Volume II: Filmography

THE EXPERT'S REPORT

December 29, 1911 (Friday)

Length: 900 feet

Character: Drama

Cast: Harry Benham (oil expert)

ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, December 23, 1911:

"Here is the wonder subject you have been waiting for. To be booked at any exchange now. Ask today. Don't join the line when it stretches clear around the block. Remember, there are two kinds of dandy one-sheets for the picture and a rich three-sheet art poster. You can bill it like a circus..."

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, December 23, 1911:

"The president of a great oil company hires a noted expert to investigate certain lands in a nearby town. The president knows the expert by reputation only, but his standing is high, and he is vouched for by one of the heavy stockholders. The expert accepts the commission, and visits the town. There he meets a widow, with two daughters, who owns a farm which she has heretofore regarded as trifling value. But the young man brings joy to the family by telling them, after his inspection, that their land is undoubtedly oil property, and worth a fortune. A neighbor of the widow has tried to curry a favor with the expert, hoping thereby to sell his father's property, but the man from the city, while he willingly inspects the property, declares it is worthless.

"When the expert, his work completed, starts toward the railroad station, enroute to the city, he again meets the son of the landowner, who asks for a final hearing. In the villager's rude shack they talk the matter over. They quarrel and finally come to blows. Late that night, a man, bound hand and foot, is thrown into a dried up well. In the morning, the president of the oil company again meets his expert, he declares that the widow's property is valueless, but the land of the surly neighbor is a wonderful site. Aroused to enthusiasm by his expert's report, the president goes posthaste to the village accompanied by his employee. There he meets the aged landowner, and after much dickering, they agree upon a price. In the meantime, the widow's two daughters, while wandering through the countryside, hear cries for help and locate the man in the well. Alone and unaided they rescue him. The story he tells causes them to hasten with him to the shack, where he tells the president of the oil company of his experiences. The result is that a carefully planned plot is blocked at the very moment that it seemed certain of success."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, December 31, 1911:

"Toward the finish of this story the whyfor of some of its action is comprehended and the relationship between several of the characters made clear, but not until then is it as well defined as could be wished for. An oil expert gives his opinion on property belonging to an old gentleman and his daughter and is called upon by a pair of connivers who desire to sell their adjoining land at a big price. Refusing to accede to their demand, he is thrown down a well, and one of the men then makes himself up as the expert and gives a false report to the home office of the oil company. On his return with the oil company's official to pay over the money to the pal the daughter of the defrauded folk brings the real expert before the group, she having rescued him from the well, and thus all ends as desired. But the two characters of the crook and the expert are confused in the scene where one overpowers the other, and the later scenes are not as easily comprehended because of this, and this is a story in which the spectator must be a part of all of the ins and outs of the developing plot. As a production it is up to modern day high standards."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, January 6, 1912:

"Seeing is believing. A capitalist is shown, in this picture, as sending an expert out to make a report on certain oil lands. A very unscrupulous character fells the expert and leaves him for dead, then impersonates him, making a personal report to the capitalist who believes he is talking to the man he sent out. The strange thing about this is that the spectator is as thoroughly taken in as is the capitalist. Lively heart-interest is given to the picture by the fact that truly rich oil lands are owned by a poor widow and her two daughters. These girls find the expert where he had been thrown, down in a well. The capitalist is about to sign the papers and take over the worthless land according to the scheme of the sharper when the real expert, the sheriff, and the girls enter. The scoundrels are captured and the widow relieved of her poverty. Acting, photography and interesting background join to make this melodrama effective and pleasing."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, January 3, 1912:

"There is interest and entertainment to be found in this film. One, however, does not derive from it as much pleasure from the acting or general treatment as will be found in the usual Thanhouser film of recent issue. It would seem as if greater force would have been added to the story had the spectator been made aware that the man who sought to bribe the claim agent disguised himself as the agent after he had thrown him down the well. As it is told and presented, one is not directly made aware of this fact, which somewhat spoils the continuity. The agent for the oil company finds oil present on the poor widow's estate and cannot be bribed into declaring that the neighbor's property has oil. This man overcomes him and throws him down a dry well, and goes into the office, handing in a report in favor of his own property. One wonders how he carried the conceit through, even though he looked like the agent. The daughters of the widow hear the groans of the man down the well and go to the rescue. He is helped up in the situation saved. Persons acquainted with the oil producing industry will find some amusement in this story's conception of conditions."

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