Volume II: Filmography

GOD'S WITNESS

May 20, 1915 (Thursday)

Length: 4 reels

Character: Drama; Mutual Masterpicture

Director: W. Eugene Moore, Jr.

Assistant director: Leo Wirth

Scenario: Adapted from Augusta Evans Wilson's book, At the Mercy of Tiberius

Cameraman: A.H. Moses, Jr.

Cast: Arthur Bauer (General Darrington), Mary Elizabeth Forbes (Mrs. Darrington, his wife), Adeline O'Connor (Ella, their daughter), Sidney Bracy (Leo Darcy, her husband), Florence LaBadie (Beryl, their daughter), Morris Foster (Bert, their son), Miss J. Williams (Dyce, a nurse), Harris Gordon (Lennox Dunbar), Justus D. Barnes (judge), Marie Shotwell (bit part)

Location: Many scenes were filmed in and near Savannah, Georgia

Notes: 1. This was the second Mutual Masterpicture to be released by Thanhouser. (The first was The Last Concert, released May 3, 1915.) Publicity for God's Witness noted that it was released in May; later publicity stated it was released in June, with no specific date given in either instance. However, Reel Life, in a lead article in the May 8, 1915 issue, gave the release date as May 20, 1915. Advertisements in Reel Life, May 15, 1915, and The Moving Picture World, May 22, 1915 (reprinted below), stated erroneously: "This being the first Thanhouser contribution to Mutual Masterpictures." 2. Portions of this film were photographed at the Savannah home of Marie Shotwell, who played a bit part in the picture and who later became an actress at the Thanhouser studio.

BACKGROUND OF THE SCENARIO: The Thanhouser film God's Witness was adapted from the novel, At the Mercy of Tiberius, written by Augusta Evans Wilson (1835-1909) and published in 1887. The same novel was also used as the base for a 1920 Samuelson film, The Price of Silence. Evans also wrote St. Elmo (released as a film by Thanhouser on March 22, 1910; refer to that entry for additional biographical information).

ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, May 22, 1915:

"Edwin Thanhouser presents God's Witness - an adaptation of Augusta Evans Wilson's famous novel entitled At the Mercy of Tiberius - in which will appear Florence LaBadie and Harris Gordon, Arthur Bauer and Morris Foster. This being the first Thanhouser contribution to the series of MUTUAL MASTER-PICTURES. In this adaptation of the famous and widely read novel...a worthy criterion of film achievement has been obtained. The Thanhouser resources have been extended to accomplish the best efforts in settings and dramatic values. The result compels conservative pride to give way to elation, for God's Witness has surpassed all aims and expectations. It is a distinct and refreshing departure from the prevalent conception of multi-reel requirements. If the tone is high, its appeal convincing, its types true and it moves naturally, smoothly, and unerringly on to a terrifically tense emotional climax. Wherever human hearts throb with the tempest and sunshine of existence there will God's Witness find enthusiastic approval."

ARTICLE, The New Rochelle Pioneer, April 3, 1915:

"Director W. Eugene Moore, Leo Wirth, assistant director, and Al Moses, cameraman, returned from Savannah, Georgia, where they had a company headed by Florence LaBadie and Morris Foster, starting a four-reel Mutual Masterpicture, and got about 2,000 feet in the Southern metropolis. Gene's party owned the city while there and were wined and dined to their heart's content. They attended a movie house while Thanhouser's The Final Reckoning was showing, and Miss LaBadie and Mr. Foster were the whirlwinds of honor."

ARTICLE, Reel Life, May 8, 1915:

"Sidney Bracy, whose name is identified with the best productions of the Thanhouser studio, has created a new reputation for himself in the role of Captain Leo Darcy, in the four-part Mutual Masterpicture God's Witness. In this powerful play, Bracy impersonates a young Northerner who wins the heart of a beautiful Southern girl, the daughter of a colonel in the Confederate army. The part is a difficult one, and the strength of the story largely depends upon the personality of Ella's lover. Were he not so convincing as Bracy makes him, the chain of events following his elopement with Ella would fail to find us in sympathetic mood or even credulous. The Thanhouser leading man has fully grasped the subtle significance of the character he plays. He realizes that the personality of Darcy must counterbalance, and a little more, all the Southern atmosphere of the piece. He makes Darcy the dominating force which the situation demands. And though he passes out of the drama before the end of the story, Bracy's impersonation leaves its impress indelibly upon the production."

ARTICLE, Reel Life, May 8, 1915:

"In this, the first of the Mutual Masterpictures produced by Thanhouser, Florence LaBadie, sometimes called 'loveliest leading woman in pictures' adds to her laurels in distinctive fashion. As Beryl Darcy, a beautiful Southern girl, she fulfills a strange destiny, in the end gaining the fortune from which her mother had been disinherited by wedding the man she loves. God's Witness will be released as a Mutual Masterpicture May 20, 1915."

ARTICLE, The Moving Picture World, May 15, 1915:

"Those who have been fortunate enough to see God's Witness, a Thanhouser production, which has been selected as a Mutual Masterpicture, are enthusiastic in their praise of the work of Harris Gordon, who appears in the leading role. The picture was scenalized from the book, At the Mercy of Tiberius. W. Eugene Moore directed the picture, many of the scenes being taken in and around Savannah, Georgia. God's Witness will be released during the latter part of May."

