The Lord and the Peasant

1912 Drama 8 minutes Directed by J. Searle Dawley

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About The Lord and the Peasant

A peasant girl loves a lad who has gone abroad to earn a living. The lord of Glenwood sees her and wants her. She will not trade the absent lad for the manor. Poverty and then a fever hit the cottage. Her young sister is the one the fever holds. No letter comes. The lord offers a doctor if the girl will come to the castle. She agrees. The lad returns to an empty house. The lord then asks for her hand. Miriam Nesbitt is the girl. Augustus Phillips is the lad. Charles Ogle plays the lord in a viewing of the reel. Viola Dana, billed as Viola Flugrath, is the sister. Harry Eytinge is the doctor.

Cast & crew

More about The Lord and the Peasant

J. Searle Dawley directed this Edison short, production number 7090. IMDb dates a release to 2 August 1912 and times it at 8 minutes. A Commons copy uses the German title Die Heimkehr des Reisenden.

Themes

  • A manor against a cottage
  • A sister’s fever as the lever
  • A lover who comes home late
  • Glenwood
  • Miriam Nesbitt
  • Augustus Phillips
  • Charles Ogle
  • Edison
  • J. Searle Dawley
  • dowry of rank

Making

Dawley stages the bargain in the cottage: a doctor for a promise. The lad’s return is to a house already empty.

Music

Silent.

Preservation

A print survives, including a copy circulated under the German title.

Notes

  • Glenwood is the manor named in the Edison synopsis.
  • The doctor is the price of the castle visit.
  • Dana was still working under Flugrath.
  • The German title on the Commons file means “the traveler’s homecoming.”

Scenes

  • The lord sees her from the path and she will not look at the manor.
  • He trades a doctor for her coming to the castle.
  • Phillips comes back and the cottage is empty.

Also available

  • Wikimedia Commons (Lord and the Peasant - Die Heimkehr des Reisenden - J. Searle Dawley, 1912, Edison Manufacturing Company.webm)

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