains just a few faint little echoes of the spirit of that old California that was fast vanishing when I first disturbed the quiet of the Mission Dolores with infantile shrieks—when you first gazed upon the redwood-studded hills of Sonoma County."^[2]

Of the silent films in the early 20th century, Peter French says calls it a dramatic tale of "personal crimes, moral tales, and the place of crime in public life".^[3]