Originally posted on April 6, 2023
Sorry for the lack of updates! I have way too many projects going on with next to no time. That being said, I have a real treat for you with this posting! During my typical research of newspapers and magazines of yester year, I started to get a bit discouraged with the lack of “The Victim” photos and reviews. However, thanks to the Library of Congress, that has now been rectified! They have uploaded a tremendous amount of silent film screenplays to their database and this has been a godsend! I can now do reconstructions based on these rather than newspaper and magazine reviews. Screenplays aren’t always 100% screen accurate, but since these films are lost, we will not know for sure. That being said, I am able to present a rather lengthy recreation of 1916’s “The Victim”! As a side note, I will revisit my previous recreations and if there is something important to add to them, I will. But as I suspect the farther along I go into Valeska’s filmography, detailed reviews are going to dwindle, which was the case with “The Victim.”
Cast:
Valeska Suratt……….Ruth Merrill
??……….Jim Merrill
Charles Michael Edwards……….”Doc” Burns
Oscar Nye……….Dugan
Herbert Heyes……….Dr. Richard Boulden
Claire Whitney……….Edna Boulden
Joseph Granby……….Roy Baker
written and directed by Will S. Davis
Now I am not sure who played Jim Merrill. I did see a newspaper article mention a Joseph Edwards as an actor in the film, but did not mention the role. I used the above from IMDB and they did not have the role identified.
Story:
Jim Merrill lives with his daughter Ruth. Year prior, Jim had been arrested as a bank robber when Ruth was an infant, however this information has been kept from Ruth. In present day, Jim, along with his old friend “Doc” Burns plan a new heist. Their plan is to tunnel under a bank vault and steal it’s contents. Jim has taken possession of a house that neighbors the bank. They have a third accomplice named Dugan.
Jim is giving the impression of being sick to Ruth, but in reality, he is not. As Ruth exits the house, “Doc” Burns (the “Doc” nickname as he is portraying a phoney doctor) passes by and enters the home. Once he does, Jim returns to normal. Dugan then enters the home and the three begin to plan their bank heist scheme.
Meanwhile, Ruth is at work (restaurant cashier) when she notices a young man glancing towards her. This man is Clarence Billings. As he comes up to pay his bill, he flirts with Ruth but she thwarts his advances. He amusingly plays it off and tells her that he will see her again, smiles and leaves.
While all this is going on, Jim, Burns and Dugan have began digging their tunnel towards the bank.
At police headquarters, Detective Jack Higgins receives a telegram that bank cracksman, Joe Burns, has left Chicago. This puts Burns on his radar. The inspector hands Higgins a photograph of Burns.
The three would be bank robbers decide to call it a day in their tunneling escapade and Dugan leaves the house. Fortunately for him, Ruth does not spot him as she heads towards her home. As Ruth enters her home, Jim and “Doc” resume their “patient / doctor” visitation to keep Ruth in the dark about their true intentions.
The next day while Ruth is at work, Clarence is there trying to pester her. Detective Higgins sees this and tosses Clarence from the area. Higgins then speaks to Ruth and makes an impression on her. He escorts her home.
Back at her house, the three would be bank robbers are back at digging towards the bank. Dugan decides to leave the house and passes Ruth and Higgins. This catches the attention of the Detective. Ruth tells him that she must leave right away, which confuses him. As Ruth runs up to her house, “Doc” comes out and unexpectedly runs into Ruth. He hesitates, then quickly leaves and heads toward a street car that is coming up. Higgins jumps onto the car as well.
The conductor on the street car goes to collect the fare from each man. While Burns is reaching into his pocket for the money, the detective notices Burns and recognizes his face! He decides not to arrest him. The next day the detective goes to the Inspector’s office and informs his superior of what happened.
The next day a stakeout takes place outside Ruth’s home. Ruth is seen leaving and not much later, Doc is seen entering the home. A few detectives follow Ruth to the restaurant where she works. They take a seat, order some food, eat and then go to pay their bill. Once they do, they sort of give Ruth a bit of a hard time before leaving.
