Lost1915Thanhouser CompanyOne reelDrama

The Game

Name: The Game
Genre: Drama
Released: 1915-08-01

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

“The young Widow Marsh is ill and penniless. For the sake of her little girl, Jeanne, she gladly accepts a loan from the wife of a man who rents a luxurious suite in the boarding house where she has quarters in the basement. She also lets the Malones take little Jeanne for walks. A stranger comes frequently to the house. He appears to be a friend of the wealthy couple. One day he goes to Mrs. Marsh and tells her that her benefactors are crooks, and that they purpose to lead Jeanne into a life of crime. At first the young widow indignantly refuses to believe the stranger. Soon, however, he is able to prove all his charges. He reveals himself as Ralph Grove, a noted detective and arrests Mrs. Malone. Grove finds himself thinking constantly of the widow. Before many weeks they are married. Little Jeanne now has a father well qualified to protect her from unscrupulous people who are ‘playing the game.’”

Summary from Reel Life · 24 July 1915

What the papers said

1 article · 1 advertisement

Article

31 July 1915The Moving Picture World1 min

_”This story from the pen of Phil Lonergan is a brilliant example of how much situation can be put into a single reel subject. There are not 50 feet in it during which the situation remains the same. Throughout it all the surprise is carried legitimately to the end, when the ‘crook’ shows that he is a detective. Morris Foster plays the detective and covers himself with glory. Ethyle Cooke rises ably to a powerful climax and Helen Badgley does her baby work in good style. Ray Johnston plays a genteel crook convincingly.”

31 July 1915The Moving Picture World1 min

“The Game, with Morris Foster in a thunderbolt surprise character and Helen Badgley (the Kidlet) as her ever-lovable self, and Ethyle Cooke in a role of great dramatic tensity. It begins with mystery and when it’s solved it’s done so suddenly that you find yourself forgetting that it’s only a picture.”