Volume II: Filmography

THE PROBLEM LOVE SOLVED

Production still with William Russell and Morgan Jones. Courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science.(F-680)

December 2, 1913 (Tuesday)

Length: 1 reel (1,016 feet)

Character: Drama

Scenario: Philip Lonergan

Cast: William Russell (Tom Burleigh, a cashier), Morgan Jones (Billy Marsh, a bookkeeper), Mrs. T.N. Heffron (Molly Rand, a detective), Harry Bates (police chief), Sidney Bracy (Dick, a safecracker)

ADVERTISEMENT, Reel Life, November 29, 1913:

"No ordinary power seemingly could extricate the young cashier from the tangle in which he found himself. Then a woman detective saved him, but through extraordinary effort and from an extraordinary motive - for she was in love with him."

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, December 6, 1913:

"A bookkeeper in the employ of a large manufacturing concern lived far beyond his means. He had evil associates, and when his debts became very heavy he determined to pay them at the expense of a fellow worker, the cashier for the same concern. One morning as the young cashier reached the office he received a telephone call, purporting to be from the head of the firm, instructing him to leave at once for a western city. He was told to take a certain envelope from the safe and deliver it to the firm's representative there. The young man opened the safe, took the envelope and hurried to his home, where he packed the valise and set out for the station. When he started to pass through the train gates he was seized by detectives and charged with robbing his employer. He was searched and the envelope was found to contain part of the stolen funds. No one believed his story about the telephone call, except the girl to whom he was engaged. The young woman was a detective on the New York police force. She determined to prove the cashier's innocence and secured a position as stenographer with her sweetheart's firm. The bookkeeper aroused her suspicions. She watched him closely, and when he secretly met a shady character noted for his ability as a safe expert, the girl was sure that she was on the right track. She installed a dictagraph in an adjoining office and one evening when the bookkeeper was working late at the office he was confronted by the safe expert, to whom the girl had sent an anonymous letter intimating that the bookkeeper contemplated fleeing from town. In the quarrel which ensued the full details of the plot of which the cashier had been a victim were revealed. The bookkeeper and his accomplice were sent to prison, while the cashier's employer, repentant at having misjudged him, soon made him manager of his business, and the girl detective resigned from the department to devote her life to keeping her eye on just one man."

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, November 19, 1913:

"When a girl has natural ability as a detective - and, added to this, is in love with the man whose innocence she is bent on proving - she is pretty certain to win out, against all the villains and crooks cornered. Mr. Philip Lonergan has given us a very clever and convincing play in The Problem Love Solved - an interesting detective story with a strong love plot - in which a level-headed young woman entraps a professional safe breaker and the man who has tried to ruin her lover. Billy Marsh is the bookkeeper for Grayson & Co., and Tom Burleigh is cashier for the same firm. One morning the young cashier, on reaching the office, receives a phone call - purporting to be from the head of the company - instructing him to leave at once for a distant city. He is to take an envelope of money from the safe, catch the first train for C - - , and deliver the envelope to the firm's representative there. He hurries to carry out these orders - and at the train, is seized by two detectives, and accused of having robbed his employer. The only person who believes him innocent is Molly Rand, the girl to whom he is engaged. Molly is the detective service on the New York Police force. The story of how she installs herself in the office of Grayson & Co., how she discovers Billy Marsh's guilt, exposes him, and wins back the confidence of the firm in her lover - makes a vigorous drama well worth seeing."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, December 7, 1913:

"This is another of the dictagraph detective stories which have been so popular since The Argyle Case had its long run last season. It is interesting and quite well handled. A bookkeeper, who is living beyond his means, decides to steal from his firm. He steals a large sum of money and places part of it in a sealed envelope in a safe. The cashier that day receives a telephone message from the head of the firm, directing him to take the envelope from the safe and proceed at once to the office of the concern in another city. Then the bookkeeper pretends to discover the loss. The cashier is accordingly arrested as he is about to board a train. Part of the missing funds are found on his person. His story is regarded as a joke by every one but his fiancée. She is a detective and starts to run the case down. She eventually lands the crook in jail, and her lover is restored to a position of responsibility."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, December 13, 1913:

"This is an entertaining film story, in which a shrewd girl stenographer saves her lover from the trouble put upon him by his business associates, who are in reality crooks and embezzlers. The dictagraph is employed in one effective scene. The photography is somewhat dim in places, but the film holds the interest throughout."

# # #