Volume II: Filmography

JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN

December 2, 1910 (Friday)

Length: 1,000 feet

Character: Drama

Scenario: From the novel of the same name by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik

Cast: Martin Faust (John Halifax), Frank H. Crane, William Russell

Note: In 1915 another version of John Halifax, Gentleman, directed by George Pearson and produced in England, achieved popularity.

BACKGROUND OF THE SCENARIO: Dinah Maria Mulock Craik (1828-1887), the author of this work, was also known as Miss Mulock. She was an English novelist born the daughter of a nonconformist clergyman near Stoke-upon-Trent. The eccentric and unreliable nature of her father didn't make her childhood easy, and Dinah began teaching in her mother's school at the age of 13. In 1865 she married George Lillie Craik, a partner in the publishing company of Macmillan. Dinah Craik wrote many novels, short stories, children's books, and some poetry throughout her life, the best known and most popular of which was a novel, John Halifax, Gentleman. A juvenile story, The Little Lame Prince, also achieved renown.

John Halifax, Gentleman was a great success following its publication in 1856, and for the next half century or more it was reprinted numerous times, gaining a position in several sets of "classic" books sold in those days. By the end of the 19th century her books were said by Allibone's Dictionary of Authors Supplement (Volume I, 1891, page 406; by John Foster Kirk, Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company) to be "more widely read than those of any other novelist except Dickens." In Thanhouser's day her works were thus well known. John Halifax, Gentleman is the story of a poor, honest orphan who, while working for a tanner, befriends his indecisive son Phineas and improves his position. He later marries the book's heroine, earning the "gentleman" designation by worth instead of by wealth.

ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, November 26, 1910:

"[The story] has always impressed you as some story and it will here impress you as some picture. We tell the lively life story of the gentleman as only the moving pictures can tell in the Thanhouser way as applied to classics. There is a deep and abiding love of interest in this portrayal...."

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, December 3, 1910:

"John Halifax, an orphan, trudges to town to make his fortune. There he is befriended first by Ursula March, the daughter of the richest man in town, who gives him food, and later by Abel Fletcher, a rich Quaker. Fletcher's invalid son takes a great fancy to John, and through his influence John is employed in his father's mill. After five years of faithful work, John has risen to the position of foreman. He and Fletcher's son, Phineas, had become fast friends. Against the wishes of his father, Phineas persuades John to take him to a theatre. The trip proves too much for the invalid, and John carries him home from the theatre in a fainting condition. Fletcher is furious with John, and drives him from the house.

"About this time there is a great discontent at the mill, among the workmen. Fletcher decides to close it down. After six weeks of starvation, the workmen and their families come in a crowd to the mill and demand that they be given the grain which is stored there. Rather than accede to their demands, Fletcher hurls the bags of grain into the river. This so infuriates the mob that they try to set fire to the mill and put an end to Fletcher. Unable to control the mob, John helps Fletcher, his son and Ursula, to escape. Finally he wins Fletcher's consent to compromise with the men. Realizing that he owes his property and life to John, Fletcher asks his forgiveness for his former harsh treatment. John becomes Fletcher's adopted son and wins Ursula for his bride."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, December 17, 1910:

"This well known story is rendered into a motion picture in a way that will please the most exacting. The tale itself is simple, representing a young man who rises by dint of hard work to the head of his employer's mills and falls in love with the owner's daughter. After vicissitudes the couple are permitted to marry. It is a common enough story, only this novel has the merit of being one of the first to present this type of tale. The picture proves that a good rendering of even an old story is attractive. The audience apparently delights in the character of John Halifax. He is quite as good on the curtain as he is in the book, and there he has always been a favorite. The different parts are played to perfection. The character of the daughter and the ill son are both faithfully reproduced and seem to live before the audience."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, December 7, 1910:

"A small part of Miss Mulock's wonderful novel is portrayed by this film. The wanderer, John Halifax, is hired to take home the Quaker's invalid son, and so impresses the invalid that he persuades the father to employ John at the mill. In the ordinary course of events Halifax meets a girl with whom he falls in love. Six years later, John is foreman of the mill. Visiting the Quaker's home one evening, the son asks him to take him to the theatre, protesting that he is quite able to walk. John does so, the invalid's strength gives out, and John carries him home. This is far from well done, and gives no idea of the distance. The Quaker orders John to leave the house after this episode, and Halifax does so. He is instrumental in stopping the striking mill hands, however, and regains the favor of the Quaker. The film is not as well acted as Thanhouser pictures usually are. The strict character of the old Quaker is insufficiently expressed and is apt to leave the audience to guess why John is ordered out, and the strike scene is far from impressive. The mob to a man wave their sticks incessantly, instead of portraying intense rage as should have been done."

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