A Stranger from Somewhere is a 1916 silent film directed by William Worthington. Universal's Bluebird Photoplays division produced and distributed the film. The movie featured Franklyn Farnum (playing a dual role), Agnes Vernon, Barney Furey, and Claire McDowell. The screenplay was written by F. McGrew Willis and Walter Woods, who were credited under the pseudonym Willis Woods.
The story revolves around a Westerner named Sam Brockton. The hero becomes disillusioned with frontier life. He sells his ranch, making him an instant millionaire. He moves to the city, seeking a new way of life, but soon becomes disenchanted with his life's choices. A fortuitous event presents itself, and he meets a young heiress, Grace Darling. They immediately fall in love.
Meanwhile, he unwittingly becomes entangled with a gang of swindlers who plot to separate him from his wealth. The crook's machinations take twists and turns until culminating in a dramatic confrontation at the Darling mansion. Brockton enters a climactic knock-down-drag-out brawl with the scammers. The police show up in the nick of time, haul the criminals to jail, and restore the peace. Brockton and Grace Darling live happily ever after.
The film was released on November 13, 1916, by Universal.
Plot Sam Brockton owns a ranch but has become disenchanted with frontier life. He sells his property and moves to New York. While driving in the country, Brockton encounters a car with a blown tire. He pulls up and offers to help. While changing the tire, Brockton catches his first glimpse of young Agnes Darling. When the front tire blew, the beautiful heiress and her father were traveling to town from their summer retreat. Brockton is smitten, and she seems interested in him. After completing the repairs, the Darlings thanked Brockton and drove away.
Olga Veloski and Howard Dana are two local passing the time on a hotel veranda. They witness Darling's mishap. The pair is aware of the wealth of Darling and Brockton. The swindlers know local millionaires shutter their homes and head to the country in the Summer. Knowing Darling's mansion is unoccupied, the crooks plan a . After Darling's drive away, Olga approaches the love-struck Brockton. She weaves a story about her good friend Agnes Darling. Olga claims Agnes is stopping by her home tomorrow. Olga tells Brockton that she could introduce him to the heiress. Brockton readily agrees.
The next day, the arrive at the unoccupied Darling mansion, followed by Brockton. Olga makes excuses for Agnes's delay and then suggests they play poker while they wait. Sam agrees, and the schemers bilk Brockton out of a large sum of money. However, he hands the fraudsters a . During their , Olga notices Brockton's resemblance to an acquaintance named Dippy Lewis.
Shortly after finishing their con game, the Darlings appear at their mansion. They find a bewildered Brockton and believe he is a burglar. Brockton clarifies what transpired while Olga and Dana hide. The Darlings feel sorry for Brockton and invite him to join them at a mountain hotel. The swindlers hear the invitation and then make their escape. After their departure, Olga recalls how a Dippy bore such a close resemblance to Brockton. The swindlers join their friend "Dippy Lewis" and dream up a new plan to have Dippy impersonate Brockton. Their idea is to send Dippy to the hotel in Brockton's place to woo Agnes Darling, believing she will fall in love and marry him. Dippy arrives at the hotel. Although Dippy has an uncouth manner about him, he begins his courtship. Agnes tells Dippy she has arranged for them to go horseback riding. After a while, Agnes observes he can barely ride a horse. She has doubts about his background story of life on the frontier—utterly discouraged, Dippy returns to the lodge. After his arrival, Dippy many of the guests of their valuables. When the guests notice the missing items, they call the police. The police show up and investigate while the thieves gather their loot and escape.
Olga needs to ensure the real Brockton does not appear at the hotel while Dippy runs his . Olga instructs her gang to chloroform the real Brockton, then dispose of him in a cellar. Dippy turns up at the wrong time, and they chloroform Dippy instead. Unbeknownst to the crooks, the real Brockton has already departed for the hotel. The real Brockton arrives at the hotel unaware of previous events. Still bothered about his poor manners and horsemanship, Agnes coldly greets him. The dejected Brockton is about to leave when he sees a couple of horses. He soothes the animals and then takes one for a short ride. Besides demonstrating his riding skills, it amazed Agnes how gentlemanly he had become. Agnes renews her interest in Brockton.
