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The Drift
(1914) United States of America
B&W : Three reels
Directed by Stanner E.V. Taylor
Cast: Marion Leonard [Marion Harley]
Marion Leonard Film Company production; distributed by Warner’s Features, Incorporated. / Released October 1914. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? John Evans and Thomas Barnes were both employed by the banking house of H.M. Cruze and Co. They also occupied an apartment together. Barnes received a tip to play C. and S. stock for a rise. But instead of rising it fell, and he was notified by his broker to send five hundred dollars the next morning to cover the margin or be wiped out. He had no money of his own left, and waiting until everyone had left the office, Barnes opened the safe and took out five hundred dollars. Going home late he met Evans, who had been at a card party at the home of Marion Harley, a society leader. Evans said he lost all his money and asked for a loan so that he might return and retrieve his losses. Barnes gave his pal two hundred dollars, cautioning him to return it without fail. Evans hastened back to the house of Marion. The game was still in progress, and he plunged into it again. His luck continued against him, and his hostess won the money he had borrowed from his friend. Empty-handed he went home and told Barnes. The latter in frenzy deplored the loss and confessed that he had stolen it from the firm. Evans returned to Marion and begged her to give him back the money. She refused. Then he told her that he had taken it from the firm himself and faced jail unless he returned it. The woman was about to return it when her mother warned her not to allow her sympathy to get the best of her reason. He left in despair. In the meanwhile Barnes had received a peremptory note from a creditor stating that unless the money due was paid by 10 o’clock the following morning the law would be resorted to. This was the last straw. Barnes took what was left of the five- hundred dollars and fled. Evans, returning late to the apartment after his unsatisfactory interview with Marion, found a burglar at work. There was a fierce fight, which ended in Evans knocking the thief senseless. He then started to call the police, but opening the door fell back before an inrushing volume of smoke. He tried to bring the prostrate burglar back to consciousness, but the advancing flames made him seek his own safety. As it was, he was only rescued by the firemen in the nick of time and taken to the hospital unconscious from smoke. In the ruins the police found a charred body. It was unrecognizable, but the official conclusion was that Barnes had perished in the flames. The next morning the banker discovered that the sum of five hundred dollars was missing from the safe. He notified the police, and an investigation was started. Marion, reading of the theft in the newspapers, sent word to the banker that Evans had confessed to her that he had stolen the money. He was arrested and convicted solely upon the testimony of Marion, in spite of his declaration that Barnes had taken the money. Barnes, hiding in a little summer resort, read the accounts of the fire, the finding of the charred body supposed to be himself, and the conviction of his friend for his crime. He felt that he was perfectly safe. In the city the social season had ended, and Marion went to spend the summer with an aunt who lived in a little seaside village. It so happened that it was the same town in which Barnes was staying, who had assumed the name of Lewis, and Marion met, loved and married. Then they returned to the city to live. One day the two met the banker, who greeted Marion; Tom turned his face to escape recognition. When Marion remarked about this strange action, he declared that he did not know the banker. From that time on Tom felt like a hunted man. One day Marion suddenly entered his room. He was absorbed in a newspaper clipping. When he saw her he sprang back in alarm. In answer to his wife’s inquiries as to what the paper was, he answered that it was nothing of interest and tossed it into the open grate. He abruptly left the room. She snatched the clipping out of the fireplace. It was an account of the supposed death of Barnes and the conviction of Evans, with a picture of a man who strongly resembled her husband. Marion took a photograph of her husband to the banker, who at once identified it as Tom Barnes. Marion recalled Evans' statement at his trial, that Barnes had stolen the money. Determined to do her duty as she saw it, Marion delivered up her husband to the law, but he was led to pay the penalty of the life into which he had drifted.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 29 October 2022.
References: Tarbox-Lost p. 206 : Website-IMDb.
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