Volume II: Filmography

A LEAK IN THE FOREIGN OFFICE

British release title: A LARK IN THE FOREIGN OFFICE

February 17, 1914 (Tuesday)

Length: 2 reels (1,991 feet)

Character: Drama

Director: Frederick Sullivan

Scenario: Lloyd F. Lonergan, from a story by Clarence Herbert New

Cast: James Cruze (Lord Trevor, the diplomatic free lance), Florence LaBadie (Nan Tremaine, Lord Trevor's ward), David H. Thompson (Sir Edward Wray, the foreign secretary), Arthur Bauer (Colonel Pfaff, secret agent for Germany), Ethyle Cooke (Mrs. Benham, Colonel Pfaff's accomplice), Morris Foster, Justus D. Barnes (Abdool, Trevor's Afghan companion), Thomas H. Weisman

Notes: 1. This was the first of a projected series, directed by Frederick Sullivan and with scenarios by Lloyd Lonergan, from Clarence Herbert New's Adventures of a Diplomatic Free Lance series, which had been running for the previous five years in Blue Book magazine. The entire Thanhouser series comprised the following: A Leak In the Foreign Office (released February 17, 1914), The Cat's Paw (March 17, 1914), A Debut In the Secret Service (April 7, 1914), and A Mohammedan Conspiracy (May 12, 1914). 2. It was announced that all films in this series would feature James Cruze and Florence LaBadie in the lead roles. 3. A scene from this film, captioned "Adventures of a Diplomatic Free Lance," illustrated the cover of the February 14, 1914 issue of Reel Life. 4. Ethyle Cooke, Mrs. Harry Benham in real life, played the part of "Mrs. Benham" in this film. 5. It is not known if the British release title, A Lark in the Foreign Office, was intended as such or whether it was a typographical error in trade publication listings.

ADVERTISEMENT, Reel Life, February 14, 1914:

"A Leak in the Foreign Office, two reels, giving an adventure of THE DIPLOMATIC FREE LANCE, after the famous series of the same name in the Blue Book, running for nearly a half-dozen years and accounted one of the most popular magazine features ever printed. Ten million persons are estimated to have read them. Think of reaching this high-class clientele with your picture theatre! The next adventure will appear shortly with James Cruze and Flo LaBadie."

ARTICLE-SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, February 14, 1914:

"This series of [Diplomatic Free Lance] magazine stories originated, in the Blue Book, with a preliminary line entitled 'An Agent of the Government' and dealing with American diplomacy. They were written during the latter part of the Roosevelt administration when - for the first time in United States history - the diplomatic service, under civil service regulations, was endowed with the dignity and power which it has always had among other nations. President Roosevelt, perhaps more than any former executive, realized the vital importance of the service in state affairs - and established a personnel which succeeded in placing the foreign relations of this country on a par with those of the other great powers. The material for illustrating in story form some of the really momentous coups which were taking place under the surface all through the administration was too valuable to neglect - and an attempt was made in that first series to show the inner workings of the diplomatic secret service, not in the ridiculously improbable way some writers have tried, but according to the actual methods in everyday use.

"The author was equipped with some personal acquaintance with the class of men he described - both at home and abroad - also with officers of the Army and Navy, and many United States consuls in various ports. Whether his descriptions were entirely true to life, it is not his privilege to say - but the series of stories won sufficient recognition among the reading public to create a demand for an indefinite continuation of them. About that time, however, the Roosevelt administration was succeeded by the Taft - and American diplomacy received a setback from which it has not as yet recovered. What may have happened under the surface, only ex-President Taft and his Secretary of State probably know. But American prestige in diplomatic circles abroad declined to such an extent that it was impossible to find material enough for the sort of stories which had been running. So - 'the Agent of the Government' went abroad for an indefinite vacation.

"While traveling in India, he found an exceedingly likable English baronet, down with enteritis, in a deserted dark bungalow a hundred miles back of Madras - and took care of him for a week, at the end of which, the Englishman died. During that week, the American's faithful Afghan friend and companion had spoken several times of the marvelous resemblance between him and the dying Englishman - and the baronet had gone pretty thoroughly over his own history for their benefit. He was the last of his family - a deputy commissioner in Madras. When the American went down to Madras, afterward, he was recognized and spoken to many times as Sir George Trevor - which set him thinking. He was a man of independent wealth - and returning eventually to London, he dropped in at the offices of the solicitors who had dealt with the Trevors for generations - and was recognized by them as Sir George Trevor. The family estates had been gambled away in the time of George IV - but the American purchased them back. When he went down to Trevor Hall, in Devon, the neighbors all recognized him as Sir George - and merely out of curiosity to see how far the impersonation could be carried, he passively let it stand.

