Volume II: Filmography

THE HARLOW HANDICAP

June 30, 1914 (Tuesday)

Length: 2 reels (2,007 feet)

Character: Drama

Cast: Harry Benham (Harry Allen), Justus D. Barnes (George Carnes), Mignon Anderson (Mignon, his daughter), Arthur Bauer (Arthur Mower), E.T. Moore (one of Mower's confederates), Charles Mather (another of Mower's confederates), John Reinhard, Peggy Burke

Notes: 1. The title was given erroneously as The Harlowe Handicap in a review in The Moving Picture World, July 11, 1914. 2. In Britain this film was released under the title The Harlowe Handicap.

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, July 4, 1914:

"Upon the death of his father, Harry Allen found himself the owner of a racing stable with but very little money to maintain it. George Carnes, who served the Allen family as trainer for many years, does his best to run the stable on the limited amount of money which Allen has left, but finds it a difficult task. Because of his financial difficulties young Allen hesitates to ask Carnes' daughter, Mignon, to enter into an engagement with him. Arthur Mower, a bookmaker, takes advantage of the situation to press his attentions upon the trainer's pretty daughter. Mignon repulses the bookmaker and incurs his enmity.

"Mower determines to make off with the fastest racer in Allen's stables. Possessed of inside information, he is aware that Allen's racer has an excellent chance of winning the Harlow Handicap. He engages two men to spirit off the horse. Carnes and Allen discover the would-be thieves in the stable and overpower them. In the fight between the men, however, a lantern is upset and the barn takes fire. Carnes and Allen lead out two horses, neither of which proves to be the favorite. Worn out by their efforts both men sink down exhausted. Mignon arrives on the scene in time, however, and brings out Allen's racer just as the roof of the burning barn crashes in. Allen's horse wins the handicap and soon after Mower's confederates confess their share in the attempted thievery. Mower is arrested and sent to prison. Harry, his financial troubles ended, announces his engagement to Mignon."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, July 11, 1914: This review is reprinted in the narrative section of the present work.

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, July 29, 1914:

"Racing dramas have in the very spirit of the subject a decided element of excitement which this play has used to good purpose. There is the usual trio, and to be consistent a jealous suitor tries as ever to poison [sic; the synopsis says steal] the horse on which all the hopes and financial well-being of the characters are placed. There are incorporated some few views of the present racing season at one of the local tracks, and throughout the racing atmosphere is sufficiently presented. The cast have not been called upon for any exacting work, yet they have, with a brief opportunity, giving the play its likable spirit of truth. Simple in settings, and on reels with manifold interest, not only through the nature of the subject but through the manner of production as well.

"The father dies and leaves his good-will to the son, who is thereby bankrupt in all else. He confides his troubles to a friend of his dead father, and the friend promises to waste his horse in the coming handicap. His daughter and the young man interrupt the continuity of the handicap motive enough to strongly register the fact that they are in love. Much is therefore at stake in the coming race. The villain having been rejected by the girl, vows revenge and plots with the two stable habitues to set fire [sic; the synopsis says the fire was an accident] to the stable in which the horse is housed. That night smoke fills the room over the stable in which the trainer is sleeping. He and the young man hurry into the smoke-filled stable, but each brings out the wrong horse. Then the girl rushes in and brings out the racehorse. The next day their horse wins, and the perpetrator of the outrage is sent to jail with his accomplices."

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