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The Swellhead

1930 film directed by James Flood

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 9, 2026
Entity authorityQ54895011
Source-derived summary

The Swellhead is a 1930 American pre-Code sports film directed by James Flood and starring James Gleason, Johnnie Walker, and Marion Shilling. It is also known by the alternative title of Counted Out.

Cast

James Gleason as Johnny Trump

Johnnie Walker as Bill 'Cyclone' Hickey

Marion Shilling as Mamie Judd

Natalie Kingston as Barbara Larkin

Paul Hurst as Mugsy

Freeman Wood as Clive Warren

Lillian Elliott as Mrs. Callahan

Preservation status

A copy is preserved in the Library of Congress collection.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “The Swellhead” as 1930 film directed by James Flood. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Swellhead, film and directed.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1930—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1930-03-20. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Swellhead, film and directed providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “The Swellhead”, the useful work is to connect “1930 film directed by James Flood” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q54895011. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1930.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “The Swellhead”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow The Swellhead primary sources, The Swellhead archive and Swellhead research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Swellhead”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from The Swellhead” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.