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The Mission Waif
(1911) United States of America
B&W : One reel
Directed by [?] Robert Goodman and/or Gaston Méliès?
Cast: William Clifford [Captain Courtesy], Mildred Bracken [Mary, the mission waif], Francis Ford [?] [a priest]?
G. Méliès production; distributed by The General Film Company, Incorporated. / Produced by Gaston Méliès. / Released 28 September 1911. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama: Western.
Synopsis: [From Méliès promotional materials] Captain Courtesy, road agent and outlaw, on whose head is offered a reward, seeks refuge from his pursuers in the Mission San Louis del Ray. Harbored there also is a beautiful girl of seventeen, adopted as a waif in her infancy. The girl has begun to love before she discovers the outlaw’s identity. A tragedy follows that is at once one of the most intense dramas and beautiful stories surrounding the Mission period of Old California. // [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? In the days when Indian uprisings in the west were common, there took place a massacre near an old California Mission, in which all were killed save a tiny girl, who slept safely in her dead mother’s arms. Mission Fathers, on their way to vespers, heard the child’s cries, rescued it and adopted it. For seventeen years she waited upon the aged fathers faithfully, at the end of which period, a tragedy occurred that broadened her life considerably. Captain Courtesy, a bandit, had held up some cowboys, who when free, gathered a posse and followed him. The captain held them all at bay, and by a clever ruse, escaped and sought refuge in the Mission. The Mission fathers received him graciously, and the girl admiringly. He hid his identity, and soon became a favorite at the Mission, especially with Mary, the one-time waif. It was her first love. One day, while walking, Mary read a sign, offering a reward for the person dead or alive, of Captain Courtesy, distinguishable by a crescent-shaped scar on his forehead. She took no notice at the time, but upon arriving at the Mission, Courtesy declared his love to the girl, and she, in response, placed her hands upon his head to imprint a kiss. Her fingers slightly disarranged the hair, and there was exposed to view the crescent-shaped scar. The truth of the situation came to her and she ordered Courtesy from the room, but by no means dispelling the affection from her heart. Courtesy had not proceeded far when he discovered another and still greater Indian uprising than had caused the extermination of Mary’s family. His first thought was of the Mission and the girl it harbored. He reached the old structure just in time to warn Mary and the fathers, who escaped into an underground passage. Courtesy remained to defend the Mission. From the subterranean passage Mary gained access to a camp of cowboys and called them to action. After a fierce conflict, the Indians were put to rout. Mary and the fathers emerge from the cellar and begin the search for Courtesy. He had been killed defending the girl he loved.
Reviews: [The Moving Picture World, 26 August 1911, page ?] The excellent settings of this film, all of them with but two or three exceptions taken from nature directly, entitle it to rank as a notable production. It represents a creditable and ambitious effort to bring to mind the days of old California, a subject always welcome to American audiences and always full of the air of romance. A little girl, the sole survivor of an Indian attack, made upon some settlers traveling across the plains, is found and adopted by a band of Mission Fathers. Under the fostering care of the fathers the girl grows to early womanhood, but, no doubt, by virtue of some special dispensation is left to be the helper and companion of the priests, who not only minister to the spiritual wants of the Indians and settlers, but till the soil and do all their own work. Into all this peace and serenity comes a wounded bandit, closely pursued by settlers. The fugitive claims refuge in the convent and obtains it. His arrival at the gate and the scene in the stillness of the cloister’s vestibule, where the young ward of the fathers listens in enraptured silence to the priest’s sweet playing of the violin, are decidedly effective and will appeal to every audience. The further story shows how the robber’s identity is disclosed by a scar, how the girl, though in love with the man, turns from him, when she finds out who he is and how the robber leaves the sheltering walls of the convent. On his way to his next destination, the robber uncovers an ambush of Indians and hastens back to the convent to give notice of the approach of the hostile red men. The priests and the girl take refuge in an underground passage. While the robber is bravely defending the convent against the Indian attack, the girl has succeeded in escaping the vigilance of the Indians and getting word of the danger to a nearby settlement. The settlers hasten to the rescue and the girl finds her unfortunate lover dead.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 25 May 2024.
References: Thompson-Star p. 230 : ClasIm-226 p. 55 : Website-IMDb.
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