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Photograph: Silent Era image collection.
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The Foreman’s Treachery
(1913) United States of America
B&W : Two reels
Directed by Charles Brabin
Cast: Marc McDermott [David Llewellyn], Miriam Nesbitt [Anna Lloyd], Charles Vernon (Charles E. Vernon) [Griffith, the foreman], Douglas Munro [Mr. Lloyd], Leslie Oswald [the half-witted brother]
Thomas A. Edison, Incorporated, production; distributed by The General Film Company, Incorporated. / Scenario by Anne Merwin and Bannister Merwin. / Released 17 October 1913. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format. / The film was released in the United Kingdom in January 1914.
Drama: Crime.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Old Lloyd cared for only three things in all the world: his secret hoard of bright gold pieces, his daughter, Anna, and his half-witted son, Elias. Anna, his daughter, loved and was loved by David Llewellyn, a workman in a nearby copper mine. This mine was owned by a Mr. Lewis, and was apparently worthless. In fact it was an open secret that Mr. Lewis was quite willing to sell it for a thousand pounds. One day Griffith, the mining foreman, discovered the unsuspected and remarkably rich vein of ore at a little distance from the shaft of the mine. He concealed his discovery with a mass of loose rubbish and instantly set his wits to work to discover some means of raising the thousand pounds necessary for the purchase of the mine. At about this time old Lloyd decided to transfer his money from the hole in the floor of his living-room to the ruins of an abbey near the town. He buried it near the abbey well, and to insure it against casual discovery assumed the conventional vestments of a ghost and severely frightened several late wayfarers who chanced to pass near the abbey. Griffith heard the rumor of the abbey ghost in the village and after a little investigation discovered the true meaning of the apparition. One night, shortly after old Lloyd had emphatically refused to give Anna to David, Griffith confronted the old man, discovered the location of the treasure, and in the struggle which followed, pushed old Lloyd into the well, killing him instantly. A tobacco pouch accidentally dropped by David caught Griffith’s eye and he placed it on the trampled turf near the well. The next day David happened on the vein Griffith had discovered. He escaped from the foreman and his two attendants by a nerve-wracking ride on an ore car and arrived in town just in time to be arrested for old Lloyd’s murder. When things looked darkest, with every shred of testimony pointing to him as the criminal. David was unexpectedly freed by the silent testimony of Anna's half-witted brother. Griffith, fleeing from the just vengeance of David, was blown to pieces by a tremendous blast and David returned to marry Anna and to be made foreman of the mine by the grateful Mr. Lewis.
Reviews: [The Moving Picture World, 1 November 1913, page ?] An excellent film story in two reels, written by Anne and Bannister Merwin and directed by Charles Brabin. The scenes are laid in Wales and are of characteristic beauty. The photography is unusually smooth and attractive. The plot is a strong one and there are several good examples of character work, particularly those of Leslie Oswell as the half-wit and Douglas Murro as the miser. Marc MacDermott plays the hero. Charles Vernon, the scheming foreman, and Miriam Nesbitt the girl. A particularly pleasing release.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 28 April 2024.
References: Blum-Silent p. 34 : Website-IMDb.
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