''Peggy Leads the Way'' is a 1917 American silent

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Lloyd Ingraham Lloyd Chauncey Ingraham (November 30, 1874 – April 4, 1956) was an American film actor and director. Biography Born in Rochelle, Illinois, Ingraham appeared in more than 280 films between 1912 and 1950, as well as directing more than 100 f ...

and starring

Mary Miles Minter Mary Miles Minter (born Juliet Reilly; April 25, 1902Louisiana Birth Certificate, Caddo Parish, No. 119, Book A, Page 97, Birth Date: April 25, 1902, Name: Mary M. Reilly ic – Original Caddo birth record was recorded as "J.H. Riley's Child" ...

. It also features

Andrew Arbuckle Andrew Arbuckle (born 12 April 1944) is a Scotland, Scottish Scottish Liberal Democrats, Liberal Democrat politician, and a former Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Mid Scotland and Fife (Scottish Parliament electoral region), Mid ...

Carl Stockdale Carl Stockdale also known as Carlton Stockdale (February 19, 1874 – March 15, 1953) was one of the longest-working Hollywood veteran actors, with a career dating from the early 1910s. He also made the difficult transition from silent fi ...

Allan Forrest Allan Forrest Fisher (September 1, 1885 – July 25, 1941) was an American silent film actor. Life and career Allan Forrest Fisher starred in 119 films, mostly silent, between 1913 and 1932. He appeared in films such as '' The Torch Bearer'', ...

, Emma Kluge, and Margaret Shelby, who is Minter's older sister. It is one of approximately a dozen of Minter's films to have survived, a copy having first been found at the Dutch

Filmmuseum Eye Filmmuseum is a film archive, museum, and cinema in Amsterdam that preserves and presents both Dutch and foreign films screened in the Netherlands. Location and history Eye Filmmuseum is located in the Overhoeks neighborhood of Amsterdam in t ...

. It was sold to the

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Leade ...

in 1991 and is held at the

UCLA Film and Television Archive The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Also a nonprofit exhibition venue, the archiv ...

Plot

As described in various

film magazine Film periodicals combine discussion of individual films, genres and directors with in-depth considerations of the medium and the conditions of its production and reception. Their articles contrast with film reviewing in newspapers and magazines whi ...

reviews, after years away at a fashionable boarding school in the East, Peggy (Minter) decides to surprise her father (Arbuckle) one summer by taking a trip back home. She has assumed from her lavish education that her father is a prosperous and successful merchant; she is shocked to find him the owner of a run-down country store that barely turns a profit. Peggy quickly takes charge, spruces things up, and in no time she has the store making money. Meanwhile, local landowner Roland Gardiner (Stockdale) is buying up vast tracts of the local forest with the intention of running a game preserve. He closes the mountain road, angering the local people who have been accustomed to hunting and fishing on the land, but in response to their protests, he says of the land "I bought it, and I can do what I please with it." His son Clyde (Forrest) is more amenable to the villagers, and has taken a liking to Peggy, which is reciprocated, but his father considers a store-keeper's daughter to be far beneath his son. Gardiner invites guests to visit, a wealthy woman (Kluge) and her daughter Maude (Shelby), whom he considers to be a more suitable match for his son. During their stay, the villagers decide to burn the Gardiner home, but Peggy talks them out of it. The same night, however, a storm hits the mountain, flooding the Gardiner home and leaving them without food, fuel or servants. With no alternative if he wants to feed his guests, Roland Gardiner goes to Peggy's store for provisions, where he finds his son happily sweeping the floor in exchange for a hot breakfast. When he tries to buy cheese, ham and crackers, Peggy charges him over one thousand dollars; in response to his protests she tells him "we bought it, and we can do what we please with it." Returning to his damp home with his overpriced food, Gardiner realises that no-one is able to cook it. Mrs. Greenwood and her daughter leave in a huff, and Gardiner returns to the store, having decided that Peggy might just be the right girl for his son after all.

Cast

- Peggy Manners *

- H.E. Manners *

- Roland Gardiner *

- Clyde Gardiner * Emma Kluge - Mrs. Greenwood * Margaret Shelby - Maude Greenwood * George Ahearn - Tim Martin * Frank Thompson - Bob Huckins * William Spencer - Pop Hicks *

Mabel Taliaferro Mabel Taliaferro (born Maybelle Evelyn Taliaferro; May 21, 1887 – January 24, 1979) was an American stage and silent-screen actress, known as "the Sweetheart of American Movies." Early years Taliaferro was born as Maybelle Evelyn Taliaferro i ...

- Unidentified role

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0008419 1917 films 1917 drama films Silent American drama films American silent feature films American black-and-white films American Film Company films 1910s rediscovered films Rediscovered American films 1910s American films