Volume II: Filmography

THE WESTERNER AND THE EARL

February 7, 1911 (Tuesday)

Length: 980 feet

Character: Drama (per Thanhouser); comedy (per reviewers)

Note: The title was given erroneously as The Westerner and the Girl in The Moving Picture News, January 28, 1911.

ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, February 4, 1911:

"Deals with the phase of the foreign nobleman question that is best known in America - the exchange of a title for Yankee dollars. A certain English earl tried to exchange his for such of wealthy Mrs. Montague's shekels as came with the hand of her daughter. Mrs. Montague is willing. But her daughter wasn't. The scraggy-looking specimen of nobility didn't appeal to her at all; the healthy, husky American type of man was more to her liking. But the nobleman thought out a scheme to win her admiration, and, learning of it, the certain American-type-of-man schemes out a counterscheme - and the pictures bring pleasing order out of the chaos that follows."

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, February 11, 1911:

"Mrs. Montague is an American society woman who had a great regard for titles. So when an English earl promised to pay a visit to her bungalow in the Western mountain region, she was delighted. In her mind's eye, she should see herself the mother-in-law of an earl - for the earl was poor and the Montagues were rich, while the woman's daughter was decidedly charming. Probably there would have been another international marriage, had it not been for the girl in this case. She had an American sweetheart and frowned upon the foreign nobleman, much to her mother's sorrow. So Mrs. Montague, driven to desperation, finally evolved a plot which she believed would win the earl the success he sought.

"A Wild West show was giving performances near her summer home, and the earl, advised by Mrs. Montague, sought out the proprietor and hired his band of performing Indians. They were to capture the earl and the heiress. Then the earl was to be allowed to escape and free the woman whose hand he sought. But the young American suitor heard of the plot and decided to pay back the earl in his own coin. The show also had cowboys, and Jack engaged them and the proprietor, Rattlesnake Bill, to capture the Indians after they had captured the girl. The counterpart worked successfully, and so, instead of being regarded as a hero, the poor earl actually acquired quite a different reputation. He was figuratively and literally a 'belted earl' before he finished, and Mrs. Montague found that the real hero was the man her daughter loved, and she was willing to have him marry her. Rattlesnake Bill, who courteously helped both sides, as he agreed, was well satisfied. In fact, the only unhappy person was the earl."

REVIEW, The Billboard, February 11, 1911:

"Here's a story that allows for considerable comedy which the Thanhouser people have not overlooked. In fact, they have done admirably in portraying the story of a Westerner who outwits a European noble suitor of an American girl. The film is distinctly enjoyable. The photography is okay."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, February 18, 1911:

"Of course, this play might be true to life, but it seems improbable enough to be only a story. This is not saying that it is not interesting or that it lacks humor. It is merely placing the story itself in the proper category. The working out of the plot, by which the foreign nobleman was dispossessed of the idea that he wanted that particular American girl, and how her ambitious mother learned that an American son-in-law was good enough after all, furnishes much entertainment and keeps the audience in good humor, and makes them appreciate the fake capture of the girl and her noble lover."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, February 15, 1911:

"This is an interesting, decidedly novel, well acted comedy. Mrs. Montague has hopes for her daughter to marry an earl, but the daughter is in love with a young man from the West. The mother and earl read in the paper that a girl has married the man who saved her life. A Wild West show is in town, and the two plan a picnic and hire a troop of cowboys to hold them up and to permit themselves to be driven off by the earl. The Westerner overhears the plot and hires Indians from the same show. The cowboys meet the party in the woods, and the plan succeeds, but later when the Indians appear, the earl shows himself up and the Westerner dispatches them with all kinds of remarkable shots. Of course, being the hero, he marries the girl."

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