NFR Project: 'The Kidnappers Foil'

The Kidnappers Foil

Dir: Melton Barker

Scr: N/A

Pho: N/A

Ed: N/A

1930s – 1970s

30 min.15-20 min. each

Here’s the deal. Melton Barker was an entrepreneur who thought of a way to make movies and make money. He and his company would travel through the southern and central U.S. They would recruit 50 to 75 small-town 3- to 12-year-olds and put them in a short movie (their parents would pay a sum for the privilege) , always titled The Kidnappers Foil, in which a girl is abducted and a gang of children save her, after which they put on a talent show. Barker would film all this; then, a few weeks later, the film would be produced and shown to the community, presumably for a fee. It was a clever way to monetize filmmaking.

The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: King of Jazz.