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Silas Marner
(1911) United States of America
B&W : One reel
Directed by [?] Theodore Marston?
Cast: Frank H. Crane (Frank Hall Crane) [Silas Marner], Marie Eline [the little orphan girl], William Bowman (William J. Bauman), Alphonse Ethier, Mignon Anderson
Thanhouser Company production; distributed by Motion Picture Distributing & Sales Company. / From the novel Silas Marner by George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans). / Released 31 March 1911. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format. / The novel was subsequently filmed as Silas Marner (1913).
Drama.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Silas Marner is driven from his native village because of a false charge against him. He goes away to England and starts a new life. Being a skillful weaver, he makes money rapidly, and being friendless, by his own choice, naturally becomes a miser. He places his earning near the fireplace, so that it is always near him. Dunstan, the worthless son of the Squire, spies him one night, and when Silas is out of the house for a few minutes, Dunstan slips in and takes the gold. Making his escape in the dark, Dunstan slips and tumbles into a nearby stone pit. His loss almost unhinges the reason of Silas. He falls asleep before his fire one night, and dreams that his gold has returned. Opening his eyes, he rushes forward to reclaim it. He is doomed to disappointment. The “gold” is the hair of a tiny girl. Her starving mother managed to reach the doorstep of Silas, and there fell dead. Her plight touches the heart of the old weaver. In later years he had occasion to bless his choice. For the little girl, as she grew to woman hood, became a loving and affectionate daughter. In the course of time the old stone pit was drained out, and workmen solved the mystery of the robbery. Dunstan’s skeleton was found, with bags of money nearby. The adopted daughter brings the money to Silas. For a moment he clutches the coins eagerly. Then he casts them aside and turns to the girl. He realizes that he is no longer Silas Marner, the miser, but a man who has reason to be happy and grateful. Once he thought that money meant everything in the world, but now he understands that the shining heap of gold is not worth one strand of his daughter’s sunny head. The money is hers, for she is his, and he knows now that love is a treasure no miser can buy.
Survival status: Print exists.
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 1 July 2025.
References: Website-IMDb.
Home video: DVD.
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