The Pillars of Society - Production & Contact Info

The Pillars of Society (1911)
Short | Short, Drama

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The Pillars of Society (1911)

Short | Short, Drama

Young Bernick and Johan Tonnesen are close friends, living in Norway. Bernick is engaged to marry Johan's sister, who is an heiress. He is simply marring her for her money, as he is really in love with the wife of an actor. While on a ...See moreYoung Bernick and Johan Tonnesen are close friends, living in Norway. Bernick is engaged to marry Johan's sister, who is an heiress. He is simply marring her for her money, as he is really in love with the wife of an actor. While on a visit to his old love, in which he hopes to break off the affair, the woman's husband unexpectedly enters the room, and Bernick is compelled to escape by the window. Johan, upon learning of his friend's threatened disgrace, assumes Bernick's guilt, and leaves the country for America. Bernick takes advantage of his friend's chivalry by allowing it to be generally believed that Johan also misappropriated funds. In reality, Bernick was guilty of this crime as well as the other. Bernick marries the heiress and takes up his position as one of "the pillars of society" in the community in which he lives, beating an unsullied reputation. When, twelve years later, Johan returns to his native country, he falls in love with a beautiful girl his sister has adopted. She returns his affection, but when the rector tells her that this is the man who, many years before, wrecked her mother's happiness, her love turns to misery. Johan then demands that Bernick clear his good name, but Bernick refuses and defies Johan to prove his innocence. Johan leaves to return to America in order to get letters which Bernick wrote in which he confessed his guilt. Johan is to sail for America in a ship which Bernick knows to be unseaworthy, and which puts to sea in a storm. Bernick secretly hopes that the ship will be lost, so that Johan cannot bring back his evidence. Bernick's little son, however, who is the joy of his father's life, is greatly taken with his uncle from America, and decides to stow away on the ship in which he sails. Bernick is terror-stricken when he learns of his son's action, and is convinced that he will never see his child again. But the lad is safely returned to him, and the experience so chastens his father's spirit that Bernick confesses his guilt to his fellow townsmen, telling them he has lived a lie for many years, but in the future they must know him as he is, for no innocent man will again take upon himself guilt which in reality belongs to Consul Bernick. Bernick's wife, in the fullness of her love, freely forgives her husband, and Johan weds the girl of his choice. Written by Moving Picture World synopsis See less

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Cast	+ Add Cast
5 cast members

Name	Known for
Martin Faust Johan Johan See fewer	Lena Rivers (II) (1914)
Julia M. Taylor Bernick's Wife Bernick's Wife See fewer	Love and Law (1910)
James Cruze Actor Actor See fewer	The Covered Wagon (1923)
Marie Eline Actress Actress See fewer	Jane Eyre (I) (1910)
Marguerite Snow Actress Actress See fewer	The Million Dollar Mystery (1914)