The Net (Norwegian intertitles)

"The Net" (1916, Thanhouser) - print courtesy The National Library of Norway.

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, March 25, 1916:

"There is an ancient superstition, held by the old grannies and the old men of the fisher folk, that whatever living thing is saved from the sea brings with it a curse and bad luck to the person who saves it. And so, the bent old women and the gnarled old men all wagged their heads and croned wisely at each other when the young fisherman saved a mysterious girl from the sea. She was lashed to a floating spar, and he carried her unconscious to his cabin where his mother could tend to her and bring her back to life. And it is the story of what happened to the young fisherman and the maiden from the sea that makes up the plot for a most unusual and interesting photodrama, entitled The Net, a forthcoming Mutual Masterpicture, DeLuxe Edition, from the Thanhouser studios.

"It is seldom that a picture of such real photographic beauty, such wonder of setting and such tensity and yet simplicity of plot development is produced. The settings of the Florida beaches, and the warm sunshine of tropical mornings and afternoons afford a marvelous background for the picture. The fisher people with their nets and boats and their poor little cabins are picturesque and quaint, and the mystery girl from the sea furnishes a strong contrast to their simple daughters. Marion Swayne, the beautiful little actress, who has made friends wherever her pictures have gone, is presented in her first Mutual feature in The Net. Miss Swayne plays the role of the sweetheart of the young fisherman, while Bert Delaney appears as the luckless youth who saved the drowning girl from the sea. Ethel Jewett is the rescued maiden, Inda Palmer is the mother of the fisherman, Morgan Jones plays the role of a detective and Arthur Bauer that of a businessman from the city. The story of the young fisherman and his sweetheart, and the part that the mysterious girl from the waves plays in it, is as follows:

"In the home of the stalwart young son and his mother, the girl rescued from the sea grows strong again after her fearful exposure. Her attractiveness, so different from that of the fisher maidens, has a telling effect on the young man. He asks her, at length, to become his bride, and she accepts. But a few days before the wedding the affianced bride disappears, sailing away with a strange man from the city, who has suddenly appeared. Thinking that his sweetheart had deserted him for another, the fisherman is heartbroken for a time, but gradually the keen edge of his sorrow wears away, and he succumbs to the attractions of another girl, one who had recently come to the village with her father and who lived together and alone at the end of the town. In reality, the runaway girl had been a thief. In trying to escape with a large amount of money which she had taken from the store in which she was employed, she had sailed on a boat which was wrecked. She was the only surviving passenger. The stranger, for whom she left her stalwart fisherman lover, was a detective, who had hit upon her trail. She bribed him with the money which she had saved, and he did not turn her over to the authorities.

"The detective, learning that the young fisherman would someday inherit a vast fortune, insisted that the girl return and persuade the youth to marry her. Between them they would secure possession of his money. The girl returns to the village and tells her former lover that it was her brother with whom she had left - that they had hurried away to the deathbed of her dying father. While she talks, the fisherman's real sweetheart and her father surprise the detective in the doorway. At first, he stammers in embarrassment. Then he looks searchingly into the face of the older man and claps a handcuff on his wrists. The father, it seems, is a fugitive from justice. Seeing a chance to accomplish his ends, the detective promises the daughter that if she will give up all claim to the fisher youth and allow him to marry his earlier love, her father will be set free. She sorrowfully agrees, and the youth, much against his wishes, consents to the sacrifice.

"But the wedding is again interfered with. As the bride, ready to start down the stairs, looks over the rail she sees her former employer, the man from whom she had stolen a fortune, talking earnestly with the fisherman. Thinking that her secret has been divulged, she flees down a back stair, jumps into an automobile, and starts off, heading straight for the quicksands. The unhappy girl who had given up her own happiness for the sake of her father, tries to warn her of her danger, but thinking it is a plot to stop her escape, she rushes ahead, and is swallowed in the treacherous sands. A letter from headquarters verifies the honesty of the unjustly accused father, and the girl and the fisherman wed and are happy ever after."