The Treason of Anatole's primary photo
  • The Treason of Anatole (1915)
  • Short | 20 min | Short, Drama, War
Primary photo for The Treason of Anatole
The Treason of Anatole (1915)
Short | 20 min | Short, Drama, War
As old bachelor Anatole goes up the stairs past the rooms of the von Holm family on his way to his dreary little third-floor-back, the prattle of the two little children, Wilhelm and Freda, and the cheery voice of Freda, come filtering ...See moreAs old bachelor Anatole goes up the stairs past the rooms of the von Holm family on his way to his dreary little third-floor-back, the prattle of the two little children, Wilhelm and Freda, and the cheery voice of Freda, come filtering through the door. He stops to listen, envying the big, good-natured Fritz and his happiness with all his starved soul. And as he labors up the stairs, he shakes his head sadly and thinks how different it all might have been if only Celeste, but what was the use. He sits in his pitiful loneliness after the long days spent in his fruitless search tor work, takes his frugal sup of wine and his crust, and then his beloved violin, and plays the rhapsodies that his soul conceived, but which he could never seem to put on paper. And as he played the von Holms below him listened to the melody, the two little tow-heads would creep out of the bedroom and stand at mother's knee while her hand sought Fritz's. "Shoen," she would whisper, and Fritz would nod his head as he looked into the fire, and clasp her hand a little tighter and answer, "Shoen." It got to be an institution with the von Holms this nocturne of Anatole's. But one night they missed it, though they listened, and the next. Anatole had staggered up the stairs, after his day of weary search, and there was no bread or wine. Hunger and disappointment claimed their own; Anatole lay upon his pallet too weak even to caress the strings of his violin. Something must have told Fritz, at any rate, he went up to see what was the matter with "the third-floor-back." He knocked and got no answer. He opened the door and went in, and he saw what was the matter in a second. And in ten seconds more, he had gathered up the pathetic figure and carried him down to his flat. They nursed him back to health and strength, and from that moment the fortunes of Anatole were in the ascendant. Fritz knew Herr Schmidt who ran the big café and rathskeller. Herr Schmidt wanted a first violin. The music publisher thought pretty well of that study of Anatole's; it all came at once. How happy they were now and Anatole was a member of the family. The two little tow-heads would nestle at his feet, and Freda and Fritz would hold hands in the firelight while he played. Big Fritz went up to Anatole's old room and brought down his things. He balked a moment at the big portrait of Napoleon, but he looked at the little, bristling Anatole and laughed, and took it downstairs and hung it beside the portrait of the Kaiser on his wall. Anatole would play "Die Wacht am Rhein" as soon as he had finished "La Marseillaise." Then it happened; war. Of course, they both went, Fritz because he was a reservist, and Anatole because his great grandfather had fought and died under the First Napoleon. They parted with a tight hand-clasp and moist eyes, and Freda and the little tow-heads wept bitterly tor both. The recruiting officers didn't want to take Anatole and his fifty years, but he told them to let the best swordsman among them take a sword, and he, Anatole, would show him how old he was, and he did. When the best swordsman had enough, they let Anatole enlist and gave him a musket. In an angle of the wall in the little town they took Fritz, red-handed, spy. He was in civilian clothes, and that mean the drum-head court-martial, a firing squad, and then blank wall at sunrise. Anatole stood by, unseen by Fritz, and heard the sentence. And they put Anatole to guard him through the few remaining hours of the night. Fritz didn't want to have Anatole charged with his escape. But while Anatole stood guard in the silent watches, there had come to him many visions of Fritz as he lifted him from his pallet when he lay starving; of Freda and the two little tow-heads as they ministered to him; of the little family waiting in far-off America for the husband and fatherland Anatole simply wouldn't have it any other way. Of course, it was the drum-head, the firing squad, and the blank wall for Anatole, but as he stood there in the dim morning light, there was a smile on his face. For Anatole was a man, and he believed in paying his debts. Written by Moving Picture World synopsis See less
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Status
Edit Released
Updated Feb 26, 1915
Release date
Feb 26, 1915 (United States)

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3 cast members
Name Known for
Etienne Girardot's primary photo
Etienne Girardot
Anatole Anatole   See fewer
The Kennel Murder Case (1933)
William Welsh's primary photo
William Welsh
Fritz Von Holm (as William J. Welsh) Fritz Von Holm (as William J. Welsh)   See fewer
The Bull's Eye (1917)
Violet Mersereau's primary photo
Violet Mersereau
Mrs. Von Holm Mrs. Von Holm   See fewer
Together (1918)
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