Volume II: Filmography

 

VALUE - BEYOND PRICE

 

November 29, 1910 (Tuesday)

Length: 1,000 feet

Character: Drama

 

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

"The title of the picture gives you the worth of it. That is, the worth to the exhibitor who knows how to announce and advertise a real human release. For the real human interest is conceded to be scarce in story, play and picture, and when you get it in a bunch, as you do here, it's up to you to tell the public so. The old pawnbroker and the little girl to whom his great heart went out are as pretty characters as ever been portrayed in the pictures. In your advance announcing this, make a special effort to reach the woman folk."

 

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

"Captain Smith sails away on his vessel for a trip around South America, through the Pacific, leaving behind him his wife and little girl, whom he dearly loves. The ship is reported lost with all on board, with the exception of a cabin boy who is picked up in mid ocean. The captain's wife struggles to support her child, but owing to a rapidly failing health she fights a losing battle with poverty. One by one her valued possessions find their way to the pawnshop, where the kind-hearted old pawnbroker, Levy, becomes interested in the sad-faced woman and pretty child, who never seem able to redeem any of their possessions.

"The last article of value left in Mrs. Smith's possession is her wedding ring, and Levy refuses to take this. Instead he offers her help, which the widow proudly refuses. She insists that she can go out and get work. Levy, seeing that he can help in no other way, offers to care for little Marie, and to this the mother finally gives her consent. Half in jest, Levy gives the mother a pawn ticket for the little girl, which he fills out to read that 'a precious jewel, a value beyond price,' has been left with him and can be redeemed 'at any time.' The mother leaves the little one in Levy's care and upon reaching home and finding herself mortally stricken, she puts the pawn ticket he has given her in an envelope which she entrusts to a friendly janitoress, to be given into no other hands than those of her husband should it be that he is not dead.

"And he is not. He has been cast up on a fertile island in the South Seas, where he lives a Crusoe-like existence for 10 years, and incidentally finds buried treasure which makes him rich. He was finally rescued by a passing steamer and brought back to his own country, only to find that in his absence his wife has died, no one knows the fate of his child.

"He only finds, in an envelope addressed to him in the hand of his dying wife, a pawn ticket for a 'precious jewel' which she has pledged. Thinking the jewel to be some gift of his to his wife, which she desired him to have as a remembrance, he goes to the pawnshop and is there waited upon by a sweet-faced girl of 15 to whom he is at once attracted. The girl is unable to find any article in the shop with a ticket corresponding to the number on the ticket which the captain carries, and appeals to her foster father, Levy, to help her find the gentleman's goods. Levy at once recognizes the ticket as the one he gave for his little adopted daughter. Although he dislikes to surrender the one joy of his life, he finally decides to reunite father and daughter. The latter have the old pawnbroker make his home with them, so the reunion brings happiness to all."

 

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, December 10, 1910:

"To put a baby in pawn is a novelty which will interest from the beginning. What leads up to the fact is the usual representation of the difficulties which beset the poor. It is an old, though it must be confessed, an ever new story and one that appeals to very many people who see motion pictures. Then when the father appears and redeems the child there is grief in the old pawnbroker's heart. He dislikes to see her go; but when the reunited father and daughter decide to include him in the family the happiness is complete. Perhaps it is well that the poor mother is apparently forgotten. She is at rest and her sorrows are over, is the inference drawn from the picture. While the play attracts because of this novelty, it still has dramatic interest, dramatic because it tells a life story in a simple way. Such stories are the most interesting since there are numerous persons who see it that can duplicate it either in their own experience or the experience of some of their friends or acquaintances."

 

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

"The hero of this improbable story, but fairly well acted, is a sea captain who starts on a long voyage and is subsequently reported lost. His wife is left with a child about eight years old. After the lapse of a year the wife becomes so poor that she is obliged to pawn the child with a pawnbroker at a value 'beyond price.' After this remarkable feat it is no wonder that she dies. The husband, it appears, was not lost but managed to reach a deserted island. Ten years later he returns to learn of his wife's death but no word of his daughter except the pawn ticket. He finds her with the pawnbroker, but he pays nothing to get her back. Although the woman in this case was too poor to keep her own child she could afford to keep her maid, who evidently grew no older in ten years."

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Copyright © 1995 Q. David Bowers. All Rights Reserved.