ARTICLE, Reel Life, May 15, 1915:

"Morris Foster, the Thanhouser star, who plays Lennox Dunbar in the four-part Mutual Masterpicture, God's Witness, is about the most popular man 'on or off' appearing in pictures. He is so young that he has forbidden anybody in the secret to publish his age. But professionally he is well along, for Foster made his debut in his earliest years. There was a time when he was steeped in Shakespeare. He roamed about the back yards in the vicinity of the Golden Gate, eyes heavenward, 'lamping' back porches in quest of a Juliet to whom he could pour out his Romeo. He was chased by irate fathers with shot guns - until he eloped alone and came to New York. In God's Witness Foster plays opposite Florence LaBadie. He impersonates a young lawyer of the fair-and-square, none too usual, type. Against overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Dunbar protests that the girl he loves is innocent of the crime with which she is charged. He wins out in the end - just as one would expect of a young man with Foster's engaging personality."

ARTICLE, Reel Life, June 19, 1915:

"Arthur Bauer, who plays General Darrington in God's Witness, a four-part Mutual Masterpicture by Thanhouser, arrived in America with the original Savage production of The Merry Widow. He is a Viennese, and was 12 years before the footlights. The New Rochelle studios saw his debut in American photoplays. Abroad, he had appeared in Great Northern films in Berlin and in Copenhagen. 'My Favorite work,' he said recently, 'is refined character parts.' Mr. Bauer, who is tall, well-built, with an unusually fine presence, impersonates the proud, old Southerner, General Darrington, most convincingly, the part calling for some tremendous acting in the scene with his grandson."

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, May 8, 1915:

"As Beryl was ushered into the library at Darrington House, everything about this sombre old mansion, she told herself, must be like her grandfather. For the first time, she was to see and talk with him. Her mother's life had been very romantic. Poor mother - once beautiful Ella Darrington - had chosen Captain Leo Darcy before everything else in the world! And, though her mother had been disinherited, and her grandmother had died of the shock of her daughter's elopement, and though Captain Darcy always had been poor - were as nothing beside the devotion which, until his death, had bound together Beryl's father and mother.

"Beryl crossed the great room and stood before the massive chimney place. The lion's face on the andirons seemed to glower at her as velour draperies, filling the deep window embrasures, filtered the pale sunshine of the afternoon. The house was very still. Beryl's thoughts just then were of her mother, lying in the cottage at Habersville. Beryl set her pretty mouth and chin determinedly. Someone entered the room. The girl rose quickly. Before her stood an old gentleman, scanning her from under his shaggy, white eyebrows. 'I am Beryl,' she said, 'and you are - my - '

"'General Darrington, at your service, madam,' he interrupted.

"Beryl found it difficult to continue. Earnestly, simply, she made her appeal. With beating heart, she waited as her grandfather stepped to the old-fashioned secretary. Out of a drawer he took some gold coins and an antique necklace and placed them in her hand. 'Not for my daughter's sake, mind you,' he said. 'She has been dead to me these 20 years. I have made Lennox Dunbar my sole heir. But, I cannot refuse to help any woman in distress.'

"Beryl missed the train back to Habersville. Restless and exultant, she walked and walked. At last, in a dense grove, she flung herself down and slept. When she woke she realized that she must lose no time in reaching the railroad station. As she rushed into the depot, two men stepped forward. One wore a sheriff's badge. 'I must get this train,' said Beryl. 'What do you wish of me?'

"'You're wanted on a grave charge - an exceedingly grave charge,' he replied. 'If I am under arrest,' she faltered, 'please telegraph my mother, at Habersville, that I have stayed in Darrington Springs - with my grandfather. Bert, my brother, will be with her.'

"The young man accompanying the sheriff vanished into the telegraph office. He was Lennox Dunbar. Between the time that Beryl had left Darrington House and the moment she had entered the depot, Lennox Dunbar had discovered the general dead in the library. Marks of a blow from one of the antique andirons were on his forehead. His will, leaving his property to Dunbar, was missing. The gold and a necklace were gone from the secretary drawer. The money and the ornament found in Beryl's possession spelled 'Guilty!' The first day of the trial was all against her. On the second day Bert Darcy arrived. He testified that scarcely half an hour after his sister had left the mansion, he had entered it to plead with his grandfather. He had no knowledge then that Beryl had been there. Angry words followed, and the old gentleman seized one of the andirons to strike Darcy. Just then came a terrific flash of lightning. The general fell. He was dead!

"The following day the superstitious colored servants were prevailed upon to enter the library wing, and came rushing back, shrieking: 'The Massa's come to life! He's come to life!' Lennox Dunbar strode down the passagewa, and staggered back before the sight which met his eyes. On the glass door of the library, the flash of lightning had photographed that last scene in the career of General Darrington. Later, Beryl - in default of a will, heiress to her grandfather's estate - was talking earnestly with Lennox Dunbar. 'He wished you to have it all,' she said, 'I shall withdraw in your favor.' The next instant she found herself in his arms. Love became their arbiter."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, June 5, 1915:

"A four-reel production based on the novel of Augusta Evans Wilson, At the Mercy of Tiberius. The story is one particularly well adapted to pictures, and it is too late in the day to accuse the well-known writer of making use of a far-fetched idea in the phenomenon of the photograph of the scene taking place in the room within, being stamped on the window pane by the flash of lighting that killed the old man. The production has been well made and contains a great deal of realism. Flo LaBadie, Arthur Bauer, Mary Elizabeth Forbes, A. O'Connor, Sidney Bracy, Morris Foster, J. P. Williams and Harris Gordon are among the cast. This is one of the Mutual Masterpictures."

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