Not Guilty
About Not Guilty
Joinville robs someone and drops the stolen purse into clerk Harry Martin's pocket. The police find it, arrest Harry, and take him home to say goodbye to his blind mother, who is told he is only going on a journey. In jail he hears she is ill. He escapes on a hay wagon, gets home, and when the police search the house he crosses to another building on a clothesline. The next morning's paper carries Joinville's confession. Harry can come back openly.
Cast & crew
More about Not Guilty
Lloyd Lonergan wrote the scenario. Thanhouser made it in New Rochelle and released it on 20 September 1910 through the Motion Picture Distribution and Sales Company. The negative is 985 feet, black and white, with tinting. No director is named in the AFI credits. Frank Hall Crane, Violet Heming, and Marie Eline are in the cast.
Themes
Making
Robert Grau, writing later in Moving Picture World, said he could not see how Thanhouser had faked the newspaper that is on screen for only a few seconds. Frame study showed a pasted headline, not an optical trick.
Reviews
The Moving Picture World of 1 October 1910 called it a rather engaging story and said the escape had a thrill. Walton, in The Moving Picture News, liked the mother and called the convict stripes unnecessary and the plot far-fetched. The New York Dramatic Mirror found strong situations but said some scenes were handled too abruptly.
Look
The plant of the purse is shown in a close view, unusual for a 1910 story film.
Preservation
A print is in the Library of Congress.
Notes
- Marie Eline, about eight, was billed as the Thanhouser Kid.
- In 1915 the Pennsylvania State Board of Censors passed the film with no cuts.
- Theater ads for it are recorded in Missouri, Minnesota, Indiana, and Kansas.
Scenes
- Joinville slips the stolen purse into Harry's pocket.
- Harry crosses between buildings on a clothesline while police search the house.
- He reads Joinville's confession in the paper.
Also available
- Library of Congress