The Ne'er-Do-Well
Cast & Crew
Colin Campbell
Wheeler Oakman
Kathlyn Williams
Harry Lonsdale
Frank Clark
Norma Nichols
Film Details
Synopsis
Kirk Anthony, a former college football hero, to the dismay of his father, a railroad magnate, refuses to enter the business world. Kirk prefers to coach the university team and carouse, until he is drugged during a drunken victory party and put aboard a steamer bound for Panama by an embezzler who switches clothes with him. During the trip, Mrs. Edith Cortlandt, who has married her diplomat husband for convenience, falls in love with Kirk. In Panama, Kirk and Allan Allan, a black Jamaican friend, are arrested when Kirk's efforts to use American firefighting methods cause a riot. After Mrs. Cortlandt's influence gets Kirk out of jail and into a job, he falls in love with Chiquita Garavel, the daughter of a Spanish grandee. When Mrs. Cortlandt warns Kirk not to marry Chiquita, her husband overhears. He insults Kirk in public, and Kirk vows revenge. After Cortlandt commits suicide, and Kirk, who has secretly married Chiquita, is arrested, Mrs. Cortlandt withholds Cortlandt's suicide note, but Kirk's father arrives and convinces her to help arrange Kirk's release.
Director
Colin Campbell
Cast
Wheeler Oakman
Kathlyn Williams
Harry Lonsdale
Frank Clark
Norma Nichols
Will Machin
Jack Mcdonald
Sidney Smith
Fred Huntley
Lamar Johnstone
Harry De Vere
Crew
Film Details
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
In some reviews, the title of this film appears as The Ne'er Do Well. The film opened in December 1915 in Los Angeles. Sol L. Lesser purchased the film in January 1916 for $150,000 and planned to distribute it to the state rights market. It opened in San Francisco on January 23, 1916 and in various West coast cities around that time. The film was shown to exhibitors in New York on February 10, 1916 at a screening which author Rex Beach attended. Lesser then arranged for V-L-S-E to market the film, and it was released nationally on March 20, 1916. Some scenes were shot in New York. Extensive shooting was done in the Panama Canal Zone and in Panama, including Colón, the Gatun Locks, the great Gatun Dam, the Culebra Cut (which later was renamed the Gaillard Cut), Ancon, old Panama City, new Panama City, and Taboga Island. Scenarist Lanier Bartlett made the arrangements for shooting with the authorization of Governor George Washington Goethals of the Canal Zone. American soldiers and workmen and Panamanians appeared in the film, which included shots of the construction of the Canal. Actress Helen Castle became ill during the shooting and her part was taken by a Panamanian woman. A news item includes Eugenie Besserer in the cast. This film was re-issued by Film Market in 1921 in a seven reel version (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.3794). Famous Players-Lasky Corp. released a later version based on the same source on May 6, 1923. It was directed by Alfred E. Green, who was the assistant director for the Selig version, and starred Thomas Meighan, Lila Lee and Gert Astor. Sidney Smith recreated the role he played in the Selig film in the 1923 version. (See AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.3795.)
