Volume II: Filmography

THE WHISPERED WORD

March 15, 1916 (Wednesday)

Length: 2 reels

Character: Drama

Director: William Parke

Scenario: Clinton H. Stagg

Cast: Grace DeCarlton (wife), Wayne Arey (husband), J.H. Gilmour (father), Lawrence Swinburne (foreman), Dorothy Benham

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, March 11, 1916:

"Many lives have been saved as well as wrecked by the magic whispering of some word vital to those concerned. Sometimes the word has been an evil one. Other times it has been a word to bring joy and new ambition to the hearer. Such a message was whispered into the ear of John Golden (Wayne Arey), in the Thanhouser-Mutual two-part drama, The Whispered Word, starring Grace DeCarlton.

"This remarkable psychological photoplay is one of the most powerful stories of a weak man's regeneration ever adapted for a film production. It treats of a vital phase of our everyday life and solves a problem which confronts hundreds of persons in all parts of the world. Anna (Grace DeCarlton), against the wishes of her friends and father, marries John Golden, who was deemed unworthy of her. The first few months of her married life convinced her that she had probably erred when she followed the dictates of her heart. John, addicted to liquor, dragged her down to the depths of poverty, forcing her to live in the squalor of the congested tenement district. One day she whispered to him a single word. From then on he took a firm foothold on himself and for the first time in many months the young wife recognized the husband of her ideals.

"Where he had been a loafer and a social outcast he became a diligent worker and looked forward to the day when he could resume his old place among the better people of the community. He saves his father-in-law from the hands of a mob. When the old man learns that his worthless son-in-law has at last decided to make a man out of himself and when he hears he is soon to be a grandfather, he relents and harmony and happiness reigns in the Golden household in anticipation of the coming heir. Wayne Arey as the dissolute husband who is reformed by his wife's love and loyalty, gives a splendid exhibition of emotional screen acting. Cast for a difficult role, his portrayal stands as an artistic achievement and stamps him as a screen actor of exceptional and unusual versatility. He is ably supported by Grace DeCarlton as the loving wife who sticks to her husband through hardships until she finally makes a man of him."

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

"A two reel subject written by Clinton H. Stagg, featuring J.H. Gilmour and Grace DeCarlton. This starts out with divorce proceedings in which the father is awarded custody of his little daughter. The girl grows up lonely and neglected, and at length runs off to a cabaret for a good time. Here she meets a party of young people. Her father casts her off and she marries one of the men, who becomes a drunkard. The transition scene is too sudden. The husband later reforms so that when the baby is about to be born there is a reconciliation with the father. The story is interesting, but not very convincing at times. This makes only a fairly strong offering."

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