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1915Thanhouser CompanyTwo reelsDrama

On the Brink of the Abyss

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

“Jim Watson has but one redeeming trait—his love for his sister. Thinking that he has killed a man, he escapes to New York, where he becomes the leader of a band of gentleman crooks. Mary Watson marries John Strong and moves to the metropolis. Strong becomes rich through an invention he has perfected. Absorbed in his work, he unintentionally neglects Mary, who becomes infatuated with one of her husband’s business associates. Then the Iago steps in. Jim Watson enters Strong’s house, and discovers that it is his sister’s home. He overhears her being tempted. He realizes that it is a trap and that her husband is on the point of catching her in a compromising position. It is a choice between his own get-away and saving his sister. He chooses the latter. When Strong comes into his wife’s room he finds that her caller is her brother. Meanwhile the police arrive, and Watson, in trying to escape, is shot.”

Summary from Reel Life · 20 February 1915

What the papers said

2 reviews · 1 advertisement

“The one redeeming thing about Jim Watson is his love for his sister. She marries a man who later becomes rich. They move to the city. Without realizing it, her husband neglects Mary and she turns to one of his friends. Jim enters the house to rob it and finds that his sister is about to be discovered in a …

Read in full · 1 min

“The one redeeming thing about Jim Watson is his love for his sister. She marries a man who later becomes rich. They move to the city. Without realizing it, her husband neglects Mary and she turns to one of his friends. Jim enters the house to rob it and finds that his sister is about to be discovered in a compromising position by her husband. He saves her, but is shot in attempting to escape the police because of his delay.”

The Morning Telegraph · 28 February 1915

“A two-reel number with Sidney Bracy, Frank Farrington, and Minnie Berlin in the cast. Sid is fond of drinking and cares for nothing but his sister. She marries an inventor, and Sid goes to the city, where he becomes a leader of a band of crooks. In later years the sister and her husband move to the city. She is …

Read in full · 1 min

“A two-reel number with Sidney Bracy, Frank Farrington, and Minnie Berlin in the cast. Sid is fond of drinking and cares for nothing but his sister. She marries an inventor, and Sid goes to the city, where he becomes a leader of a band of crooks. In later years the sister and her husband move to the city. She is neglected by her husband and permits one of his friends to call upon her. The husband returns unexpectedly. His friend beats a retreat, and the erring brother, who has entered the house as a burglar, is discovered. This works up to a strongly dramatic situation and on the whole proves quite absorbing.”

The Moving Picture World · 13 March 1915

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27 February 1915Reel Life1 min

“On entering a house to rob it, Jim Watson discovers that he is in the home of his sister—and hears her being tempted. He also discovers that her husband is about to catch her in a compromising situation and that he, himself, is in imminent danger of capture by the police. What does brother-burglar do? The answer is the climax to one of the biggest situations ever shown on the screen.”

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Cast and crew

Director
Sidney Bracy
Cast
Carey L. Hastings
Ernest C. Warde
Frank Farrington as John Strong, an inventor
Harris Gordon
Minnie Berlin as Mary, his wife
Sidney Bracy as Jim Watson, her brother

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

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More about this film

Bowers’ notes

In an article in The Moving Picture World, January 23, 1915, the title of this film was listed erroneously and quite curiously as The Abbeys.

From Volume II: Filmography of Q. David Bowers’ Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, reproduced with permission and unchanged. Read the history of 1915 →

Cite as: Bowers, Q. David. Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, “On the Brink of the Abyss”. thanhouser.org/films/on-the-brink-of-the-abyss/

Where a print is held

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No print known