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The Manager of the B. & A.
Also known as The Man from Medicine Hat in the USA : [The Manager of the B. and A.]
(1916) United States of America
B&W : Five reels
Directed by J.P. McGowan
Cast: Helen Holmes [Constance Emory], Leo Maloney (Leo D. Maloney) [Dan Oakley], Paul C. Hurst (Paul Hurst) [Roger Oakley], N.V. Wood (N.Z. Wood) [General Corning], Thomas G. Lingham (Tom Lingham) [Griffith Ryder], William N. Chapman [Thomas Emory], William Brunton [Gordon Holt], Jean Perkins [stunt performer for Paul Hurst], [?] Bertha Lingham?
The Signal Film Corporation production; distributed by Mutual Film Corporation [Helen Holmes Series; A Mutual Star Production]. / Scenario by J.P. McGowan, from the novel The Manager of the B. and A. by Vaughan Kester. Cinematography by S.A. Sues. Film editor, J.P. McGowan. / Released 25 September 1916. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format. / Wood’s final film. The fourth film in the Helen Holmes Series of five-reel feature films. The film was reedited and rereleased in the USA as The Man from Medicine Hat by American Film Company, Incorporated, in 1921.
Drama.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Thomas Emory, manager of a local branch of the Buckhorn and Antioch, finds one day that he is minus a position due to his negligence in office. In his place is appointed temporarily his former assistant, Gordon Holt. Later, on an unexpected trip to the branch office, General Coming, the president of the B. & A., and his private train are narrowly saved from accident by the act of one of the minor superintendents along the division, Dan Oakley. In reward for the deed of daring which shows to the company’s president of what stuff the young mechanic is made, Oakley is made manager over the head of Holt. With the introduction of new blood into “the works” the old regime of banker’s hours and shiftless work is dealt its death blow. As a consequence the radical young manager incurs the enmity of the editor of the Antioch Herald and the leader of the Labor Party, one Griffith Ryden, who stirs up the men against him. But in spite of opposition the new manager “makes her pay.” Due to the activities of the Labor Leader, a strike is called. Although the subsequent turmoil, hunger and dissatisfaction among the strikers is distasteful to the fighting manager, he stands his ground and keeps up his record by means of the men who remain loyal. A personal bitterness grows up between Ryder and Oakley since Constance Emory, the daughter of old Thomas Emory, the former manager, has evinced an interest in both which sways from one to another as her father’s sympathies vary. The strike culminates in the cutting of the pipes leading to the water tanks, which results in the explosion of an over-heated engine boiler and a fire. The journey for aid to the next town to get the fire-fighting apparatus through a roaring forest fire which threatens to lick up the puny train with its tongue of flame, falls to the brave young manager. On his return he has won not only the hearts of his men, but that of the beautiful Constance, who promises to become his partner for life.
Survival status: Prints exist in the Library of Congress film archive [incomplete (reels 1, 4 and 5 only): 35mm nitrate positive, 35mm acetate duplicate negative, 35mm acetate positive].
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Railroads - Transportation: Trains
Listing updated: 6 November 2023.
References: Website-AFI; Website-ASFFDb; Website-IMDb.
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