Volume II: Filmography

HIS YOUNGER BROTHER

March 14, 1911 (Tuesday)

Length: 1,000 feet

Character: Drama

Cast: Marguerite Snow, William Russell

ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, March 14, 1911:

"The story of the artifice of a girl employed in her brother's behalf, and the twist comes when you find that her efforts weren't needed. For the brother was not the spotless man his sister presumed him to be, but the discovery came at the wind-up of her struggle to place the blame elsewhere. Her sense of devotion to him leads her to try hard to fasten the guilt on a man of stainless character, and when she learns how mistaken and misguided was the effort, she makes reformation by taking the man's name for her own and joining with him to save the erring brother from further sin."

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, March 18, 1911:

"A young clerk, employed by a wealthy broker, weakly yields to the temptations of city life, and embezzles some of the money entrusted to his care. He is found out, of course, and is about to fly when an officer arrives at his home and places him under arrest. In an effort to hide his disgrace from his loving sister and mother he tells them that he is the victim of a plot, and is being railroaded to prison for the sins of his employer. The sister believes him, as sisters will, and forms a daring plan to save him. She decides to disguise herself as a boy, secure employment with a broker, and discover his secrets. Then she will free her darling brother. Part of this scheme is successful. She lands a job, and wins the broker's confidence. Against her will, she day by day finds it harder to keep on hating him. He is kindhearted, charitable and considerate, not at all what she had expected him to be. The broker even goes so far as to decide to free the young embezzler. He pleads with the judge, urges him to give the young man a chance to retrieve his folly, and the clerk leaves prison. Full of gratitude, he accompanies his employer to the office, there frankly admits all his wrong doing.

"The new 'clerk' listens with horror. She realizes that the broker was unjustly accused and that her brother had lied to her. Overpowered by emotion, her condition finally attracts the guilty man. He looks up to see the sister he loves gazing sorrowfully at him, and realizes the sacrifice she has made in her misguided attempt to 'clear' a name that deserved to be bad. The brother's cry of recognition gives the broker his first inkling of the truth. He realizes that the bright 'boy' who has recently come into his employ was no other than the sister of the former clerk. Too astonished for words, the broker allows the brother and sister to leave the office without further explanation. When they have gone, he sends after them a note informing the boy that he is to have a fresh start as a broker's agent in Brazil, and that if his 'younger brother' will consent, she can fill his old position. For the broker realized that the supposed boy had found a place in the heart he never thought would be pierced by Cupid's arrow."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, March 19, 1911:

"One of the most logical and well conceived stories told by the camera in recent weeks. A young man defaults with certain moneys. His arrears are discovered and he is discharged. On returning home he tells his mother and sister that he had left the firm and is going west. He is arrested as he is about to depart. In court the employer relents and the boy is given another chance. In the endeavor to prove her brother innocent the sister makes up as a boy and applies for her brother's former position. She is accepted by the head clerk. The employer returns with the brother, however, when the latter breaks down in remorseful confession. The sister goes home, the boy starts life anew, and the employer becomes a fast friend of the family by offering the brother a position as South American representative of the firm, and the sister a permanent position as bookkeeper. The possibility of a love affair is left to the imagination, for which many hearty congratulations. The production was adequately put on and exceedingly well acted. Particular praise is due each one of the principals, brother, sister, employer and head clerk, and especially additional praise is due the last named, for if ever a man looked the part he played this actor surely did, and he acted it to the life."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, March 25, 1911:

"A story of more than usual power, worked out through a number of rather complicated, though perfectly clear, situations. That a girl should don boy's clothes and take her brother's place is not novel, but in this instance the interest is increased by the fact that instead of discovering that the employer was a villain she soon learns that the brother is to blame. Then a love affair follows, the sinning brother is given another opportunity, and the picture closes with a good feeling everywhere."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, March 22, 1911:

"The acting and management lift this story above the commonplace by the natural touches that are given it throughout, which is much to this director's credit, for he seems frequently called upon to thus save a trite and rather inane theme. The sister disguising as a boy seems entirely unnecessary, and as she really gained nothing by the procedure except a husband (who proposed to her early one morning when he came down to the office, in the presence of another clerk) it would have seemed better to have omitted the disguise, which has long since ceased to be novel. Her brother was accused of embezzlement and prosecuted by his employer. She in her disguise of a boy took the place, but seemed to learn nothing. The employer then relented and for some reason brought the boy back to the office, presumably so that the girl could strip off her disguise. Confidence in the young man was evidently restored, for he was sent to fulfill a position in Brazil, while his sister became engaged for life."

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