Volume II: Filmography

A BIRD OF PREY

Advertising Herald for A Bird of Prey (A_Bird_of_Prey)

Working title: A THIEF IN THE NIGHT

March 16, 1916 (Thursday)

Length: 5 reels

Character: Drama; Mutual Masterpicture, DeLuxe Edition No. 81

Director: Eugene Nowland

Scenario: Philip Lonergan

Cast: John Lehnberg (the miner), Kathryn Adams (miner's wife), Tula Belle (their daughter as a child), Madeline Fairbanks (their daughter grown up), Robert Whittier (the Easterner), Carey L. Hastings, Louise Warden, Phil Brady, Jock Gironda

Note: Schedules printed in The Moving Picture World, March 11, 1916, and Reel Life the same date noted that the Thanhouser release for this date would be The Fugitive, which was to be No. 81 in the Mutual Masterpicture, DeLuxe Edition series. However, The Fugitive was not released until August 13, 1916. A Thanhouser advertisement and schedule in the same publication, date of March 18, 1916, stated that A Bird of Prey would be released as the Mutual Masterpicture, DeLuxe Edition No. 81 on March 16, 1916. A review in the same publication, date of March 25, 1916, reiterated that A Bird of Prey was released on the 16th. However, another schedule in The Moving Picture World, March 18, 1916, noted that the Thanhouser release on March 16, 1916 would be A Thief in the Night, also identified as Mutual Masterpicture, DeLuxe Edition No. 81. It is believed that A Thief in the Night was the working title for A Bird of Prey. A full-page advertisement on page 23 of Reel Life, issue of March 11, 1916, noted that A Bird of Prey would be "released the week of March 13." Another full page advertisement for the same film, on the following page, stated the film was to be "released March 16."

ARTICLE, The Evening Standard (New Rochelle), February 9, 1916:

"An exciting scene occurred in the Thanhouser Studio yesterday afternoon which did not appear in the scenario but which may appear in the picture, A Thief in the Night, written by Phil Lonergan. Although it was not meant to be in the picture the camera got it all and it will probably stay in.

"One of the great scenes is a fight in a mining camp dance hall where Miss Kathryn Adams is starring as the stolen wife of John Lehnberg, a miner. Lehnberg and the false friend fight in a dance hall and in the battle they fell against the props of a balcony in which were Miss Carey Hastings, Miss Louise Warden, Phil Brady and Jock Gironda watching it. The balcony fell carrying the four with it. The two men are athletic and leaped clear and in such a position that they caught the two girls and broke their fall so that no one was hurt.

"Eugene Nowland, who is directing the picture, is a crank for realism. He cannot endure anyone whistling while a picture is being taken but in order to get the effects of pistol shots on the crowd even in the close-ups he empties his big revolver firing shot after shot at the floor to make the actors jump involuntarily. Even the whistlers working at the other end of the studio jump when the shots are fired, and everyone not in the picture holds his ears. Mr. Nowland would not have painted scenery for the dance hall. Clarence Dull had to build real scenery of planks and joists."

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, March 4, 1916:

"'But the greatest of these is charity.' The truly noble are characterized by a spirit of charity and understanding of the weaknesses of others. They are forgiving because they are big in spirit. In the role of a Western miner is John Lehnberg. His discontented wife is Kathryn Adams. Robert Whittier, who played the leading role with Grace DeCarlton as an Indian in Betrayed, is cast for the insinuating Easterner. The story, which gives wide range to the dramatic powers of Kathryn Adams and John Lehnberg, follows:

"In a little Western mining camp a man works day after day at his claim to win riches for his wife, whom he adores. The woman is dissatisfied with her lot in life and regards her husband as an impractical dreamer. Where the wife is young, attractive and discontented, the tempter, sooner or later, appears. And he arrives in the person of a young Easterner, who comes to the mining town in search of fortune. The miner welcomes the new arrival and gives him work on his claim. Gold is discovered, and the newcomer is made a partner in the claim, and sent to register it in the name of his benefactor and himself.

"The miner does not know that the young Easterner has paid attentions to the wife, fanning her discontent, and telling her how happy she would be if she would only divorce her husband and go away with him. In the mining town the man from the East registers the claim in his name alone, and sells it at once to the proprietor of a dance hall. This man, with a number of hired thugs, goes to the mining claim and takes possession, driving off the indignant husband. When the miner demands by what right he dares to seize the claim, the dance hall owner shows him the registry deed and a receipt from the Easterner.

"Then, for the first time, the truth dawns upon the miner. He runs to his cabin to tell his wife the news, and finds her gone. A note tells him that she has left with the other man and intends to secure a divorce and marry him. Stopping at a nearby town, the fugitives are overtaken by the angry husband. A fierce fight ensues. A blow from the Easterner's pistol butt sends him to the ground unconscious. Then the wife and the Easterner board a train for the East, while the unconscious miner is carried back to his cabin.

"In the East the wife secures a divorce from her husband and marries the other man. As the years pass the banker's wife learns her husband's true character. The desire for revenge has become almost an obsession with the miner, and when he is able to dispose of the timber land he owns he leaves for the East. When he arrives in New York he discovered that his former partner is visiting a friend in the Adirondacks, and there he goes and hires a cabin where he can watch the banker and plan his vengeance. The opportunity comes soon. The banker's host gives a handsome entertainment to his guests. While the gayety is at its highest, a stern-faced man lurks outside the house. Twice he raises his rifle to fire, and each time stays his hand, for if he pressed the trigger he would have killed his wife. As the banker stands alone, a groom sees the figure with the leveled rifle and springs upon him. The muscular miner easily overpowers the servant and escapes.

