Volume II: Filmography

GOLD

September 15, 1914 (Tuesday)

Length: 2 reels (2,002 feet)

Character: Drama

Director: Frederick Sullivan

Assistant director: Al Mayo

Cast: Joe Phillips (the mountaineer), Reenie Farrington (his granddaughter), Alice Turner (his grandson), Justus D. Barnes (the village bully), Harry Benham (the head surveyor), Bill Sullivan (surveying party member), Al Reitz (surveying party member)

Notes: 1. Alice Turner played a male role as the mountaineer's young grandson. 2. Several Thanhouserites were injured during the production of this film.

ARTICLE, The Evening Standard (New Rochelle), August 8, 1914:

"Three Injured in Realistic Movie Scene: The play being produced was written by Mr. Sullivan, who was, for some time, leading comedian and director of the Stainach-Hards Stock Company, Mount Vernon. The scene in which the accident occurred is in a mountain cabin. Miss Renee [sic] Farrington, the heroine, was tied in a chair by Justus Barnes, the villain, who lashed a double barrel shotgun to another chair. To the triggers he attached rubber bands which were held taut by a piece of twine stretched near a candle. When the candle flame reached the twine, the cord would be burned through and the rubber bands would fire both barrels of the gun, which was pointed at Miss Farrington. The villain told her that if she did not divulge the hiding place of her father's gold, she should stay in the chair until the gun was fired and killed her.

"The candle was lighted, and the villain retired. Just in the nick of time, Harry Benham, the hero, overpowered the villain and smashed in the door with an axe, dragging Miss Farrington, chair and all, out of range of the gun. The shot was too well timed. It was intended to allow at least a minute to elapse between the rescue and the firing of the gun, and the film would be fitted together as to make the shot come just as the heroine was dragged out of its way. The scene happened just as it was intended it should appear in the picture, and the film will not have to be cut.

"Both barrels fired simultaneously and the coil of the gun broke its lashing and sent it backwards, the heavy butt striking Mr. Sullivan on the forehead, stunning him for a moment and inflicting a long gash. Blood from his wound streamed down over his face and shirt, and it was thought that his head had been torn open. As soon as he recovered his senses, he laughed, went to the studio, and washed the wound, which was afterwards dressed with plaster instead of being stitched. Buckshot from the gun rebounded and struck one finger of Miss Farrington's right hand as she was held by Mr. Benham. Another shot bounced back and struck assistant director Albert Mayo in the right shoulder, causing it to bleed profusely. Mr. Benham and Miss Alice Turner, who was playing a boy's role, were not injured. Some of the 'gold coin' consisting of brass checks and aluminum disks which were hidden behind the window casing through which the buckshot passed and which were dislodged by the shot, were pierced by the buckshot. Others were cleated together in a peculiar manner by the buckshot, bending the edges over each other. And others were knocked together with such force that the impressions of brass checks were sunk in the aluminum disks.

"To a representative of The Evening Standard, a few minutes after the accident, Miss Farrington said, 'It was near enough for me, and I hope the negative is good so that the scene will not have to be made again.'"

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, September 5, 1914:

"An old mountaineer, who has secretly accumulated $5,000, hearing of the numerous bank failures, determines to draw out the money. With a miser's caution, when asked by a rough character in the village, when he was going to draw out his money, he replies that he intends to do it on the following afternoon. Then he goes to the bank, receives his money all in gold and hides it away in his cabin. His granddaughter and small grandson are away at the time carrying water for a surveying party. The following day, the mountaineer returns to the village to lay in supplies. He is seen to visit the bank and comes out with a big sack over his shoulder, which the bad man believes contains gold. The bad man follows him and when opportunity comes pushes him over a precipice, where he is instantly killed. To his surprise, however, he finds no gold. Being somewhat in liquor, he determines that the grandchildren know the secret of the hiding place, and when he finds that they can tell him nothing, he ties the little girl in a chair, lashing her grandfather's gun with its triggers pulled back by a string, which passes over the flame of a burning candle. He then tells her only confession will save her and goes outside. The little grandson seeing his sister's danger runs to the surveying party for help. They arrive just in time to rescue the girl. The gun explodes and the shot shatters the woodwork of the window. The gold hidden there by the mountaineer comes tumbling out, and some of the shot passing on kills the murderer who is standing outside."

REVIEW, The Bioscope, December 17, 1914:

"A more or less conventional melodrama, set in a remote American country district. The plot deals with a murderous attempt to rob a miser of his secret hoard, and the manner in which it is thwarted. There is plenty of action, including two satisfactory 'sensations.' Without being in any way a masterpiece, Gold makes quite a good entertainment."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, September 16, 1914:

"A murderer is killed by the bullet fired by a gun trap laid for his victim's granddaughter, and the same shot discloses the hiding place of the money which had caused the trouble."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, September 26, 1914: This review is reprinted in the narrative section of the present work.

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, September 16, 1914:

"The climax of this melodrama would be ever so much stronger if it did not imply such a want of ordinary common sense in the mental equipment of the villain. He wants a hidden treasure of gold dollars, and as a step toward obtaining them he throws their owner down a precipice. That is reasonable enough melodrama, as is the schemer's next move, which brings him to the house supposed to contain the dollars. In the cottage he finds only the mountaineer's little granddaughter, and naturally he tries to frighten her into disclosing the resting place of the treasure. But how does he go about it? He ties the child to a chair and then makes out an ingenious death-dealing contrivance out of her grandfather's double-barreled shotgun. The triggers are held back by a cord, and beside the cord a burning candle is placed. When the candle burns down to a certain place the triggers will be released and the gun fired. What is to be gained by this elaborate device that could not be equally well accomplished by the man standing with the gun pointing at the girl, is not clear.

"Next, the gold hunter goes outside and stands looking through the window, facing the gun. The girl is saved by a party of surveyors, but nobody thinks to advise the man at the window to move on. He remains there until the contents of the gun are emptied into his face. His badness seems to have been exceeded by his foolishness. Apart from this strange climax, the picture moves along familiar lines. A miser draws his savings from a bank, with the forgoing results. Studio sets are sometimes used in place of genuine mountain rocks, but many of the scenes, the fall down the precipice for example, are effectively presented."

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