The Pawns of Destiny (1914)

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Florence Lawrence | Matt Moore | Harry Solter (Director | Writer)

Rest of cast:

Charles Craig | Laura Oakley | Carl Laemmle (Producer)

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“The Pawns of Destiny.”

In a three-part victor subject Florence Lawrence and Matt Moore do work that makes deep appeal.

Reviewed by George Blaisdell.

The Universal Company will release on May 8th “The Pawns of Destiny,” a three-reel product of the Victor Studio. The story is written and directed by H. L. Solter. It is a convincingly told tale of those in humble circumstances, of struggle on the part of a man, of love which she dared not reveal on the part of a little slavey; of her bravery in rescuing from death this man. of her self-sacrifice and self-abnegation in supporting a blind man, and of his self-renunciation in turn when he refuses to permit an officious landlady to force a marriage of a man incapable of supporting even himself on to a woman in spite of her willingness. There is deep human appeal throughout — in the second reel especially there is a pull on the heartstrings that to some may be at times uncomfortable.

Florence Lawrence has the role of Sarah, a slavey in a boarding house of the most unpretentious sort. Living here is Robert Brandt, a young lawyer without clients, portrayed by Matt Moore. Sarah shows, in many definite feminine ways, her affection for the man who is so absorbed in his studies that he never gives her a look — to all appearances he is unconscious of her presence. When she cleans his room her vigorous attention is concentrated on the things most closely associated with him. She dusts and redusts bis chair, she polishes the covers of the books over which he pours and which she vainly tries to comprehend. When Robert, in his effort to coax a flame uses in the little cylinder stove oil from his lamp and sets tire to the house, it is Sarah who forces her way up the stairs of the great tenement house and drags Robert down a flight of stairs, where the firemen find the two in a heap.

Sarah visits Robert in the hospital, where she learns that he is blind and his hands badly burned Gordon. Robert’s partner, tells the injured man the story of the rescue and of Sarah he says “This is our little heroine.” Sarah appeals to the landlady to let her bring Robert back to the house, stipulating that she will work for nothing. The agreement is made and put into effect, but when the woman of the house discovers slight but none the less significant evidence of affection between the two she informs Robert that she will immediately bring in a clergyman to marry them. Robert’s protests are unheeded. Sarah, mistaking his attitude, is disconsolate. While the landlady is gone on her righteous mission Gordon enters with word of a legacy for Robert. A marriage takes place, but it is by a clergyman of Robert’s selection.

Some of the best situations in the picture are those in the new home. Sarah can’t keep still. She must be working. She enters the model kitchen, to the dismay of the cook. She conceives a fondness for the attire of one of the maids and has herself arrayed in the same manner. There are dramatic scenes surrounding the operation upon Robert’s eyes. While the surgeons are at work Sarah sits at the foot of the stairs and waits. Her pathetic attitude will strike deep into the souls of the many followers of the picture who have experienced similar hours of trial — but Sarah has as an added weight the fear of what her husband will say and do when he sees her for the first time. Robert in his impatience disregards the injunctions of the surgeons and tears from his eyes the bandage. He seeks his wife. As he passes Sarah in her maid’s garb she falls weeping into a chair. When the husband is told that his wife is in her room he shuts his eyes, he puts his hand on the face of the woman he locates there — and recognizes her. What happens then settles any doubts in the mind of Sarah.

It is all a pretty story and an absorbing one. It is well staged. One of the most effective settings is the operating room and the showing of the surgeons at work in the single shaft of light that pierces the absolute darkness. The elaborate kitchen will interest the feminine side of any house. It is a detail, but not a minor one. The fire in the big tenement house, with the fleeing tenants and the entering firemen, is vividly portrayed. Charles Craig, who plays Gordon, is excellent in his characterization. It will be noticed that in Miss Lawrence’s interpretation of the slavey there is an absence of the lightness of foot which is one of her characteristics; in its stead there is the stiff-jointed gait of the drudge.

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Scene from The Pawns of Destiny (Victor).

Collection: Moving Picture World, May 1914