While Ruth is at work, her father and cohorts have finished their tunnel to underneath the bank. They spot a watchman walking around above them. The watchman eventually leaves and the three resume their plan to get into the bank. They make their way into the interior of the bank and sneak up to the watchman, tying him up. Meanwhile, Ruth leaves the restaurant and heads home. As she begins to unlock the door, Det. Higgins and two detectives quickly come forward. They push Ruth into the house and close the door.
The detectives question Ruth but she is confused to what they want. She starts to become hysterical, then breaks down. The police start searching the house. They find a door leading to the cellar and go down there.
The three bank robbers have made their way to the outside of the vault. They wire it up with explosives. After they set them off, the detectives had found their way to the bank. A fight begins among the three and the police. The burglars lose this fight. Upon being handcuffed, Ruth is brought onto the scene. Higgins accuse her of being an accomplice. Once again, she denies knowing anything about this. Her father starts screaming that she had absolutely nothing to do with the heist.
The inspector along with other offices arrive at the bank. They arrest the three robbers as well as Ruth.
The movie now jumps ahead a few years. Richard Boulden is a man of great wealth. He is a physician by trade but his wealth had come from an inheritance that was left to him by his father. Richard’s knowledge of medicine is now used for the poor. While sitting at his library table, his sister, Edna excitedly comes up to him. Behind her, Roy Barker steps forward. He is her sweet heart. Earlier he had asked for her hand in marriage. The two come to Richard to ask for his blessing. He gives it to them.
Ruth has recently been released from prison. She is desperate and seeking for any kind of work so she can return to a normal life. She finds employment at a local sewing factory. Once she starts working, her supervisor starts to leer after her. His glances cause Ruth to injure herself with a needle. The supervisor sees this as his chance to get close to her. As he bends over to her, he whispers something in her ear which startles her. Ruth quickly slaps the supervisor, which causes him embarrassment among the other ladies working there. Ruth rushes out of the factory.
As Ruth begins to walk through this slum area of town where the factory is located, Roy and Edna are doing charity work in the area. Roy is being a bit snobbish (i.e. doesn’t like being in a “filthy” area). A group of boys spot him and begin tossing tomatoes at him, causing his hat to get dirtied up. Ruth walks up to a situation between a child and his father. She starts to stand up for the child and a crowd gathers. A police officer eventually arrives to break up the crowd. Edna had seen what happened and told the officer that Ruth was sticking up for the kid. The crowd is dispersed. Roy is already back in his vehicle, but Edna speaks to Ruth. She sees that Ruth is really down on her luck, even offering her money. Ruth pathetically looks at Edna, turns and walks away.
Once Edna arrives back at her brother’s place, she tells Richard of the poor conditions at the slum and wants her brother to help. He agrees and heads off with her to do something about the situation.
Ruth is walking down the street to a fruit stand. She is desperate. She notices a lady’s pocketbook hanging loosely. She is fighting the urge to rob the woman. Ruth grabs money from the pocketbook slowly but then thinks better of it and puts it back. However, the lady who owns the pocketbook notices this and screams for help. A near by cop hears the commotion. Ruth begins to run away from the scene with the cop on her tail. A chase scene ensues. During the chaos, Ruth sprains her ankle. Nearby, Edna and Richard are administering medical care to some of the poor folks in the area. They spot Ruth fall due to her injury. The two pick up Ruth and put her in Richard’s car. They decide to take her back to their house for extensive care.
Ruth spends the next few days recuperating at Richard’s home. She starts to develop some feelings towards Richard due to his kindness.
A few days later, Ruth was in the Boulden’s library when Roy came in. Roy has been eyeing her for the past few days which has made Ruth uncomfortable. He starts asking Ruth why she is avoiding him. He proceeds to make advances towards Ruth, eventually grabbing her so he could kiss her. He hears Edna coming and immediately yells at Ruth on how she is disrespecting the lady of the house by flirting with him. Ruth tries to explain to Edna what happened but Edna was not hearing any of it. Ruth rushes out of the room while Roy consoles Edna. Richard comes into the room and the two inform him what had happened. He doesn’t believe it, but Edna states she saw it happened. He sits down in disbelief.
Ruth packs up what she has and heads down the stairs. Richard arises from the chair and moves towards Ruth. He asks her what happened in a polite manner. Her emotions are running high. She feels she cannot give a decent answer so she just tells Richard that his sister requests she leaves, so she is going to do just that. As she leaves, Richard sadly looks on.
