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Photograph: Silent Era image collection.
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The Vengeance of Fate
(1912) United States of America
B&W : Two reels
Directed by [?] Charles Giblyn and/or Francis Ford?
Cast: Ethel Grandin [Hazel Phillips], Charles K. French, Walter Edwards
New York Motion Picture Company production; distributed by Mutual Film Corporation [101-Bison]. / Produced by Thomas H. Ince. Scenario by Harry G. Stafford. / Released 18 October 1912. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama.
Synopsis: [The Moving Picture World, 12 October 1912, page 182] Hazel Phillips, a young girl, is courted by two young men, Evans and Porter, in a western town. She favors Porter, and the two are married. Evans conceals his chagrin and jealousy, and continues as a friend of the young couple. One day a prospector comes into town with a bag of gold dust and nuggets, and tells an interested crowd of the big strike made in the southwest. Evans decides to seek his fortune there, and persuades Porter to accompany him. Hazel consents, and bids her husband an affectionate farewell. / The two men strike through the desert, and after months of hardship and privation Porter finally finds gold. His extreme jealousy has made Evans content to have Porter with him, as he gloated to himself that he was keeping him away from Hazel. When Porter runs in with the glad news, Evans becomes madly angered, as he realizes that Porter will go back to his wife with a fortune. An insane rage seizes him as he realizes how happy they will be. Before the astonished Porter can defend himself, Evans leaps upon him and strikes him to tbe earth with the butt of his pistol. Tbe injured man staggers to his feet, but is no match for the infuriated Evans, who rains blow after blow upon his partner’s head. Porter sinks to the ground, and Evans leaves him for dead. / Evans goes to Hazel and tells ber a false story of how Porter died of illness; how he nursed him through it all, and how he had come to convey her husband’s dying message to ber. Porter is found by a tribe of Indians and nursed back to life. He recovers bis health and strength but his memory is a blank, and be is adopted into the tribe. Evans goes back to tbe gold mine and works it. Knowing that Hazel will soon be in want, having lost her parents and with a baby to support, he lays his trap cunningly. When be goes back to ask her to marry him he finally wins her consent by persuading her it is for tbe good of her baby, and she accompanies bim back to tbe wild, western country, where he has built a cabin. / A few days after her arrival, the baby wanders off into the woods and is playing on the banks of a brook when it is taken by Indians. As they are hurrying away with the child Porter appears, and the sight of tbe innocent baby arouses him. Not knowing tbat it is his own child, he makes them set her free, and she runs home with a tale which ber mother believes is only childish imagination. Silently and noiselessly, Porter watches tbe woman through tbe window, and the sight of her face touches his slumbering memory, but does not awaken it. Troubled, he goes back to the camp, unable to untangle the confused thoughts which crowd upon his brain. / At this time the government agent, accompanied by an escort of soldiers, calls upon tbe Indians and serves notice on them to vacate tbe land and move to a reservation. The Indians resent the order, and wild disorder prevails in tbe village. Somebody strikes a blow, ready weapons spring forth, and in a moment an avalanche of redskins throw themselves upon the soldiers. Porter is struck on the head with tbe butt of a rifle, and the shock instantly clears his mind. The face of the woman in the cabin comes before him, and be knows it is Hazel. / The soldiers put up a futile resistance, and are soon despatched. Porter knows that it is but the beginning, that tbe Indians will go on tbe warpath, that they will hurl themselves upon the emigrants and settlers, leaving a trail of death and destruction in their wake — and he thinks of Hazel and the baby. He rushes away, hoping to reach the cabin before the rest of the tribe arrive, and succeeds. With the lapse of years, in his paint and feathers, he is not recognized by Hazel at first. From tbe window they se[e] the long line of Indians thundering toward them. There is no time to be lost, so Porter throws a table behind the door, crowds Hazel and the baby behind it, and stands there unconcernedly. Tbe Indians rush in and demolish and steal everything, but are adroitly kept from discovering the woman and child. / Evans comes home. The Indians hide, and as he approaches the cabin he is attacked and killed, his body stripped of his clothes, and tbe Indians go on. In tbe meantime the soldiers have been rushed to the scene of warfare, and corner the redskins engaging them in a terrific fight, in which the Indians are badly defeated. Porter, with the cunning learned from tbe Indians, has managed to bring his wife and child to a place of safety, and the reunion is splendidly acted. The last scene shows the venegance of fate — the dilapidated cabin, with the bones of Evans lying in front, around which coyotes are sniffing.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 23 June 2014.
References: ClasIm-224 p. 42.
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