The Mainspring (1917)
Western | 17 August 1917
Director:
Henry KingWriter:
Frances E. GuihanProduction Companies:
Falcon Features, The Balboa Amusement Producing Co.The Mainspring was originally scheduled to be part of a series called Fortune Photo Plays, according to the 17 March 1917 Moving Picture World, but that series ended in July 1917.
A news item in the 11 August 1917 Moving Picture World and a full-page advertisement in the 18 August 1917 issue of the same magazine mentioned that The Mainspring was the first of the Falcon Features, a series of four-reel films based on stories appearing in Street & Smith publications. A new film would be released every week. Famous authors and stars would be featured, and even though the stories were worthy of being five-reel features, the Falcon films would be trimmed to four "to insure dramatic value."
The producers, the Horkheimer Brothers, owned the Balboa Amusement Producing Co. and Balboa Studio in Long Beach, California.
The 1 September 1917 Exhibitors Herald reported that the Chicago Board of Censors demanded that four scenes of rioting miners be cut from the film.
Universal Film had released another, unrelated film called The Mainstream a year earlier (see entry).
Tiffany Productions released Lost at Sea (see entry), which was adapted from the same source, in 1926. It was directed by Louis J. Gasnier and starred Huntley Gordon, Lowell Sherman and Jane Novak.
The National Film Preservation Board (NFPB) included this film on its list of Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films as of January 2021. ...
The Mainspring was originally scheduled to be part of a series called Fortune Photo Plays, according to the 17 March 1917 Moving Picture World, but that series ended in July 1917.
A news item in the 11 August 1917 Moving Picture World and a full-page advertisement in the 18 August 1917 issue of the same magazine mentioned that The Mainspring was the first of the Falcon Features, a series of four-reel films based on stories appearing in Street & Smith publications. A new film would be released every week. Famous authors and stars would be featured, and even though the stories were worthy of being five-reel features, the Falcon films would be trimmed to four "to insure dramatic value."
The producers, the Horkheimer Brothers, owned the Balboa Amusement Producing Co. and Balboa Studio in Long Beach, California.
The 1 September 1917 Exhibitors Herald reported that the Chicago Board of Censors demanded that four scenes of rioting miners be cut from the film.
Universal Film had released another, unrelated film called The Mainstream a year earlier (see entry).
Tiffany Productions released Lost at Sea (see entry), which was adapted from the same source, in 1926. It was directed by Louis J. Gasnier and starred Huntley Gordon, Lowell Sherman and Jane Novak.
The National Film Preservation Board (NFPB) included this film on its list of Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films as of January 2021.
Disgraced after his father, a banker, kills himself for unsuccessfully speculating with trust funds, Ned Gillett breaks his engagement to Frances Hardor and slips away to begin a new life in the West. While wandering through the countryside, Ned is befriended by J. J. O'Rourke, an old miner. The two barely escape death when Bellows Jones, a town bully, in an attempt to seize control of the old man's Mainspring mine, tries to kill them by dragging their shack down a mountainside. Unharmed, Ned hurries to the old man's abandoned mine shaft in Travers City, in order to file a claim before Jones does. Ned files in time but discovers that Jones has fraudulantly sold the mine to Frances' brother Bellamy Hardor, who was recently arrived in the West. Although Ned forces restitution of the money, Frances refuses to speak to him, but her grateful brother supports Ned in the operation of the mine, which turns out to be a success. However, Jones refuses to accept defeat and incites the miners to strike and set fire to the Mainspring. Ned saves Frances and her brother, defeats Jones, and wins both the mine and Frances' ...
Disgraced after his father, a banker, kills himself for unsuccessfully speculating with trust funds, Ned Gillett breaks his engagement to Frances Hardor and slips away to begin a new life in the West. While wandering through the countryside, Ned is befriended by J. J. O'Rourke, an old miner. The two barely escape death when Bellows Jones, a town bully, in an attempt to seize control of the old man's Mainspring mine, tries to kill them by dragging their shack down a mountainside. Unharmed, Ned hurries to the old man's abandoned mine shaft in Travers City, in order to file a claim before Jones does. Ned files in time but discovers that Jones has fraudulantly sold the mine to Frances' brother Bellamy Hardor, who was recently arrived in the West. Although Ned forces restitution of the money, Frances refuses to speak to him, but her grateful brother supports Ned in the operation of the mine, which turns out to be a success. However, Jones refuses to accept defeat and incites the miners to strike and set fire to the Mainspring. Ned saves Frances and her brother, defeats Jones, and wins both the mine and Frances' love.
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