''The Highbinders'' is a 1915 American short

crime film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

directed by

Tod Browning Tod Browning (born Charles Albert Browning Jr.; July 12, 1880 – October 6, 1962) was an American film director, film actor, screenwriter, vaudeville performer, and carnival sideshow and circus entertainer. He directed a number of films of var ...

. It is not known whether the film currently survives.

Plot

As recorded in a film magazine, Maggie, the daughter of Pat Gallagher, a brutal saloon keeper, to escape from being forced into a marriage with a bully and protégé of her father, takes refuge in a shop in

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

that is just around the corner from her father's resort. The Chinese merchant Hop Woo, who has given her shelter, at last persuades her to marry him, resulting in a repugnant life for her. Years later finds Hop Woo the merchant selling his daughter Ah Woo into slavery. Ah Woo's brother, overhearing his father bartering with the highbinder, who is a member of the powerful Hip-y-tong society, runs for help to Jack Donovan, who keeps a gambling hall on the border of Chinatown. The brother shoots and kills the slave trader. Hop Woo is suspected of the crime and visited with

blood atonement Blood atonement was a practice in the history of Mormonism still adhered to by some fundamentalist splinter groups, under which the atonement of Jesus does not redeem an eternal sin. To atone for an eternal sin, the sinner should be killed i ...

by the Hip-y-tong. The brother and Donovan, who loves the Chinese-American girl, rescue her from an underground passage below Chinatown, and Donovan shoots dead the highbinders. Maggie, the mother has committed suicide. Donovan sells the gambling hall and buys a ranch, where he takes his bride Ah Woo and her brother.

Cast

Eugene Pallette Eugene William Pallette (July 8, 1889 – September 3, 1954) was an American actor who worked in both the silent and sound eras, performing in more than 240 productions between 1913 and 1946. After an early career as a slender leading man, ...

as Hop Woo *

Seena Owen Seena Owen (born Signe Auen; November 14, 1894 – August 15, 1966) was an American silent film actress and screenwriter. Early life Born Signe Auen in Spokane, Washington, she was the youngest of three children raised by Jens Christensen and K ...

as Ah Woo (as Signe Auen) *

Billie West Billie West (August 5, 1891 – June 7, 1967) was an American actress of the silent era. She appeared in more than 60 films between 1912 and 1917. West was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and had two brothers. West left home in 1910 to begi ...

as Maggie Gallagher * Walter Long as Pat Gallagher * Tom Wilson as Jack Donovan

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Highbinders, The 1915 films 1915 crime films 1915 lost films 1915 short films 1910s American films 1910s English-language films American black-and-white films American silent short films Crime short films Films directed by Tod Browning Lost American crime films Silent American crime films

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links