| |
 |
| |
Photograph: Silent Era image collection.
|
The Strength of Men
(1913) United States of America
B&W : Two reels
Directed by Ralph Ince
Cast: Herbert L. Barry (Herbert Barry) [Jan LaRose], Edith Storey [Marie Cummings], Ned Finley [Barry O’Geary], Tefft Johnson [John Cummings, Marie’s father]
The Vitagraph Company of America production; distributed by The General Film Company, Incorporated. / From a story by James Oliver Curwood. / Released 19 March 1913. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama: Yukon.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Part One: In the unsettled and undeveloped forests of the Far North, Mr. Cummings, who is the foreman of the Canadac Lumber Company, lives with his daughter, Marie, in their cabin of logs on the mountainside. One night during a particularly hard winter, their quiet is disturbed by groans, and on opening the door, Mr. Cummings finds Jan Larose, a young French-Canadian, lying helpless in the snow. He brings him in, doctors his frost-bitten hands and Marie nurses him back to health. The young people become very fond of each other and after Jan’s recovery, Marie’s father gives him employment with his company. By hard work and thrift, Jan acquires quite a bank account. He still further augments his savings by taking a position as Guide and Rodman, with a Government Surveyor, which occupation takes him away from Marie. While he is absent, Clarry O’Garry, who has broken his leg, crawls to the Cummings’ cabin and asks for help. He is taken in and Mr. Cummings acts the Good Samaritan and cares for the injured man. During his stay, he falls desperately in love with Marie. She is a good-hearted and good-natured girl and while she finds Clarry entertaining, he doesn’t appeal to her in the same way as Jan, with whom she is very much in love. One day Jan returns unexpectedly from his surveying trip and finds Marie teasing Clarry in a coquettish way, and at once Jan becomes very jealous and tells her that since she loves another, he will soon take his departure and never return. She tries to reason with him without committing herself, but this does not appease Jan. One day Jan and Clarry meet in the woods. They exchange hot words and grapple with each other in desperate combat. Jan, although a smaller man, is exceedingly wiry, and overpowers Clarry leaving him beaten, and making his way further into the forest, he is determined never to see Marie again. During his travels he discovers gold on the banks of Pelican Creek and stakes the land for a claim. He hastens to the Claim Office to register his rich find. Later the same day, Clarry, who has followed Jan, discovers Jan’s stake and he replaces the claim with his own. He then takes up the race with Jan for the Recorder’s Office, and both reach there at the same time. Part Two: They both lay claim to the stake and the Recorder, to settle it, is obliged to send an agent to investigate it. After a lapse of six days, the agent returns and reports that it is an open question who made it first. It is then agreed that the men re-stake the claim by making a simultaneous start; the one reaching the point first to take possession. Preparations are made for the contest. Both men start in birch bark canoes with Indian aides. The race through whirling rapids and surging torrents is a terrific one. They are put to a superhuman test of endurance. When they traverse one stream, they are obliged to make a portage across land to the next. In preparation for the race. O’Garry has had his Indian guide hide a canoe on the last portage, so he would not have to carry his own canoe, thus gaining by the trick, an advantage over Jan. Clarry reaches the last portage first, leaves his canoe on the bank and hastens on to secure the hidden boat. When Jan and his aide reach the land they discover that O’Garry has left his canoe behind. They suspect his trickery. While they are crossing this piece of land, the forests are seen to be ablaze. It is a perfect holocaust and laps everything before it. O’Garry reaches the place where he has hidden the canoe, and finds it burnt and then he waits with his Indian companion the coming of Jan and his aide. They meet and in the midst of the fiery and smoking furnace, the two men engage in deadly battle, while their Indian guides are in fierce combat, each striving to prevent the other from assisting either of the two white men, who, with the ferocity of beasts fight on until Jan is crushed by a falling tree. With his leg broken he lies helpless. He cries for mercy. At the same time O’Garry gives a screech of pain as the fire and smoke pierce his eyes, and make him sightless. If they remain where they are, they will be cremated by the insatiable flames. They realize their fate and quickly each agrees to help the other. Clarry lifts Jan from the ground and places him upon his back. He must furnish the means of locomotion and Jan will provide the sight. Thus they are enabled to make their escape to the water’s edge where they are met by Mr. Cummings and Marie; who, seeing the forest fire, have paddled downstream and are led to the two men by their cries for help. Marie and her father assist them into their canoe and bring them safely to their home. After weeks of care and nursing, both men recover from their injuries. All anger and animosity have left them. They have learned their lesson and found how dependent we are upon each other and there is something of greater value in life than the possession of gold. The final test of their strength is their love for Marie and she makes Jan her choice. Clarry congratulates him and is glad to admit that Marie’s happiness is his own. Both men are anxious that the other take possession of the rich stake to which they had both laid claim, but finally they agree to share it and work it together, each anxious to help the other. The past is all forgotten in the tranquility and strength of brotherly love.
Survival status: Print exists.
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Alaska territory - Prospectors
Listing updated: 7 October 2023.
References: Eyles-Missing p. 12; Tarbox-Lost pp. 132, 133, 279 : Website-IMDb.
|