"Several days later the banker's little daughter rides off through the snow-covered mountains. Night is falling when the riderless horse returned to the stable. The miner had found the child, sick and delirious, in the snow, had cared for her and decided to bring her up in ignorance of her real parentage. The former miner prospers. Tempted to recoup his losses by using the funds entrusted to his care, the banker is arrested and sentenced to prison. Several years later, the former banker's wife is sent to a wealthy home where she was told that a housekeeper was wanted. In the owner of the handsome mansion she recognizes her first husband. Gradually the heiress becomes attached to the housekeeper. The convicted banker escapes from prison and in his desperation appeals to his wife. She aids him. As he leaves he is seized. In the struggle that follows he is killed. The girl never learns that her father is slain by officers of the law, and the true story of her life is never told to her, for her foster father marries his housekeeper."

REVIEW, Exhibitors Herald, March 18, 1916:

"As a whole: good drama; story: plausible; photography: well defined; settings: excellent; support: well chosen; box office possibilities: good.

"This product of the Thanhouser company offers a very attractive feature, for it is consistently well done throughout. There is a nicely constructed plot, capable acting and the settings, especially some of the outdoor, snow-covered scenes, are very interesting. The story is one that is always popular. It contains human appeal, and there is a certain amount of suspense. An Eastern man steals a mine and the affection of the wife of another man. He sells the property and runs away with the woman. A few years afterward her husband finds the pair and discovers that they have a young daughter of whom they are very fond. One day while out riding the child becomes lost in the snow and she is found by the miner. As she has lost her memory, due to a fever contracted from the exposure, she does not remember from whence she came.

"Ten more years elapse before the lives of all concerned are brought together again. The miner has become very wealthy, and he has raised the girl as his own daughter. Her father had been put in prison for having been so careless as to have been found out misappropriating someone else's funds, and the mother has had to seek employment. Scenario writer's license sends her to the house of the man she left years before to become his housekeeper. She pleads to stay there so as to be near her daughter, and the man grants her request. The tangled lives are straightened out by the death of the man, who breaks jail, and the future result of the woman's freedom is left hanging in the air, but it is not hard to guess. As the miner John Lehnberg gives a fine, straightforward performance, and he is convincing to an extreme. Kathryn Adams draws the unfaithful wife well, and the two ages of the child are adequately done by Tula Belle and Madeline Fairbanks. In the role of the Easterner, Robert Whittier is excellent. He plays the part with just the right amount of care to make it effective. The director, Eugene Nowland, deserves a great deal of praise for the manner in which he staged the production. He has made the dramatic strength of the story stand out to its best advantage, and the story runs along smoothly. One scene, the discovery of the fugitives in the western dance hall by the husband of the woman, is very well done. The scenery is very beautiful, especially the locations that are snow-covered."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, March 12, 1916:

"What makes A Bird of Prey an interesting picture is that it is well directed, the story holds the attention, it is well acted, and the ever ready hand of coincidence only reaches out and touches the plot once. The scenario is well constructed and it is put on so that the interest of the spectator will not lag. The material used is not the newest that has been shown of late, but in seeing this film one is liable to forget that it is a little hackneyed. The story is one that is always popular with the audiences that visit theatres that show a regular program. It contains human appeal, and there is a certain amount of suspense. An Eastern man steals a mine and the affection of the wife of another man...." (The balance of this review is identical to that in Exhibitors Herald.)

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, March 25, 1916:

"This is a moderately interesting five-reel production of the Western type. The story treats of how a stranger taken as a partner by a prospector registers the claim in his own name when a rich deposit of ore is found and later steals his partner's wife. The story is at times slightly inconsistent, for instance where the prospector fails to ask to see the location papers, and toward the end of the picture there is evident considerable padding."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, March 26, 1916:

"The redeeming features about this picture are the wholesomeness and beauty of Kathryn Adams and the realistic atmosphere introduced by Tula Belle. There is no particular moral to the story and if it were in any way new there might be some amount of interest aroused by it. The story has been fairly well picturized and some of the snow scenes are really beautiful. Little attention has been paid to the location or construction of the settings and more care could be taken than to have the same rocks serve as the mine in the West and later mark the place, supposedly in the East, in the woods where the child is found. John Lehnberg gives a fair interpretation of the part of the miner, and Kathryn Adams gives a pleasing portrayal of his wife. Both Tula Belle and Madeline Fairbanks enact the part of the child quite well.

"The story is that of the miner, duped by an Easterner, who not only steals his property but his wife. Some years later the miner, now a wealthy man, goes East and discovers his wife and the Easterner and a young daughter. The child becomes lost in the woods and is found by the miner, but due to exposure she has lost her memory and when he adopts her she believes that he is her father. The Easterner is compelled to desert the wife to escape imprisonment, and she is compelled to take a position as housekeeper in her husband's home. The tangled lives are straightened out by the death of the man who has broken jail, and the woman, her husband and the child once more live in happiness."

REVIEW, Wid's Film and Film Folk, March 23, 1916: This review is reprinted in the narrative section of the present work.

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