The Death of Poor Joe

The Death of Poor Joe is a 1901 British short silent drama film, directed by George Albert Smith, which features the director's wife Laura Bayley as Joe, a child street-sweeper who dies of disease on the street in the arms of a policeman.^[2] The film, which went on release in March 1901, takes its name from a famous photograph posed by Oscar Rejlander after an episode in Charles Dickens' 1853 novel Bleak House, and is the oldest known surviving film featuring a Dickens character.^[3][4]

The Death of Poor Joe
Full film
Directed by	George Albert Smith
Starring	Laura Bayley Tom Green
Distributed by	Warwick Trading Company
Release date	March 1901 (1901-03)
Running time	One minute[1]
Country	United Kingdom
Language	Silent

The film was discovered in 2012 by British Film Institute curator Bryony Dixon, after it was believed to have been lost since 1954.^[5][6] Until the discovery, the previous oldest known Dickens film was Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost, released in November 1901.^[7]

Cast

• Laura Bayley as Joe
• Tom Green as the policeman

See also

• List of rediscovered films