Ruth goes back to her small room apartment when suddenly Roy makes a surprise visit. He forces his way into the apartment. Back at the Boulden household, the servant tells Richard that he over heard everything that happened between Ruth and Roy, which exonerates Ruth. Richard gets up and leaves immediately to find Ruth.
After Roy breaks him, a struggle between him and Ruth begins. It gets pretty violent and Ruth starts screaming. Roy covers her mouth to an extent that causes her to pass out. Meanwhile Richard is at the building where Ruth lives. He find a janitor and the two go to her room. They begin banging on the door to get in. This causes Roy to panic and he throws a fire rope out the window to climb his way out. As he is climbing down, the janitor and Richard make their way in. Unfortunately for Roy, the rope begins to snap and eventually breaks, sending Roy to the ground.
Richard and the janitor get into the room and are able to bring Ruth back to consciousness. Richard and Ruth speak before eventually going back to the Boulden household. He tells Ruth that he wants to be with him forever, and she agrees.
Months later, police reports come in stating that Jim Merrill has escaped prison. The police inspector insists that Detective Higgins get on the case as soon as possible.
The movie has an action piece that involves Merrill being spotted by police but escaping their grasp by diving into a river.
The story switches to a train station where Richard and Ruth step off. They have just come back from their honeymoon. Detective Higgins is there on the lookout and spots Ruth. He follows the couple as they head back to their estate. Richard has to make a phone call, and while he is away, Detective Higgins confronts Ruth. She does not recognize him but he informs her that he must speak to her and if she values her happiness (i.e. not letting her husband know of her past), she will listen. He proceeds to blackmail her for his silence.
As Ruth makes her way to the bank to retrieve $2,000 for the hush payment, wouldn’t you know it, her father has made his way to the Boulden estate!! He breaks into the house and starts looking around, eventually finding a revolver. When Ruth arrives back, Jim spots her and hides behind a curtain. Detective Higgins is already there and gets straight to the point of asking for the money. Ruth pleads with him on why he is doing this but Higgins tells her she has plenty of money. Seeing his daughter upset, Jim becomes enraged.
After the money transaction, Higgins is feeling a bit cocky, lights up a cigar and opens up the curtain. Unbeknownst to him, Jim Merrill is behind there! Jim lunges at Higgins and a fight erupts. They struggle for a bit until a gunshot is heard and Higgins dies. Jim grabs the detective’s gun (the revolver Jim had was knocked out of his hands during the fight) and leaves quickly. Ruth comes into the room to find the detective dead. She screams before fainting. Edna rushes into the room and is shocked at what she sees. Richard arrives home to find his sister in shock, wife passed out and a dead body on the floor.
The police arrive on scene and begin their investigation, which leads them to arrest Ruth for the murder. Her father is watching this all unfold from a distance, mortified at what he has done.
The next day, Ruth is given the third degree by the police at the station. Richard is at home thinking about all what transpired the day before. However he starts to spot some abnormalities which leads him to first find hand prints, then footprints leading from the house and eventually spots the detective’s gun. He rushes to the station to present all what he has found to clear Ruth of the murder.
Jim Merrill decides to hide out in a loft of a nearby barn. Unfortunately for him, a group of people are having a gathering. One of the boys there is smoking a cigarette. Once done smoking it, the boy flicks the cigarette butt which lands in dry hay. This starts a fire which quickly erupts into the whole barn going ablaze. Jim is still up in the loft and tries to escape. Eventually help arrives for him but he is in badly need of medical care. He is quickly taken to a doctor (Richard himself) for treatment.
Once Jim recovers from the operation, he wants to make a confession. He tells Richard of how he shot the detective and fled the scene. With this confession in hand, Richard heads to the police station to clear Ruth’s name. The confession works and Ruth is let free to live happily ever after with her husband.
And there you have it, an extensive recreation of the film. Unfortunately I only found a few images from various movie magazines of the day (I don’t recall which magazines off hand, sorry!). Thanks to the good ole Library of Congress, at least we know how the film played out.
Recreation put together by Bill Piper. Please don’t reuse without permission (just link to the page).
Library of congress link: https://www.loc.gov/collections/motion-picture-copyright-descriptions/about-this-collection
Leave a comment