Volume II: Filmography

THE THUNDERBOLT

November 26, 1912 (Tuesday)

Length: 1 reel

Character: Drama

Cast: James Cruze (the dishonest broker), David H. Thompson (the poor man), Jean Darnell (the poor man's wife), William Garwood (the poor couple's son grown up), Mignon Anderson (the broker's daughter grown up)

ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, November 23, 1912:

"It struck the house, wrecked the old stone chimney and sent the fragments crashing into the room. After the fragments came gold, lots of it. The chimney had been the hiding place of a stolen fortune. The ultimate disposal of the fortune is the story the picture tells, tells well and tells in an unexpected twist."

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, November 23, 1912:

"A broker who was trying to get rich dishonestly found himself in danger of arrest. Just as he was preparing for flight a neighbor entered. This man had been poor all his life, but coming unexpectedly into a legacy of $10,000, decided that the broker was the man who could invest the money for him. The broker took the cash, stuffed it into his pockets and left his office forever. He decided that this windfall should be set apart for his little daughter. The old lodgekeeper on his estate had been in his employ for years, and was very fond of the little girl. To him the broker went, swore him to secrecy and obedience, and gave him the money, which he promised to hide from everybody until the girl came of age. The broker then departed, but was captured while trying to escape, convicted, and served 10 years in prison.

"On his release the broker hunted up his old servant, intending to reclaim the money and with it his daughter to start life anew. The servant had been faithful to his trust, but when the broker arrived the other man was on his deathbed, and passed away without being able to tell where he had hidden the money. The ex-convict and the girl were sitting alone one night when a fearful storm arose. A thunderbolt struck the house, wrecked the stone chimney and in fragments it fell tumbling into the room. The old man jumped forward, and out of the rubble pulled a small strongbox. He opened it with trembling hands and extracted a roll of bills. A yellow piece of paper was bound with them, but this dropped to the floor as the ex-convict counted the money. The girl picked up the paper and glanced at it. She then learned that the bills were the same ones her father had stolen years before, the victim being the father of the young man to whom she was engaged. The girl declared that the money should be restored to its rightful owner. The old man protested, and the argument grew heated. Suddenly the door opened and the girl's fiancé entered. From his home nearby he had seen the lightening strike the lodge and hurried over to be of assistance. The girl took the money from her father, placed it in her sweetheart's hand, and asked his forgiveness."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, December 1, 1912:

"In point of stage business, in plot and situations, this is a strikingly fine offering, well worthy of serious consideration. A stockbroker falls and is about to end everything when a friend calls at his office and entrusts $10,000 to his keeping for investment. The broker takes the money and leaves it with an old lodge keeper whom he had employed for years, making him promise to care for his little girl, and to keep the money for her until she grew up. The broker is then arrested for defaulting and is sent to prison. He serves ten years, returns to his child, looks up the lodge keeper, who dies before telling where the money is hidden. Later a storm breaks out and a bolt of lightning crashes through the chimney and dislodges the iron box in which the hoard had been saved. The father seizes it, but from a paper in the box the girl learns that the money had been taken from the father of her sweetheart, and as he enters at this moment she makes her father give it to him, thus making restitution for the wrong done years before."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, December 7, 1912:

"A picture with a startling climax, but almost lacking in dramatic suspense. Of course, a thunderbolt could not be made to be expected, yet it might have been used so as to greatly add to the climax of a dramatic story. The present picture lacks unity of interest. It fails to set forth one person or group of persons with whom the spectator can sympathize. It isn't a story about any one person, as it starts out to be, but of a bundle of money. The thunderbolt reveals its hiding place. James Cruze, as the dishonest broker who steals the poor man's little legacy and has it hidden, does excellent and very interesting work. David Thompson plays the poor man; Jean Darnell, his wife; William Garwood, their son grown up, and Mignon Anderson, the broker's daughter grown up. It is a prettily made picture."

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