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The Great Drought
(1912) United States of America
B&W : One reel
Directed by Colin Campbell
Cast: Tom Santschi [Jim Harker], Anna Dodge [Mrs. Harker], Bessie Eyton [Helen Harker, the daughter], Wheeler Oakman [Andy Cline], Lillian Hayward [Widow Cline, Andy’s mother], Lillian Clark [Andy’s sister], Al E. Garcia (Allan Garcia) [Dominguez], George Hernandez [Darius Wheeler], Frank Richardson [Squire Egan], Robert Chandler (James Robert Chandler) [Doctor O’Sullivan]
The Selig Polyscope Company, Incorporated, production; distributed by The General Film Company, Incorporated. / Produced by William N. Selig. Scenario by Lanier Bartlett. Presented by The Selig Polyscope Company, Incorporated. / Released 3 October 1912. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama: Western.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Jim Harker is a landlord of the crudest type. Harker evicts the Widow Cline and her son Andy from the house which he owns because they cannot pay the rent. The community is so aroused by Harker’s action that his own family is ostracized. Finally he is driven out of town entirely, and moves to the far west to try ranching. In the meantime, neighbors provide a purse to send the Clines west. It chances that the Harkers and the Clines take up land in neighboring valleys, without knowing the presence of the others. Harker goes in for ranching on a large scale. His funds are low, but he pledges his crops in payment for the installments on the land, which is held by a brutal fellow named Dominguez. An old squaw appeals to Harker for food. He uses his usual brutal measures on her, and she utters against him a terrible curse: “The drought be upon you.” True, a terrible drought visits the region that season. Dominguez sees how things are going and calls for a pledge for the coming season. Dominguez has conceived a passion for Helen, but Helen loathes him. Dominguez proposes to Harker that he yield him his daughter in marriage if by the seventh day from date no rain has fallen. The father signs a document to this effect. The seventh day approaches without rain. Jim Harker is finally brought to his knees by his agony of mind, and goes out into the parched fields, falls on his knees and prays with tragic eloquence for rain. As Jim Harker prays, the clouds roll in, and rain falls on his upturned face. In the meantime, the Clines have struck water and prospered. On this day when the rain falls, Helen Harker mounts her pony and goes in desperation to bring help for her little brother, who lies stricken with fever. She has heard of the neighboring ranch and rides that way. She comes face to face with Andy Cline. The Clines come to her assistance, and Harker now abjectly asks the Widow Cline’s forgiveness for the terrible wrong he had done her. Dominguez, hurrying toward Harker’s ranch on the last day of grace to claim Helen, is overtaken by the rain. With the philosophy of the gambler he tears up the pledge signed by Harker and returns to town.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 8 January 2025.
References: Lahue-Selig p. 109 : ClasIm-224 p. 53 : Website-IMDb.
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