Volume II: Filmography

THE MISSING WITNESS

Production still with William Russell and Jacob Ruskin.(F-590)

August 12, 1913 (Tuesday)

Length: 2 reels (1,270 feet)

Character: Drama

Director: Thomas N. Heffron

Scenario: Lloyd F. Lonergan

Cast: William Russell (prosecuting district attorney), Carey L. Hastings (the missing witness), Justus D. Barnes, David H. Thompson (the actual murderer), Jacob Ruskin (defense lawyer), Frank Norcross (the "boss")

Notes: 1. Jacob Ruskin, an attorney in real life, was hired as a consultant for the film. When the actor assigned to the role of defense attorney failed to appear for the filming, Ruskin was pressed into service, for his first film role. 2. This film was just slightly over one reel in length and did not occupy two full reels.

ARTICLE, The Moving Picture World, August 16, 1913:

"William Russell, as district attorney, in The Missing Witness, a Thanhouser two-reeler, fronts a real lawyer playing the attorney for the defense.... Jacob Ruskin, the genuine lawyer who plays a lawyer, was originally called on by Director Heffron to oversee the 'dressing' of the courtroom scenes in the subject. The man originally cast for the part of attorney for the defense failed to show up, and Mr. Heffron rehearsed Ruskin in the role. The lawyer showed no stage fright and his performance in rehearsal was so satisfactory that he was kept in the cast. Regular actor Russell wonders if he could walk into a court room in place of some regular lawyer and make good that way."

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, August 16, 1913:

"A wave of reform had swept across the city, and the head of the political machine, in order to carry the election, nominated an honorable man for city treasurer, and the entire machine ticket, through the nominee's popularity, was carried to success. The city treasurer seemed to be completely out of sympathy with the boss' policies, and insisted on conducting his department in a businesslike manner. He scorned the threats of the political leader, for his conscience was clear. The boss, however, was cunning, and charges were preferred against the city treasurer, claiming misappropriation of funds. The manufactured evidence appeared so conclusive that the treasurer was compelled to resign and he died a short time later, a disgraced and broken-hearted man.

"A few years later the dead man's son became district attorney, and he devoted himself to seeking out a way to ruin the politician who had caused his father's death. Several of the boss' henchmen were indicted and purchased their freedom by confession. Then the hand of the prosecutor reached out to the city treasurer, the man who had succeeded his father, and whom he felt sure had conspired with the boss to accomplish his ruin. The treasurer, panic stricken, told the boss that unless he could protect him he would turn state's evidence. There was a quarrel and only the interference of a policeman saved the treasurer from serious injury at the boss' hand. That evening the treasurer is killed on the city streets and the boss is found bending over the body, the weapon in his hand. He was tried and found guilty, and his life would have been forfeited if the widow of the late treasurer had not come forward and testified that another man committed the crime and that the boss was innocent. She had kept silent because of the cruel wrong the politician had done the man she loved, but her sense of honor was too great to permit him to suffer for a crime he did not commit."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, August 3, 1913:

"The court scene alone in this film is worth a price of admission. William Russell, Carey Hastings, David Thompson and Frank R. Norcross, the latter a man widely known in theatrical circles, who has recently stepped over to the field of silent drama, are important factors in the shaping of the scene, which is one of the most realistic of the kind yet seen in pictures. There is a remarkable finish and abandon to the work of Norcross. The momentous opportunity afforded Thompson has been grasped with an astonishingly keen alertness, the expression of white terror depicted on his countenance and attitude when the 'missing witness,' appearing in the courtroom just as the jury is leaving the room to decide the verdict, denounces him as the murderer of the dead man and exonerating the 'boss' (played by Norcross) would be difficult to surpass.

"Two reels of film are none too many wherein to develop satisfactorily the interesting story underlying the production, and which treats of a false accusation of misappropriated funds, to hush which the accused relinquishes his entire fortune, after which he broods himself to death. Sometime later a man is killed in the street in front of the persecuted man's home. His widow, being the only witness to the affair, allows the head of the concern, through which her husband was ruined, to be arrested, tried and well-nigh sentenced for the murder before her heart softens and she hurries to do her duty as a witness to the truth. William Russell, in the role of the district attorney and son of the widow, plays strongly in his attempt to avenge the persecution and death of his father. The scenes of the film are exceptionally uniform in quality."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, August 23, 1913:

"A two-part film story in which the characters are all given special introduction, one at a time. There seemed a little too much preparation for this story, as the main incident did not occur until the second reel. The courtroom scenes are well handled. The observer has considerable sympathy for the widow of the ruined county treasurer, whose testimony alone can save the boss from conviction as a murderer. Her conscience finally leads her to clear him, in spite of the fact that he brought ruin and death to her husband. Some of the situations are a little weak from a dramatic standpoint, but it holds the interest."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, August 13, 1913:

"A political boss, to win a close election, nominates and elects an honest man as county treasurer. Finding he will not stand pat, he contrives to have the accounts tampered with and the treasurer compelled to make a large shortage good with his private fortune. The treasurer resigns in disgrace. He broods over it until he dies. His son, a lawyer, becomes a district attorney. This young man finds proof in investigating records that a certain ward heeler doctored the books to make his father appear guilty. He is about to make this known when the man is killed by a gangster. As the boss is seen quarreling with the victim shortly before, he is accused of the murder. The only one to see the crime was the treasurer's widow, and she witnessed it from her window. As the boss killed her husband by an injustice, she resolves not to testify for him. The son prosecutes the boss and all but makes him confess the murder, when the widow changes her mind and appears in court just in time to accuse the real murderer, who is a spectator in the courtroom. There is scarcely enough to change the widow's resolve, but on the whole it is a good play, with a number of thrilling scenes. Acting and photography throughout the two parts are very good."

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