Jim the Penman
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Edwin S. Porter
John Mason
Harold Lockwood
Russell Bassett
Frederick Perry
William Roselle
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Nina L'Estrange chooses to marry Louis Percival over his rival and friend, bank cashier James Ralston. After Percival goes to Chicago to take care of his inheritance, Ralston forges a letter to Nina from Percival breaking the engagement. She marries Ralston and they move to London, where Ralston begins a forging operation with Baron Hartfeld and amasses a fortune, though no one suspects that he is the notorious "Jim the Penman." After Ralston and Hartfeld successfully steal the famous Drelincourt necklace, Ralston learns that his daughter is engaged to Lord Drelincourt. He tries to return the necklace, but Hartfeld refuses to give it up. Captain Redwood, an English aristocrat and amateur detective, overhears their disagreement. He recovers the necklace and obtains $75,000 "hush money" from Ralston, which he gives to Percival, whom Jim the Penman earlier robbed. Although Nina learns about Ralston's forgeries, she overlooks them for the sake of their daughter who is about to marry. On the eve of the wedding, Ralston, now remorseful, dies of heart failure while arguing with Hartfeld. Redwood then apprehends Hartfeld.
Director
Edwin S. Porter
Cast
John Mason
Harold Lockwood
Russell Bassett
Frederick Perry
William Roselle
Marguerite Leslie
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
May likely have been the very first full-length movie filmed in 3-D, predating Bwana Devil (1952) by 37 years.
Notes
This was John Mason's first film. At the time of the filming, both Marguerite Leslie and Frederick Perry were playing leading roles in Broadway plays. Early in June 1915, an exhibition of stereoscopic pictures given by Edwin S. Porter and William E. Waddell at the Astor Theater in New York included scenes from this film. The camera used contained two lenses separated by the distance between a normal pair of eyes. The two films produced were tinted red and green. Spectators at the exhibition wore two-color glasses to view the film. Porter and Waddell spent several years developing the process. In 1921, a film from the same source was made by William Bennett Productions and released by Associated First National Pictures, starring Lionel Barrymore. (See AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.2805.)
