Volume II: Filmography

AN INNOCENT TRAITOR

December 14, 1915 (Tuesday)

Length: 2 reels

Character: War drama

Cast: Wayne Arey (Col. Archer), Carrie Niblack (his wife), Madeline and Marion Fairbanks (their daughters), William P. Burt (the doctor), Kathryn Adams (the nurse)

Note: The release date was listed erroneously as December 24, 1915 in an article in The Moving Picture World, January 8, 1916.

ARTICLE, The Moving Picture World, January 8, 1916:

"The beautiful Fairbanks twins, Marion and Madeline, have dropped their child roles to star in ingenue parts in An Innocent Traitor, a charming play of army life in the Secret Service, announced for release on the regular Mutual Program, December 24. A unique thing about these youthful leads is that they positively refuse to appear separately. If one is to be featured, she insists that her sister share equally in the honors. This keeps the Thanhouser scenario department using its wits to devise clever plays of doubles and confounded identities in which Marion and Madeline can both be prominently cast. An Innocent Traitor shows what delightful work these two fascinating little girls are capable of. It is doubtful whether even their most ardent admirers will be able to tell them apart on the screen."

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, December 11, 1915:

"Twin daughters were born to the wife of an army lieutenant. It chanced that the doctor who was called to attend the case was secretly the spy of a foreign government. The nurse was in league with him. They alone were present when the children came into the world, and before the mother had recovered from the anesthetic, the doctor and the nurse had successfully kidnapped one of the twins. A startling idea had prompted their act. Some twelve years later, they were able to put their scheme into practice. The spies, with their young charge, were sent to America to secure information concerning the country's defenses. They learned that the former lieutenant, now a colonel, the father of their ward, was in possession of the maps and plans they required. It was arranged that Marion should spy upon her own family. Her resemblance to the girl at the army post was explained to her as a mere coincidence. The wardrobe of Colonel Archer's daughter was skillfully copied, and one day, when Madeline left the house, Marion slipped in, and passed herself off to her own father as her twin. When the officer was called out of the library, this clever young spy copied the plans of the fort, and made her escape. In a secluded corner of the grounds, however, she was seen by one of the officers, examining the plans. The outcome was that the colonel was accused of entrusting to his daughter, for delivery outside the fort, valuable government secrets. Meanwhile, Marion had discovered the real truth about her parentage and native land. At the point of a pistol she drove the two spies into the courtroom, where her stirring testimony cleared her father's name and restored her to her family."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, December 11, 1915:

"A two-reel story built around the Fairbanks twins. The plot is a little far-fetched, but contains much that is novel and enjoyable. One of the twins is stolen at birth by a doctor and nurse, who are foreign spies. The parents do not know that children were born [sic] until, in later years, when the stolen twin is employed to get copies of some army plans. The action takes place at a military post. This holds the interest throughout."

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