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Fate’s Interception
(1912) United States of America
B&W : One reel
Directed by D.W. Griffith
Cast: Mary Pickford [the Mexican girl], Wilfred Lucas [the American], Charles Hill Mailes [the Mexican sweetheart], Frank Opperman [the old man], Robert Harron [the errand boy], Edwin August [an American], William J. Butler [an American], Harry Hyde [an American], William A. Carroll [a hotel patron], Walter Miller, Charles West
Biograph Company production; distributed by The General Film Company, Incorporated. / Scenario by George Hennessy. Cinematography by G.W. Bitzer. / Released 8 April 1912. / [?] Biograph 35mm spherical format; released in Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format?
Drama: Romance.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? The representative of an American Syndicate comes to Mexico to look over some land. While there, he, out of sheer loneliness, pays considerable attention to the little Mexican girl, at whose home he is a roomer. The girl falls deeply in love with the American, who wins her absolute confidence. When the time comes for his departure, he of course cannot take her with him, and when he says goodbye, she realizes how false were his promises. Her love for the Americano now turns to bitter hate, and she agrees to marry her erstwhile sweetheart, whom she threw aside for the American, if he will avenge her wrong. This he consents to do and so follows the American to a nearby town. A boom is on and the American leaves his room at the hotel to go to the Land Office on business, leaving the gas lighted until his return. The Mexican enters to wait, and not knowing anything about gas, blows it out so as to attack in the dark. When the American returns he finds that vengeance has gone awry. At the same time, the girl, who has repented her impulsiveness, enters and sees the result of it. Still, love was to blame, and the American makes all possible reparation.
Reviews: [The Moving Picture World, 20 April 1912, page ?] A melodramatic picture with a climax that is very dramatic and very effectively acted. It is not a romantic picture so much as a drama of passion. It is set in Mexico and is told in simple homely backgrounds without the aid of glorious scenery. When the American was called home by his company, he had to leave the pretty Mexican girl. He had taken a fancy to her and she was in love with him. She was passionate and her love turned to hatred when he told her that he was going to leave her. A Mexican loved her, and him she promised to marry if he would cut out the American’s false heart. This he agreed to do, and rode fast to the village, went up to the American’s room at the hotel, and waited for him. The hotel keeper left him there with the gas lighted. Here is where fate intervenes. The yokel doesn’t know about gas. He blows it out, in order to spring upon the American in the dark. He is smothered. It lacks the surer elements of popularity, and, while it was closely watched by an interested audience, it brought out no enthusiasm, no applause. The photographs are fair and it is a competently made picture. We don’t dare call it a Saturday night feature.
Survival status: Prints exist in the Library of Congress film archive [35mm Biograph nitrate camera negative, [?] 16mm preservation reduction positive?]; in the Museum of Modern Art film archive [35mm preservation duplicate negative]; and in the Mary Pickford Institute for Film Education film collection [35mm duplicate negative].
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Mexicans - Mexico
Listing updated: 4 June 2024.
References: Barry-Griffith p. 43; Eyman-Pickford p. 326; Fell-History p. 84; Spehr-American pp. 1, 246 : Website-IMDb; Website-Legacy; Website-Pickford.
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