Lost1914Thanhouser CompanyTwo reelsDrama

The Pendulum of Fate

Name: The Pendulum of Fate
Genre: Drama
Released: 1914-07-21

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

“Alice and Bess, two sisters, spend the summer at the seashore. Alice marries a wealthy banker. Bess falls in love with a lifeguard who saves her. Feeling she has cut herself off from her family, Bess goes to live with her husband’s father. Soon after the birth of their daughter, the lifeguard is drowned, and, worn down by grief and illness, Bess also dies. Thirteen years later Alice and her husband visit the seaport with their daughter, Marion. Little Marion meets Madeline, who looks like her twin sister. The girls exchange clothes. Madeline meets with an accident, and, despite her protests, is taken on board the yacht and given medical attention. She is removed to New York while Marion is taken in hand by the old fisherman. The mistake is eventually discovered, of course, and Alice, overjoyed to find her sister’s child, gives the old fisherman and Madeline a new home.”

Summary from Reel Life · 11 July 1914

What the papers said

2 reviews

Read in full · 1 min

“A really admirable film. The story, although based upon an improbable coincidence, is very pretty, very effective, and very fairly novel. It is splendidly acted by charming young women and manly young men, not to mention two remarkable twins whose extraordinary facial resemblance goes far towards rendering the above-mentioned coincidence convincing, and the whole thing is set against a picturesque background with constant change of scene. The Pendulum of Fate is just the sort of story to please the largest proportion of audiences. Sweet, simple, and full of charming sentiment, but saved from mawkishness by the quiet sincerity of its acting, it should enjoy a wide success.”

The Bioscope · 22 October 1914

Read in full · 1 min

“A two-part picture taken mostly along the shore. It has a prologue in which one daughter of a rich man, after being rescued by a lifeguard, elopes, and the other daughter marries a banker. In this part there is much conventional love-making with kisses and the like. Then, after skipping several years, the conditions of the two cousins (the Fairbanks twins), who look alike, are contrasted. One is the orphan granddaughter of a poor fisherman and the other is with her parents on a beautiful yacht. Fate gets them mixed up, and parents and grandfather both think it a touch of the brain, until after a well-handled, speedy climax, all are happy ever after. It was billed commercially for the twins; and is not especially convincing, yet will please on account of its theme, its players, and the pretty backgrounds and well-handled scenes.”

The Moving Picture World · 1 August 1914