Volume II: Filmography

A FLAW IN THE EVIDENCE

(Mutual Program)

September 22, 1916 (Friday)

Length: 2 reels

Character: Drama

Cast: Doris Grey

Note: This was a left-over film, released on the Mutual Program, made before Thanhouser was affiliated with the Pathé Exchange, Inc. The film was discussed earlier in an article in The Moving Picture World June 3, 1916.

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, October 14, 1916:

"A detective who thinks himself clever finds that he is outwitted by an old man. These are the facts in the thievery as he reports them to his superiors. 'The victim of the robbery is a wealthy social matron. The job must have been done by the butler and the nursemaid. The girl was on the grounds with the baby. She pretended an attempt was made to kidnap the child. Her cries brought everyone from the house. As the butler had planned, he was sent back to telephone for the police. He was alone in the house, sneaked into the mother's boudoir and stole the jewels which she had left scattered about when she ran out in response to the maid's cries. I found some of the loot under the mattress in the butler's room and have placed him and the maid under arrest.'

"However satisfactory this report may be to headquarters, it does not satisfy the old father of the robbed woman. He may not be a detective, but he knows something about human nature and he reasons this way. 'I noticed that the baby didn't have any use for that detective,' he says to himself. 'But he does love his nurse and the butler. Babies and dogs can tell more about people than grownups. I saw the detective try to kiss the nurse the other day, but the butler put him off the grounds. Therefore, he doesn't like the butler. The only evidence against the butler is that he was alone in the house and this detective says he found some of the jewelry in his room. The detective was alone in the house a long time, too. He made us stay out on the lawn while he hunted around for clues.'

"Thinking this, he goes to work to 'get the goods' on the detective. He goes to the secret service man's rooms one night, and gets him to boasting about his great sleuthing. At a given time, the police light a fire, per the instructions of the old man, outside the window. Thinking the house was on fire, the detective runs to a picture on the wall. The old man gives a signal. The police come in and find behind the picture which the detective seems to be guarding, the jewels and a lot of other loot. The double-crossing detective goes to jail, while the nursemaid and butler are released and sent back home."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, September 23, 1916:

"This production is based on a story of only moderate interest, and dwells on the fact that a baby can detect good and bad in individuals, by shrinking from persons of evil intent and loving those of good purpose. A detective who tries to implicate the butler and nurse in a theft of jewels is discovered to be himself the thief."

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