''Virtue Is Its Own Reward'' (aka ''Virtue Its Own Reward'') is a 1914 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
Joe De Grasse
Joseph Louis De Grasse (May 4, 1873 – May 25, 1940) was a Canadians, Canadian film director. Born in Bathurst, New Brunswick, he was the elder brother of actor Sam De Grasse.
Biography
Joseph De Grasse had studied and was a first-class grad ...
and featuring
Lon Chaney
Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American actor. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and affli ...
and Pauline Bush. It was written by Harry G. Stafford from a story by John Barton Oxford.
The film is basically considered to be a
lost film
A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress.
Conditions
During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...
, although in 2018, a 25-foot fragment of the film was found in a Brooklyn attic stuck inside a Keystone Moviegraph projector and the footage was donated to the George Eastman House. The footage only runs about 17 seconds and includes two very brief shots of Lon Chaney in it.
Actor Tom Forman (who played Seadley Swaine in the film) later directed Lon Chaney in ''Shadows'' (1922). A still exists showing Lon Chaney as the unsavory department manager, Duncan Bronson.
Plot
Annie Partlan works long hours in a local canning factory so that she can pay for her sister Alice's education. Unknown to Annie, Alice is engaged to Seadley Swaine, the son of a wealthy businessman. Alice ignores Annie's advice and secretly takes a job herself at the canning factory to earn enough money to purchase a wedding gown. In the factory, Alice meets Duncan Bronson (Lon Chaney), a department manager who has a very bad reputation. Bronson starts making advances toward Alice, and against Annie's wishes, she cultivates a relationship with the unsavory character, and starts to ignore her fiance Seadley Swaine. Annie thinks Alice is making a big mistake, and sets about to save her sister.
One day, Annie shows up at work in a brand new sexy dress that she has purchased with her savings, and starts acting more like a loose woman. Bronson forgets all about Alice and turns his attentions to the more attractive Annie. A spurned Alice goes back to her former fiancee, Seadley Swaine, and they are married. Now, the danger past, Annie goes back to wearing her old plain clothes and wearing her hair up in an unattractive bun once again. Everyone in the factory gossips about Annie now, but she is content knowing that she saved her sister from an unsavory fate.
Cast
*
Pauline Bush as Annie Partlan
*
Gertrude Bambrick
Gertrude Bambrick (August 24, 1897 – January 10, 1974) was an American actress of the silent era. She appeared in 60 films between 1912 and 1916.
Biography
Bambrick was married twice. Her first marriage to early film director Marshall Neil ...
as Alice Partlan
*
Tom Forman as Seadley Swaine
*
Lon Chaney
Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American actor. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and affli ...
as Duncan Bronson
Reception
"There is some very good acting in this number on the part of all the principals and it gets up a strong interest. Some real life in this number."—Moving Picture World
"Rather a pathetic story, in which Pauline Busch (sic) and Lon Chaney play the leads." --- Motion Picture News
See also
*
List of lost films
For this list of lost films, a lost film is defined as one of which no part of a print is known to have survived. For films in which any portion of the footage remains (including trailers), see List of incomplete or partially lost films.
Reas ...
References
External links
*{{IMDb title, id=0004767, title=Virtue Is Its Own Reward
1914 films
American silent short films
American black-and-white films
1914 drama films
1914 short films
Lost American drama films
Films directed by Joseph De Grasse
Universal Pictures short films
Silent American drama films
1914 lost films
American drama short films
1910s American films