Volume II: Filmography

A MASTER OF MILLIONS

Mignon Anderson plays the hunter's wife in this melodramatic film. Courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science (F-160-B)

November 21, 1911 (Tuesday)

Length: 900 feet

Character: Drama

Cast: Mignon Anderson (the hunter's wife)

Note: The Motion Picture Story Magazine, April 1912, states that Florence LaBadie played the role of "Ross" in this film. In the absence of further verification, she is not so listed in the present work.

ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, November 18, 1911:

"An inspiring sermonette though he was, the chief figure in this fine story came to be mastered by - a humble mountaineer. The millionaire's position in society had brought all men bowing before him, but here was a rude hillsman who proved more than the great man's equal - his better! And his fear of the one who had character and no wealth impelled the one who had wealth and no character to do a deed that resurrected his manhood and changed his outlook."

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, November 18, 1911:

"A man of dominating personality by exceptional ability arose from the humble position of foreman of a railroad section gang, to that of a millionaire before whom most men bowed. He owed his early start in life to the kindly favor of a railway president, when he became a master of millions he graciously consented to keep this official in his position. At a reception in the president's house the millionaire met the daughter of the host, and decided to marry her. Accustomed to the power of wealth, he did not bother to court the girl. He sent for her father and bluntly announced his decision. When the perturbed father hesitated, the millionaire, furious, threatened to ruin his one-time benefactor unless the marriage was arranged without delay. The girl, to save her father, consented to the loveless match, and again the millionaire was convinced that nothing could withstand his will.

"Later, at his country estate, the millionaire gave a party. With others of his guests he went hunting, became separated, and finally lost. When completely exhausted he saw a light shining in the woods; he dragged himself to it and found refuge in the humble home of a poor hunter. The hunter had a beautiful wife, to whom the millionaire let his fancy lightly run. He told her of his wealth, promised to provide for her and was very much astonished when she rejected his overtures. Roughly, he grabbed and kissed her, and when the hunter returned he found his wife struggling in the arms of the man whose life he had saved.

"The hunter, aiming a gun at the millionaire's heart, ordered him to leave the house. Then, with his gun still leveled, he followed him through the woods, the millionaire pleading cravenly for his life. They traversed the forest, and at the edge the hunter pointed out the home of the millionaire in the distance; whereupon the man who tried to wrong him plucked up heart, thanked his guide and offered him money. The hunter looked down at him somberly in silence, then knocked him down and the last words the millionaire heard as he staggered through the woods were the farewell ones of the hunter - 'You cur.' It was the first rebuff he had experienced since wealth came to him. He realized that there was one thing in one man he could not buy. And the grim face of the hunter and his words haunted him.

"The girl came to him at last and asked for her freedom. He tried to tell her that she must keep her promise or her father would be ruined, but the face of the one man who had beaten him appeared to him, and he found that he was powerless. He gave her the freedom she asked and tried to forget his humiliation in hard work. His associates found that he was more lenient and less arrogant, and then wondered. For no one knew the story of the poverty-stricken hunter who had mastered the master of millions."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, November 26, 1911:

"From the start this photoplay is more than interesting, and then, in its second half, it takes a melodramatic turn that cheapens it, and which is the turning point on which the whole play hinges. Much of the production is excellently done, and some is carelessly done. The make-up of the man, Ross, is bad, careless and entirely out of the picture of the character as we would imagine him. His beard is stagey and unnatural. He does not convince. In his work, however, he carries the role along until his big scenes, when he falls down and reverts to melodramatic tactics that weaken the character. The toning of the woodland scenes almost surpass any we have ever seen, and calls for high praise. The staging of the offering is creditable, as regards its interiors, and the general acting of its several parts is commendable.

"A railroad construction foreman rises to the position of railroad magnate, when he demands the hand of the daughter of the president of the road for which he once worked. He invites her father, herself and others to attend a hunting party at his mountain lodge, and on a jaunt he gets lost and is succored by a woodsman and wife. On the absence of the host he insults the wife and is driven to his lodge in disgrace. The vision of the taunting husband finally makes him see the meanness of his attitude toward the girl he has forced to promise to wed him, and he gives her back her promise and permits her to marry the man of her choice. The scene in the woodland cabin is the melodramatic one referred to, and if this were played a bit more carefully the play would not class as cheaply as this scene makes it."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, December 2, 1911:

"It is not a new type that is presented in this picture of a strong, domineering man; but it seems in many ways a more competent and suggestive portrait of such a man that we have yet seen. He is common enough in popular novels. If the character has been drawn as truthfully as in the early scenes, all the way through, it would have been a tremendous picture. But as pictured, the man had weaknesses, convincing in themselves, but they were shown in a way hardly convincing. We first see the man as a boss of a track-making gang. The railroad man meets him and recognizes his ability. This man helps him along and, later, when he comes to be a financial power himself, uses the power to force his former patron's daughter to marry him. This melodramatic twist serves very well to bring out the brutal qualities in the man's nature. He is shown in meeting his master in a back-woodsman, in whose cabin he took refuge; the result was a change in his actions for the better. Yet whether this change was because his spirit was broken or because he was humbled or made wiser isn't clear. In many ways it is a remarkable picture."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, November 29, 1911:

"This story starts in with promise of being of the higher type of drama, but toward the end takes a cheap, almost ridiculous turn that would be no credit to a cowboy thriller. The civil engineer engaged in railroad construction makes a hit with the president of the road, and from the start thus gained becomes in time the cold-blooded man of millions, obtaining control of the railroad, whose president gave him his first chance. This president he threatens to oust if he cannot marry the official's daughter. Father and daughter consent, and with other guests visit the millionaire's mountain home for a hunting week. Now comes a sidestep in the story. While after game the millionaire becomes lost, and at length reaches a mountaineer's cabin, where he is given food and shelter, and repays the kindness by throwing his arms around the man's wife as soon as the husband's back is turned. The mountaineer marches the millionaire home at the point of his gun. Here he is overcome with remorse, and when the president and his daughter conclude that she shan't marry him, he sees visions of the mountain woman and lets them take their railroad and go. The acting was of finished quality, except that the players sometimes showed an undue tendency to talk to the front when they ought have been talking to each other."

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