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The Last Dance
(1912) United States of America
B&W : Short film
Directed by Oscar Eagle
Cast: Winifred Greenwood [Mignon], Charles Clary [James Norton], Allen Mathes [John Harlow, a clergyman], Frank McKee [Doctor Warren], Maud Cleveland [Aunt Laura], Adrienne Kroell [Minnie Gary]
The Selig Polyscope Company, Incorporated, production; distributed by The General Film Company, Incorporated. / Produced by William N. Selig. Scenario by Kathlyn Williams. / Released 4 June 1912. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? James Norton, clubman and first-nighter, meets and becomes infatuated with Mignon, the classic dancing girl of the Metropolitan Variety Theater. He finds her vastly different from those she is associated with, and his respect for her is as great as his love. She loves refinement and culture, and loathes everything licentious and vulgar. She likes Norton and appreciates his friendship, but will not marry him until she feels sure of herself. She is subject to attacks of weak heart, and, one night while dancing, her heart fails and she falls in a faint upon the stage. The doctor insists that she give up her work, for the time being at least, and go to the country to recuperate. She does so and the transformation is wonderful. She grows to love the country and its simple, good-hearted, church-going people. John Harlowe, a young minister of rather puritanical ideas, meets and falls in love with her, and she in turn, realizing that she does not love Norton, gives herself to Harlow. The minister is ignorant of her former life and she does not tell him. They are very happy with their plans for the future, when Norton appears upon the scene. The minister takes his departure, and Mignon tells Norton why she cannot marry him. Harlow, meantime, has accidentally run across a magazine picture of Mignon and learns of her connection with the stage. He rushes to the field, where she and Norton have walked, and denounces her for an adventuress. Heartbroken, she pleads with him not to cast her aside. In order to prove to him that her dancing is not vulgar she makes him watch, while she dances for him. Harlow watches and as the dance progresses he begins to relent. She completes the last step and, as she turns for her answer, stumbles and falls, her heart has failed, and she drops limply to the ground, dead.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 23 December 2024.
References: Lahue-Selig p. 95 : Website-IMDb.
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