Volume II: Filmography

AN EASY MARK

April 12, 1912 (Friday)

Length: 1 reel

Character: Drama

Cast: Inda Palmer (the easy mark), Harry Benham (the crook), Bertha Blanchard (the landlady)

Locations: New Rochelle; Pennsylvania Station in New York City

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture News, March 30, 1912:

"She was rich and a good business woman, but she didn't look it. Her home in the country was comfortably furnished, and she lived there by choice, although property in the city was in her name. One building she owned was a city mansion, and the necessity of collecting the rent induced her to take a trip to the metropolis. Crossing a crowded thoroughfare, she became confused, and was rescued by a polite young man, who, finding her rather upset by her experience, volunteered to escort her to her lawyer's office. There he saw a large sum of money paid over to her, and at once grew to like her the more. The fact was that the young man was a crook and saw a chance to make some easy money. The woman, who had taken a fancy to him, decided to be his 'fairy godmother' intending to test him out, and if he proved worthy to put him in the way of making his fortune. She was feeling most benevolent that day, and could see a popular story book ending to what promised to be a very ordinary venture. So she listened while he told her of an excellent and cheap boarding house, went to the place with him, and was well pleased with her reception there.

"The dishonest young man devoted much time to planning a way to relieve 'the easy mark' of her wealth. Some were dangerous, others he regarded as too coarse. Then Dame Fortune threw a chance in his way and he accepted it gracefully. He found the keys of a stylish mansion and soon proved to his satisfaction that the owner had gone abroad, and that the place was untenanted. So he went to the woman from the country and offered her a bargain in real estate and, strangely enough, the price was within her means. It was so easy to swindle the rural visitor that, as he told his pal, the boarding house keeper, it was 'like taking water from the ocean.' He gave her a deed, accepted her money, and expected to be happy while it lasted. There was one little flaw in his yarn, one fact he had overlooked, and it aroused his suspicion of the 'easy mark.' In the very moment of victory he met defeat, and went to prison, angry at himself, and grieving because dishonesty had cost him the best chance he had ever had to make a fortune. The woman, who had planned to be benefactress, went back to the country disillusioned and vowing that she would never try to be a fairy godmother again, for it was only by chance that she had escaped heavy financial loss."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, April 14, 1912:

"The spectator should be more strongly 'in' on the knowledge of the old lady's possession of the house which is falsely sold to her by the man and the woman, at least toward the end, for it is too abruptly ended to be satisfactory, and the connection regarding her bringing in the policeman is a trifle confusing. An old lady receives word from her attorneys in the city that tenants have paid a rental in advance and are about to start to Europe, so the house owner goes to town to receive the money and inspect the house. At the Pennsylvania depot she is met by a strange young man, who offers to show her to her lawyers, and there he sees the money she receives, and further offers to show her a nice place to stop. He takes her to his boarding place and tells the landlady, his partner, that the woman has money they can get. He then informs the old lady that a nearby house is for sale very cheap and that the people have gone to Europe, he happening to be in front of the house when they start out and to pick up a latchkey the man of the house accidentally drops. He shows the old lady through, she shows her delight, buys the house, he giving her a fake deed. She leaves the pair, secures an officer, and while they are quarreling over the division of the spoils, brings the policeman to the house and has them arrested for trying to sell her her own house. It is finely, even handsomely staged, is well acted and clearly photographed."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, April 17, 1912:

"The witty point of this story is somewhat lost in the telling and in an evident effort to save up a surprise for the end - a dangerous expedient in any sort of motion picture narrative. The rich lady, having rented her townhouse, came to the city to collect her rent from her broker. She was taken in hand on the street by a smooth swindler who took her to his boarding house and then sold her own house to her, the tenants having gone to Europe. The old lady evidently knew the swindler all the time, for she got a policeman very promptly and had him pinched; but while the action was progressing she gave no indication that she wasn't a dupe. The manner in which the swindler got the key of the house showed lack of ingenuity and resource. The acting was excellent all through. Inda Palmer played the easy-mark lady without much expression. Harry Benham was excellent as the crook, as was Bertha Blanchard also as the landlady."

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