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The Passer-By
(1915) United States of America
B&W : One reel
Directed by Edward J. Le Saint (Edward LeSaint)
Cast: Stella Razetto (Stella Razeto) [Fay Thompson], Guy Oliver [Frank Coakley], Jack McDonald [Colonel Morrison], Sidney Smith [James Thomson], Eugenie Besserer [Mrs. Thompson], Scott R. Dunlap [Wallace Richards], George Cummings
The Selig Polyscope Company, Incorporated, production; distributed by [?] V-L-S-E, Incorporated, or The General Film Company, Incorporated? / Produced by William N. Selig. Scenario by J.A. Lacy. / Released 8 February 1915. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama: Historical: Civil War.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Fay Thompson, the village belle, is besieged by a host of arduous lovers, who seek her hand. She is the pride of her old parents, who conduct a country hotel. She is devotedly attached to her nineteen-year-old brother, Jamie. Wallace Richards, a young villager, has been generally accepted as her chosen sweetheart. They hold trysts and have selected a hollow post as the receptacle for their love messages. Fay’s father dies, leaving the family in poor circumstances, with Jamie, the boy, the only means of support. The war between the North and South has just broken out and Jamie is drafted by Colonel Morrison, who refuses to release him. notwithstanding the pleas of his invalid mother and his sister, Fay. Frank Coakley, a manly young fellow of good appearance and genuine integrity, arrives in the village while the draft for the army is being made. Jamie’s family is too poor to buy him a substitute and they face the terrors of hunger and poverty. Fay appeals to Wallace, her sweetheart, to act as a substitute for Jamie, but Wallace evades the request, and she then recognizes him for his actual worth. Then Fay calls a convention of her admirers. She takes from her neck a tiny cross of gold, pins it to the trunk of a tree under which the meeting has taken place and announces that the man who will act as substitute for her brethren, Jamie, shall be entitled to wear the cross and claim her for his bride upon his return. The admirers protest their love and admiration, but there is no struggle to reach the cross on the tree. All depart without having disturbed the bauble, and Fay is thereby enabled to realize the actual value of their protestations of love. Frank Coakley hears the discussions and is intensely moved both by the beauty of Fay and the alarming terrors of her prospective dependence on the world. Coakley is a patriot, while within his heart there abides a desire for romance. Therefore, after the cowardly swains have departed. Coakley removes the cross from the tree and. making his way to the headquarters of Colonel Morrison, announces that he has come to act as substitute for Jamie. At midnight the brave soldier boys march away. Jamie is left behind to support his invalid mother and sister. Fay finds that the cross is gone and realizes that one of her admirers must have taken her at her word, but inasmuch as no message has been sent her, she does not know who has picked up her challenge. The local soldier boys acquit themselves with credit on the battlefield. Coakley distinguishes himself and is promoted rank by rank until he becomes a captain. One day he is wounded in a desperate charge and is removed to the field hospital, where, according to the rules, he is divested of all valuables, among which is the gold cross, the insignia of his chivalrous act. Colonel Morrison happens to become possessed of the modest valuables belonging to Coakley, among them being the gold cross. The official records are destroyed by accident, so that it is impossible for him to ascertain the owner. Coakley returns home from the war after a long siege at the hospital and falls in love with Fay. In secret, she has worshiped during the period since the departure of the troops the unknown hero who played the part of substitute for her brother, Jamie. The hollow post which had been the receptacle of her love messages is now almost filled with love notes addressed to the unknown hero. Coakley presses his suit and modestly affirms that he is the one who took her brother's place. She is incredulous and demands that he show her the cross. Then he explains the manner in which it was lost. Fay becomes indignant and thinks he has been trying to deceive her, although in her heart she has learned to love this modest and unassuming young man. She thinks, however, that she is bound by her promise and that the man who brings to her the cross is the man entitled to her hand. Colonel Morrison comes back from the war, bringing the cross with him. Fay learns that he has the cross in his possession and offers him her hand in marriage, according to the compact which she voluntarily made. Colonel Morrison then explains his possession of the cross and, upon meeting Coakley face to face accidentally, at once identifies him as the battlefield hero from whose neck the cross had been removed when he was taken to the hospital. Fay is delighted to find that her compact is wholly in accord with the desires of her heart and their dream of love is realized.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 11 August 2023.
References: Lahue-Selig p. 201 : Website-IMDb.
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