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The Pirate’s Dower
(1910) United States of America
B&W : One reel / 965 feet
Directed by (unknown)
Cast: (unknown)
Yankee Film Company production; distributed by Motion Picture Distributing & Sales Company. / Produced by William Steiner. / Released 11 July 1910. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama: Historical.
Synopsis: [The Moving Picture World, 9 July 1910, page ?] The early history of the country is replete with thrilling adventure by land and sea, but it is safe to say no class carried a nefarious calling to such bounds as the pirates. These jolly freebooters led a rollicking life, cutting throats with an easy grace and piling up their ill-gotten treasures to tremendous proportions. History has proved that they seldom lived to enjoy their wealth — most of them “dying with their boots on.” Capt. Bonceur, one of the best of his profession, after being signaled goes ashore and learns that a gunboat is scouting in his vicinity; also that $5,000 reward has been offered for his capture dead or alive. He determines to abandon his ship, knowing he cannot pass the mouth of the bay, and cogitates how will he secrete his treasure. A happy idea occurs to him. Disguising himself as a merchant captain, he, after considerable difficulty, gets a note to the leading man of the place, saying his wife had died at sea and asking permission to use his family vault for a few days as a resting place for her body. The request is complied with, and the supposed corpse is brought ashore in a coffin. The villagers show their respect and form a procession to the vault, where it finds a resting place. Now, in this little community of principally fishermen and their families, is a poor but beautiful girl names Mary. Jack Reynolds, the son of a wealthy landowner, becomes enamored of her, but her father interposes, his objection being owing to the difference in their stations. This is all very distressing to the young couple, who are to be separated for a short time, during which a jealous lover acts contemptibly and incidentally learns the identity of the pirate, and, smarting from a blow from him in Mary’s defense, the vision of receiving the reward prompts him to go gunning for the freebooter. He surprises the pirate and gives him a mortal wound, but does not capture him. Staggering on to the beach, the pirate meets Mary, and realizing his time has come, he gives Mary a paper, saying, ‘The pirate’s wife will yield your dower.’ The rival happens on the scene and steals the paper, meantime tying Mary securely. Jack, her lover, incidentally comes in and Mary explains. They run to the vault, open the coffin, and behold — not a corpse — but filled to the brim with golden treasure. Then they try a joke; hearing Pedro, the rival, coming to the vault, Mary gets into the coffin, and upon opening it Pedro thinks he is gazing on a spirit, or else his senses are leaving him. His shrieks cause quite a crowd to gather. Mary explains his treachery and he is taken to prison. The fathers of the couple come to an understanding, and as Mary was Jack’s equal in every particular except the cash, and as she now has an abundance of that necessity — thanks to the pirate — a match is made then and there for the happy couple.
Reviews: [The Moving Picture World, 23 July 1910, page ?] A melodramatic story, replete with action and incident, in which a pirate’s ill-gotten wealth is made the dower of a worthy young woman, enabling her to contract a satisfactory marriage. Like all stories dealing with pirates, it is romantic, and the romance and love story supply abundant heart interest to satisfy the most exacting devotee of such stories.
Survival status: Print exists in the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv film archive [35mm negative].
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Pirates
Listing updated: 13 October 2023.
References: Website-AFI; Website-IMDb.
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