Newly engaged Vincent Serrano is a young surgeon who tells his friends that he has been offered five thousand pounds if a rich old lady does not survive her operation. When she does not, he is arrested for murder. A year later, having escaped by faking his suicide, he reads that his old friend, Thomas A. Curran has married his ex-fiancee, and all is clear. He vows his vengeance. Ten years go by; Curran is a widower with Helen Badgley his daughter. He owns rotting hulks of merchant ships, overinsures them and sends them out to be destroyed. Serrano is a deckhand. Miss Badgley falls into a hold, whence she is rescued and tended by Serrano. A storm wrecks the ship, but the two of them make it to an island, where Serrano finds many valuable pearls. When they are rescued, Miss Badgley is returned to her father, while Serrano becomes.... well, guess from the title.
It's a well-produced melodrama from Thanhouser's last year of existence, with their typically fine production values and fixed camera. The print I saw is nicely and variously tinted. Lloyd Lonergan, Edward Thanhouser's brother-in-law and house writer has a fine time converting Dumas' sprawling novel into 56 minutes -- although there are a couple of obvious plot holes: how did Serrano fake his suicide while in custody? How did he get off that island?
The big problem with this movie is Serrano. The man was a seasoned actor, in his early 50s when he made this movie. He had made it to Broadway in 1900, and would continue to act there until 1928. He made eight other features from 1915 through 1920, albeit usually in supporting roles. Yet he doesn't act in this movie, from the beginning, when he is a man about to be married, relaxing with his friends, to the end, when his stony heart melts.
Was Serrano a poor actor? Did director Eugene Moore tell him the camera picks up every emotion, so he needed to hold it down, and he overdid it? Was he a "real" actor who only did movies because they offered huge sums of money for tripe? Well, at least Helen Badgley is good.
It's a well-produced melodrama from Thanhouser's last year of existence, with their typically fine production values and fixed camera. The print I saw is nicely and variously tinted. Lloyd Lonergan, Edward Thanhouser's brother-in-law and house writer has a fine time converting Dumas' sprawling novel into 56 minutes -- although there are a couple of obvious plot holes: how did Serrano fake his suicide while in custody? How did he get off that island?
The big problem with this movie is Serrano. The man was a seasoned actor, in his early 50s when he made this movie. He had made it to Broadway in 1900, and would continue to act there until 1928. He made eight other features from 1915 through 1920, albeit usually in supporting roles. Yet he doesn't act in this movie, from the beginning, when he is a man about to be married, relaxing with his friends, to the end, when his stony heart melts.
Was Serrano a poor actor? Did director Eugene Moore tell him the camera picks up every emotion, so he needed to hold it down, and he overdid it? Was he a "real" actor who only did movies because they offered huge sums of money for tripe? Well, at least Helen Badgley is good.