Lost1914Thanhouser CompanyTwo reelsDrama

Pawns of Fate

Name: Pawns of Fate
Genre: Drama
Released: 1914-11-17

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

“When the new governor takes office he is urged by the politicians of his party to dismiss from office the supporters of the defeated organization. The governor, however, retains in their positions all those who have proved themselves honest and efficient, including the chief clerk who has been in the service of the state for many years. Both Raleigh and his daughter Ruth are very grateful for this. Not long after, the twin daughters of the governor are kidnapped, and the head of the state receives a message to the effect that unless he will pardon a notorious criminal, awaiting execution, he may expect never to see his children again. Torn between love for Marion and Madeline and his duty to the state, he cannot decide what to do—when the telephone rings and he learns that the twins have been rescued by Ruth Raleigh and her sweetheart, a young police officer.”

Summary from Reel Life · 7 November 1914

What the papers said

3 reviews

“The governor’s twin daughters, kidnapped at the instigation of a criminal awaiting trial, and held for the ransom of a pardon, are rescued by the daughter of a man to whom the governor has been kind.”

The Morning Telegraph · 15 November 1914

“A two-reel story written by Philip Lonergan. The first reel contains a number of rather meaningless scenes, but the second comes up well with some stirring situations. The governor’s twin daughters are kidnaped by a criminal gang, because they will not pardon one of their number. The lovers between them manage to bring about the release after considerable exciting detective …

Read in full · 1 min

The Moving Picture World · 28 November 1914

More reviews

25 November 1914The New York Dramatic Mirror1 min

“Philip Lonergan is the author of this two-reel melodrama, which has for its central situation the kidnapping of two little girls, the daughters of a newly elected governor, who asserts his political honesty by refusing to discharge the competent employees of the outgoing administration. By taking this stand he incurs the gratitude of the old chief clerk and his daughter. On the other hand he inspires the enmity of a band of criminals by refusing to pardon one of their numbers sentenced to a long term in jail. The children are held pending the signing of a pardon; but, thanks to the efforts of chief clerk’s daughter and her sweetheart, a timely rescue is effected. The first reel moves a bit too slowly; but in the second, with the fight between the rescuing party and the crooks, there is enough rapid action; not always entirely plausible, but sufficiently exciting. The Thanhouser Twins (Marion and Madeline Fairbanks), Marguerite Loveridge, Frank Woods, Morgan Jones and Arthur Bauer are in the cast.”