"Presently, it occurred to him that the double identity could be used in a diplomatic way. He called up Sir Edward Wray at the Foreign Office - convinced that gentleman that he had cabled him vital information upon a former occasion - and suggested a coup at the Kiel Naval Review, which he carried off so successfully that his assistance was afterward gladly welcomed by Sir Edward. His identity was never once suspected by the foreign diplomats. He scored coup after coup to the advantage of England until the Crown rewarded him with a peerage. This he was about to refuse, when he found, to his great amazement, that his American family was actually a branch of the Devonshire Trevors and that he was their only surviving heir. Sometime previous to his accepting the peerage, Captain Tremaine - the most brilliant officer of the Indian Secret Service, and a chum of the former Deputy Commissioner, Sir George Trevor - had been assassinated in Kabul by Russian secret agents. And when his will was probated, the pseudo Sir George, in England, found himself named as guardian of the Captains only daughter, Nan Tremaine. Under the circumstances, he was about to decline the charge when Nan arrived at Trevor Hall. They took an instant liking to each other. The girl became so great a favorite with Abdool and the entire household that she ruled over them like a youthful queen. And, from close association with her father in the Indian Secret Service she proved an invaluable assistant to the Diplomatic Free Lance in all his adventures.

"From his wealth of material, and the seething brew of intrigue which constantly exists among European Powers, the author had no difficulty in continuing the series of stories indefinitely. They are still running in the Blue Book, which also contains, from time to time, other series by him written under a nom de plume. The fact that the Free Lance stores have appeared continuously, every month, for the past five years, or more, is sufficient indication of the interest the reading public has taken in them. And most of the series are sufficiently full of action to be very effectively dramatized on the films. The first of the motion plays to be written around them by Mr. Lonergan brings all but one of the leading characters to the screen, and explains itself to the audience even without the titles which are introduced, here and there. It is probable that several people among each audience will have read the stories in magazine form - and will recognize both incidents and characters at first glance."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, February 22, 1914:

"This is the first in a series of stories under the general head of 'A Diplomatic Free Lance,' and it seems a decided novelty in the line of photo plays. The stories upon which the series is founded have proved so popular that they have been appearing monthly for about five years in a magazine devoted to fiction. Those who are engaged in the diplomatic service are always reluctant to admit that the life is quite as exciting as fiction writers depict it, but in any case such stories when well done are most entertaining, and these stories are decidedly well done. James Cruze and Flo LaBadie play the leading parts, and the rest of the cast is a strong one. Also it includes Justus Barnes, Dave Thompson, Arthur Bower [sic] and Ethyle Cooke. The story of this first chapter is not as exciting as the ones which are to come, as it was necessary to use part of it to create the situations and present the characters. However, there is no lack of interest at any point of the two reels, and there is some lively action. Altogether this bids fair to be one of the big series of the year."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, February 28, 1914:

"This picture was written by Clarence Herbert New and is a fine production. The leading parts are portrayed by James Cruze and Marguerite Snow [sic; actually Florence LaBadie], which guarantees a fine production. It is in two parts and every second is interesting. Hypnotism is one of the methods used to learn government secrets - hence the leak. It works out in a consistent manner, although some faults are to be found in the two reels; it is a worthy production and worth seeing."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, March 4, 1914:

"This is a two-reel drama built up with a fine air of the place where it is supposed to transpire. This, and the careful detail as to staging, with a wealth of contributory facts, are the two features that lend it the extra distinction which it possesses. The play is about the foreign office of the country, its wireless station, and how the foreign spies try to win some of the government's secrets by tapping the transmitting apparatus. The atmosphere of the play, set in the locale of the foreign office and the transmitting station, helps it to distinction. The little details of setting and direction that put one at home in the play, all lend appreciably to the general interest in the minor action. The cast did finely. Their smooth efforts were another adjunct to the feeling in the film. From beginning to end the interest in the film never lagged. The spies of the German government are at work trying to gain the secrets of the American foreign office, and their objective is the transmitting station where the wireless news is flashed forth. They hire a socially elect but temporarily impoverished woman as an aide, and manage to attach a wire to the wireless transmitter at the government station. After that they are daily seen receiving the secret messages. The American foreign office soon learns of it, and they send out some of their best men to detect the leak. It remains to one of the attachés and his wife to discover the wire by which the news is tapped. They follow the wire to its source and here discover the plant. A wait, with detectives, enables them to capture the whole band."

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February 20, 1914 (Friday)

No Thanhouser release because of the two-reel release the preceding Tuesday.

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