The Man Worth While (1921)
Directed by Romaine Fielding
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Synopsis by Janiss Garza
Romaine Fielding produced, directed, and starred in this drama, which was based on the famous poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Don Word (Fielding) is the "man who can face trouble with a smile," and since he faces quite a lot of trouble, he's challenged to keep smiling. He lives in the Canadian wilds and works for a company run by the Loring family. The Loring son inherits the business and forces Word's fiancée, Cecile (Peggy Parr), to marry him instead. Loring then sends Word to prison on a trumped-up charge. Word spends seven years behind bars, but while he's there his cheerful manner helps to reform the inmates. On the outside, Loring leaves Cecile, who is pregnant with his son. She becomes a dressmaker to support the boy (Lawrence Johnson). The child is unhappy because his schoolmates, who doubt his legitimacy, taunt him. Cecile searches for Loring so she can prove the boy has a father, but it turns out that he has been killed by an angry French Canadian whose sweetheart he had wronged. When Word gets out of prison, he and Cecile reunite.
Characteristics
Keywords
abandonment, arrest, camp, child, daughter, deception, desert, desertion, home, house, husband, killing, love, love-triangle, lumber, lumber-camp, marriage, owner, pregnancy, ranger [military], reunion, shock, son, trick, woods [place], man
