''The Triumph of the Weak'' is a

1918 The ceasefire that effectively ended the World War I, First World War took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of this year. Also in this year, the Spanish flu pandemic killed 50–100 million people wor ...

Vitagraph Vitagraph Studios, also known as the Vitagraph Company of America, was a United States motion picture studio. It was founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York, as the American Vitagraph Company. By 1907 ...

American

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. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

that was directed by

Tom Terriss Thomas Herbert F. Lewin (28 September 1872 – 8 February 1964), known professionally as Tom Terriss, was a British actor, screenwriter, and film director. After trying various occupations, he became an actor playing a variety of roles, beginni ...

, written by Garfield Thompson based upon a play by

Edith Ellis Edith Mary Oldham Ellis (née Lees; 9 March 1861 – 14 September 1916) was an English writer and women's rights activist. She was married to the early sexologist Havelock Ellis. Biography Ellis was born on 9 March 1861 in Newton, Lancash ...

and

Forrest Halsey William Forrest Halsey (November 9, 1877 – September 30, 1949) was an American writer and screenwriter. Halsey's novels included ''Fate and the Butterfly'' (1909), ''The Bawlerout'' (1912), and ''The Shadow on the Hearth'' (1914). From 19 ...

, and starring

Alice Joyce Alice Joyce Brown (née Joyce; October 1, 1890 – October 9, 1955) was an American actress who appeared in more than 200 films during the 1910s and 1920s. She is known for her roles in the 1923 film '' The Green Goddess'' and its 1930 remake ...

. It is the story of a woman who steals to provide food for her child and the consequence which follow her act, the narrow escapes she has of the many pitfalls, in her efforts to live in the straight and narrow path. This film appears to be lost.''The Triumph of the Weak'' at The Alice Joyce Website, by Greta De Groat
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Plot

Frank Merrill, a Great Lakes

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

, loses his life in a storm and his wife, Edith, to support her child leaves for the city where she steals and is imprisoned. Three years later, upon her release, she takes her child from the state orphanage and goes to another city where she secures employment in a department store. She marries the superintendent, Jim Roberts. Mabel, who served time with Edith, is freed and arranges with Mickey Bill to enlist the aid of Edith in a robbery under threat of exposure. The burglary is committed, and, when Mabel is trapped, Edith, fearing a revelation of her past, says that she is responsible. In a trap laid by Detective Jordan to get Mabel the truth comes out and Edith's past is laid bare to her husband. He forgives her and the thieves are rounded up.

Cast

as Edith Merrill *

Walter McGrail Walter B. McGrail (October 19, 1888 – March 19, 1970) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 150 films between 1916 and 1951. Besides feature films, he appeared in ''The Scarlet Runner'', a 12-chapter serial. McGrail was born in ...

as Jim Roberts *

Templar Saxe Templar Saxe (born Templer William Edward Edevein; August 22, 1865 – April 17, 1935) was a British-born stage actor, opera singer and silent film actor. In films, he usually was a character actor as his singing voice could not be used in silent ...

as Robert Jordan *

Eulalie Jensen Eulalie Jensen (December 24, 1884 – October 7, 1952) was an American actress on the New York stage and in silent films. Biography Born in St. Louis, Missouri, she was selected as one of six extra girls from the 200 applicants responding to a ...

as Diamond Mabel *

Adele DeGarde Adele DeGarde (born Adelaide De Gard, also credited Adele De Garde; May 3, 1899 – November 1972) was an American silent film actress, who performed in at least 114 productions between 1908 and 1918. A native of Brooklyn, New York, she initi ...

as Lizee * William Carr as Teddy (credited as Billy Carr) * Bernard Siegel as Brown

References

External links

* 1918 films American black-and-white films American silent feature films 1918 drama films Vitagraph Studios films Silent American drama films Lost American drama films 1918 lost films Films directed by Tom Terriss 1910s American films 1910s English-language films English-language drama films Lost silent American films {{1910s-drama-film-stub