The Usurer (1910)
1910 · Silent film · 18 min · dir. D.W. Griffith
- Drama
Synopsis
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt" Matthew 6: 19. How few there are that appreciate the truth of this advice from holy writ, in our incessant struggle tor gold. Wealth is not only transitory, but it often conspires against our eternal salvation. "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." True it is that the fight for fortune is ethical where the methods are legitimate, but the one despicable means is that of the usurer or money shark. This man fattens on the misfortunes of his fellow beings, gloating over the fact that his debtors are his abject slaves, and like the ancient king who called tor a reckoning from his servant, "But forasmuch as he had not to pay, he commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had." This is the procedure of the usurer. We find him about to have his office in the evening ordering his collectors to warn the delinquent debtors that if they do not pay by the morrow their effects will be sold. They start off on their rounds while he goes to spend an evening of pleasure at a banquet. What a contrast. On the one side the poor unfortunates apprised of their inevitable fate, while he and his friends quaff the blood-distilled wine, and regale themselves with viands paid for with the tears of the needy. The next day the collectors carry out the usurer's orders, and the plea, "Have patience with me and I will pay thee all," is ignored. The bed is removed from under a poor widow's sick child; the…
Synopsis from OMDb
Details
- Director
- D.W. Griffith
- Writer
- Frank E. Woods
- Cinematography
- Billy Bitzer
- Studio
- American Mutoscope & Biograph
- Released
- 1910-08-15
- Running time
- 18 minutes
- Language
- English
- Collection
- Silent Films, Feature Films
Cast & crew
D.W. Griffith Director
George Nichols
Grace Henderson
Alfred Paget- Anthony O'Sullivan
Edward Dillon
Clara T. Bracy- Frank Evans
- William J. Butler
