Thanhouser Company trademark: a T and C monogram inside an octagonTHANHOUSERCompany Film PreservationBuy DVDs

1914PrincessOne reelRomance

A Rural Romance

No copy you can watch online. No print is known to survive. What follows is what does: the release, the cast, the story, and what the trade press said at the time.

The story

“John Winslow and Henry Jameson, who have been old business rivals, decide to bury the hatchet and seal a lasting peace with the marriage of Jameson’s son, Boyd, to Winslow’s daughter, Kate. When Boyd meets Kate, however, he decides that while she is a charming girl, he does not care to marry her. His father disowns him and, accompanied by his valet, the young man tours the country. In a remote village he falls in love with a delightful girl who is visiting her aunt. They are in the act of eloping, when they meet Jameson and Winslow. Then Boyd learns that his sweetheart is Kate’s sister.”

Summary from Reel Life · 8 August 1914

What the papers said

3 reviews

“A very pretty, quiet and simple rural love comedy. There is nothing remarkable about either plot or acting, which are both quite conventional, but the film is entirely pleasing. It deals with the love affairs of an obstinate young man, and the skillful maneuvers of his valet who plays Cupid, under instructions from his master’s father.”

The Bioscope · 19 November 1914

“Two old men, enemies of long standing, decide to bury the hatchet and arrange that the son of one, Boyd, shall marry the daughter of the other, Kate. Son can’t see it and is disowned. He goes to a little village, falls in love with a charming young lady who is visiting there and finds that she is Kate’s sister.”

The Morning Telegraph · 9 August 1914

More reviews

29 August 1914The Moving Picture World1 min

“A businessman desires his eldest daughter to marry one of his friends [sic; the synopsis says son of a business rival], but the girl refuses. Later the friend meets the youngest daughter at a country place and falls in love with her. The story is agreeable in tone but lacks any big moments and is not treated in a very novel way.”

Have you seen this film, or a print of it?

Prints of films thought lost still turn up in attics, private collections and archives. A record like this one is how the next one gets found.

Tell us about a print

Cast and crew

Director
Arthur Ellery
Cast
Boyd Marshall as Boyd Jameson
J.S. Murray as Henry Jameson, Boyd’s father
James Dunne
James J. Dunne
John Reinhard as John Winslow, Muriel’s father
Muriel Ostriche as Kate [or Muriel] Winslow
N.S. Woods as James, Boyd’s valet
Irene Farrington as Nina, Muriel’s sister
Writer
Philip Lonergan

Every name opens that person's page, with each film they appear in and which of them you can watch.

Watch instead

Films you can watch from the same company

Matched by cast, director and kind
A frame from The Decoy. A frame from The Decoy (1914), from the Thanhouser restoration on Vimeo.16:08
1914 · Same leadThe Decoy
A frame from The Tell-Tale Scar12:09
1914 · Same castThe Tell-Tale Scar
A frame from Crossed Wires30:58
1915 · Same leadCrossed Wires

More about this film

Bowers’ notes
  1. The Moving Picture World, in a review in the issue of September 26, 1914, erroneously attributed the script to Thomas B. Ince and R.B. Spencer and gave the length as two reels. Presumably, this review was intended to be that of an Ince and Spencer film rather than A Rural Romance. 2. The cast listing preceding the synopsis in Reel Life, August 8, 1914, mentions that John Winslow has two daughters, Kate and Muriel; the text of the synopsis mentions only one daughter, named Kate. The cast listing in the same issue gives the daughters’ names as Nina and Muriel (see above cast listing taken from that source).

From Volume II: Filmography of Q. David Bowers’ Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, reproduced with permission and unchanged. Read the history of 1914 →

Cite as: Bowers, Q. David. Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, “A Rural Romance”. thanhouser.org/films/a-rural-romance/

Where a print is held

Held by
No print known