Volume II: Filmography

WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE

August 13, 1915 (Friday)

Length: 1 reel (1,015 feet)

Character: Drama

Cast: Claude Cooper (John Hastings), Morgan Jones (Henry Hastings, his uncle), Inda Palmer (Mrs. O'Hara), Sam Niblack (policeman)

Note: Another Thanhouser film with the same title, unrelated in plot and with different players, was released on April 21, 1911.

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, August 7, 1915:

"A wealthy businessman discovers that a young kinsman of his, whom he has given a place in his office, is associating with a gang of counterfeiters and is passing fake money. The boy, John Hastings, only recently has come from the country to New York, and Henry Hastings, the uncle, determines to give John a fair tryout before deciding that he is anything more than the dupe of the criminal bunch, into whose society he has drifted. John is robbed. The thieves, finding that the fat wad contains only counterfeit bills, throw it under the table in a saloon, where it is found by Mrs. O'Hara, a scrubwoman. She discovers John's card inside, and determines to restore the money to its owner. The boy's uncle sees the woman return to John the bursting pocketbook, and also sees him give her several bills as a reward. Knowing by the size of the purse that something is wrong, Henry Hastings causes the arrest of the woman. At first John, confronted by Mrs. O'Hara, the officer and his uncle, denies having given the prisoner any money. But when the policeman is in the act of putting handcuffs on the poor scrubwoman's wrists and taking her away to jail, the boy breaks down and confesses. Mrs. O'Hara is set free. The uncle changes the boy's money for legal tender. He then tells John that he has been weighed in the balance and not found wanting."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, August 28, 1915:

"A story of good moral import, and well developed. A young man falls into temptation in a poolroom and handles counterfeit money, to his sorrow. His employer gives him one more chance and he promises to make good."

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