It is a pleasure to note the many names of well-known and well-liked vaudeville stars combined in one show...Deservedly heading the bill will be found Miss Grace Emmet and Harold M. Shaw, the dramatic favorites who, assisted by the little comedian, Eddie Russell, will present a sketch by Arthur J. Lamb, entitled "Why Papa Consented."

Shaw in 1912 continued to act in Edison productions like The Corsican Brothers, The Bachelor's Waterloo, The Nurse, Tony's Oath of Vengeance, The Patent Housekeeper, A Man in the Making, and other assorted dramas and comedies, although the studio by mid-summer of that year elevated him to the full-time position of director.

The regret arises from the fact that his new duties will prevent Mr. Shaw from appearing in pictures, as all of his time will be devoted to directing...In his new capacity, he has already produced several films, among them "The Librarian," "The Harbinger of Peace," "The Cub Reporter," "Helping John," and "The Dam Builder."

[16]The film-industry journal Motography also reported about Shaw's promotion, noting that at a special "photoplay dinner" held on September 7 for studio personnel at New York's Coney Island, he was introduced as a speaker at that event and as a "director of Edison films".

[18][19] The film presents the tragic contemporary tale of a New York newsboy, who lives in dire poverty with his abusive grandmother and ends with the boy drifting out to sea in a small boat, desperately searching and likely dying in a doomed attempt to find a better, more humane life beyond the horizon.

Regarding the latter, the film critic for the trade journal The Moving Picture World described the production as a "a brisk, modern newspaper story, written and produced [directed] by Harold Shaw", adding that the IMP release was a "good offering".

Despite that rejection, Shaw at London Films began writing and directing additional screen projects, many with stirring "military-patriotic" themes as well as short dramas with scenarios about "German spies and intrigues".

Many of those films included his future wife, American actress Edna Flugrath, who by 1915 had become a popular lead with British theatergoers for her performances in an array of Shaw-directed productions, a few examples being The Ring and the Rajah (1914), England's Menace (1914), Liberty Hall (1914), The Heart of a Child (1915), and The Derby Winner (1915).

"[26] The film ultimately completed by Shaw later in 1916 features in its extensive cast Dick Cruikshanks, Percy Marmont, and Edna Flugrath and includes an elaborate recreation of the Battle of Blood River of 1838, when a few hundred armed Dutch-speaking Boers defeated thousands of Zulu warriors.

[30] According to actress Flugrath, who married Harold Shaw a month after the film's release, location work on De Voortrekkers took its toll on cast and crew, especially on the director and on scores of native African extras injured during the battle re-enactment.

Simulated fights between black and white performers during filming quickly escalated to genuine, near deadly off-camera altercations after some of the extras portraying the Dutch settlers "secretly filled their guns with pebbles" instead of firing empty barrels at their Zulu counterparts.

After the release of De Voortrekkers and the end of his association with AFP, Shaw in late January 1917 embarked on an extended international journey, leaving South Africa and traveling for months to India, Ceylon, the Far East, Egypt, and to other destinations.

[34][35] The company's first studio building, which was constructed around a renovated "abandoned carbarn", was surrounded by attractive seascapes and landscapes that provided Shaw a wide assortment of convenient filming locations, ranging from Table Bay with its broad stretches of beach to diverse higher elevations distinguished by Lion's Head Mountain.

Soon, though, the experienced filmmaker accepted a commission offered by Basil Thomson, the chief of intelligence for Britain's Home Office, to direct a proposed production, one with a storyline set within the ongoing civil war in Russia between Bolshevik forces and anti-communists.

[26] The film, titled The Land of Mystery, was to be shot on location in and around Kovno (now known as Kaunas), Lithuania, and intended in part to present a thinly veiled, unflattering portrayal of the Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin.

[36] With Shaw's wife Edna Flugrath and English actor Norman Tharp in co-starring roles, the project proved to be a grueling experience for cast and crew while traveling and filming for weeks in the late-winter conditions of far-off Lithuania.

Tharp, who closely resembled Lenin, portrayed in the production the dissolute character "Lenoff", who falls desperately in love with a ballerina (Flugrath), becomes a ruthless Bolshevik revolutionary, and ultimately commits suicide when she elopes with a Russian prince.

Despite the film's commercial success, the logistical challenges of shooting the drama in Lithuania and the ensuing political controversies connected to the British government's association with its production may have influenced Shaw's decision to accept an offer in the fall of 1920 from Stoll Pictures in London to join its staff of directors.

[26] Stoll at the time was the largest motion-picture studio in England, employing over 1000 people at its operations in Cricklewood, where the company had a sprawling complex of buildings formerly used by an aircraft factory that had closed after World War I.

During that film's production, Motion Picture News reported that Shaw went on location for one day to the prestigious Savoy Hotel in central London and "took over the lounge and grill room" of the building to shoot scenes.

[41] Kipps was another critical and commercial success for Shaw, who completed at Cricklewood and on location in various English counties at least six more films for Stoll: The Woman of His Dream (1921); A Dear Fool (1921); General John Regan (1921); False Evidence (1922); The Wheels of Chance (1922), another adaptation of a work by Wells; and Love and a Whirlwind (1922).

Shaw and Edna returned to the United States in 1922, arriving at Ellis Island in September, over two months before the release in London of Harold's final film for Stoll, Love and a Whirlwind.

[27][42] The silent romantic comedy was well received by both critics and audiences, with the Chicago-based reviewing service Screen Opinions judging the production to be "neatly directed" and its content "clean, full of ginger".

[42] The casting of A Fool's Awakening prompted the entertainment media and the Los Angeles film community to observe how Shaw's years of experience residing and working in England influenced his selection of performers.

"[44] In addition to directing and planning future film projects in Hollywood, Shaw became increasingly active in local and national professional organizations, especially in the Motion Picture Directors Association (MPDA).

[33] They then departed on an extended trip to India, Ceylon, China, Japan, Siam, Egypt, and England for the dual purposes of honeymooning and, as cited in their passport applications, for conducting "Moving picture business" at all those destinations.

[49] His years of association with film productions in London also led the New York trade paper in that same obituary to refer to the Tennessee-born director as "a native of England", and Variety also incorrectly cited his age as 38 instead of 48.