Volume II: Filmography

AVENGED

October 7, 1910 (Friday)

Length: 1,000 feet

Character: Drama

Note: The role that the synopsis in The Moving Picture World designates as the wife is designated as the sister in the review in The New York Dramatic Mirror.

ADVERTISEMENT, The New York Dramatic Mirror, September 28, 1910:

"A heart interest subject of the variety your patrons so like. It is one of those gripping playlets that go their thrilling distance without so much as an inch of bloodshed, but which holds the spectator's interest just the same, and leave a pleasant taste in the mouth instead of a sour one. The 'Thanhouser twist' sticks out at the end as usual."

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, October 8, 1910:

"John Warren, a prosperous young clerk, is run down by a taxi cab while crossing a city street. The chauffeur, Allen, afraid of the consequences of his carelessness, makes his escape when he sees a crowd gathering around his victim. He abandons his machine on a lonely country road, and catching a westbound train, succeeds in making good his escape. Six years later finds John, now a cripple, living in a mining town with his devoted wife. Here John, incapacitated from other work, lives out a miserable existence as the timekeeper at the mine. Here, also, Allen comes, applying for work as a miner. They do not recognize each other.

"John, poor and ill, is visited by another misfortune. His beloved wife, who has clung to him through all the years of his adversity, sickens and dies. His one joy in life is taken from him. John refuses to be comforted by Allen, who feels deep sympathy for the poor cripple. While reciting his sad history to Allen, John learns for the first time that Allen is the man who, by crippling him, wrecked his life. At last the vengeance he has sought all these years is within his reach. He raises his gun to end Allen's existence, when a vision of his wife appears, breathing the message, 'Vengeance is Mine, sayeth the Lord.' John rushes from the house to the grave of his loved one, and there, after forgiving Allen, dies at peace with mankind."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, October 22, 1910:

"A tragedy based upon a taxicab accident which cripples a man whose life ever after is a struggle with adversity. The two men come together after the death of the unfortunate's wife, and the injured man determines to seek vengeance but is deterred by a vision of his dead wife. Rushing away to her grave, he dies there. Possibly the dramatic qualities of this picture are sufficient reason for its existence; but it has no other reason. It is not entertaining. It is not instructive. It cannot amuse. The shadow of death pervades it and the horror tragedy is the principal factor. It is such a departure from the usual Thanhouser that it seems as though the regular producer was absent when it flipped past the company's censor."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, October 12, 1910:

"The Thanhouser Company can do considerably better than this. The story is sentimental, almost maudlin in spots. The hero, crippled by a careless chauffeur, swears vengeance upon the chauffeur. When the two men finally meet again the cripple's sister has just died, so he is in a highly nervous state. The sister's wraith returns by means of trick printing and deters the man from murder; consequently the cripple shakes hands with his intended victim instead. Why the cripple should go West as soon as he is able to hobble isn't clear; perhaps the West is such a delightfully vague term that it induces haziness of reasoning. Moreover, it ended the sister's life with an incurable cough and did the crippled limb no good. The victim appeared never to be quite sure just how badly he was hurt. Judging from what he could do at times, he might just as well have stayed East. The chauffeur was another inexplicable person; after running away from his victim he later exhibited a perfect willingness to be murdered by the cripple. The acting is not sincere; everyone in the cast knew in his heart that the story was absurd, and they all showed it. The girl worked hard to make her part seem real."

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