Brockton is about to propose to Agnes when he sees Olga and Dana. The con artists, believing Brockton is Dippy, encourage him to propose marriage to Agnes. Brockton proposes, and Agnes promises to marry him. Still thinking Brockton is Dippy, the hustlers discuss how they will divide the stolen loot. Agnes overhears this conversation and becomes exasperated. She confronts Brockton and invites him to meet her in the city to straighten out this mess. After Agnes leaves, Brockton berates the miscreants while claiming ignorance about their caper. Olga realizes that Brockton is not Dippy. Agnes and Olga return to the city on the same train, where Olga believes she hears Agnes planning an elopement. Once in the town, Olga knows she must quickly locate Dippy. Olga finds a trapped Dippy and releases him. She tells him to hurry to the Darling mansion since he must elope with Agnes before the Brockton arrives. Olga tells Dippy they will meet him at the estate.
The show up at the mansion. When Dippy cannot persuade Agnes to elope, they decide to kidnap Agnes. Brockton arrives and senses Agnes's predicament. A fight breaks out between Brockton and the crooks. During the melee, Agnes breaks free and calls the police. The police arrive and arrest the bad guys. Sam Brockton explains everything to Agnes. They rediscover their love for each other, marry, and live happily ever after.
Cast {| ! style="text-align: left; width: 200px;"| Actor ! style="text-align: left; width: 200px;"| Role |- style="text-align: left;"width: 400px;"| |Franklyn Farnum||Sam Brockton / 'Dippy' Lewis||rowspan="16"| |- |Agnes Vernon||Agnes Darling |- |Claire McDowell||Olga Veloski |- |Barney Furey||Howard Dana |- |Arthur Hoyt||Daniel Darling |- |Helen Wright||Mrs. D. G. Darling
Production Pre production
In the book, "American Cinema's Transitional Era," the authors point out, One aspect of this transition was the longer duration of films. Feature films were slowly becoming the standard fare for Hollywood producers. Before 1913, you could count the yearly features on two hands. Between 1915 and 1916, the number of feature movies rose 2 ½ times, or from 342 films to 835. There was a recurring claim that Carl Laemmle was the longest-running studio chief resisting the production of feature films. Universal was not ready to downsize its short film business because short films were cheaper, faster, and more profitable to produce than feature films.
Laemmle would continue to buck this trend while slowly increasing his output of features. In 1914, Laemmle published an essay titled - In 1915, Laemmle ran an advertisement extolling Bluebird films while adding the following vocabulary on the top of the ad.
Universal released ninety-one feature films in 1916 including fifty-four Bluebird films.
Casting Franklyn Farnum (1878 - 1961) was born William Franklyn Smith on June 5, 1878, in Boston, Massachusetts. The year-old actor would play the dual roles of Sam Brockton and Dippy Lewis. William Smith became a vaudevillian at age twelve and started acting on the stage in 1903. Early in his career, he decided William Smith was not a proper stage name. A local cub reporter suggested he change his name to Franklyn Farnum, cashing in on the last name of the stage and screen actors Dustin and William Farnum. He changed his last name to Farnum and used his middle name as his first name. Farnum was a stage actor who appeared in several theatrical productions, including Broadway, before becoming a silent-screen actor. This film was the third picture he made in his movie career. He would wind up acting in over four hundred films. He was unrelated to the brothers and silent-screen actors, Dustin Farnum, William Farnum, and Marshall Farnum. Refer to the section Myths on this page. Agnes Vernon (1895 - 1948) was born on December 27, 1895, in La Grande, Oregon. The year-old actor would play Agnes Darling, the young heiress to the Darling fortune. Starting in 1914, Vernon had acted in seventy-one films before taking on this role. This movie was Vernon's first feature film and her first film with Farnum. Farnum would become Vernon's introduction to comedy. This Bluebird release would be the only feature film Vernon made in 1916. During her career, Vernon would star in sixteen feature films. Franklyn Farnum would be the leading man in five of these projects. After completing this film, Vernon made her second film with Farnum, the short film "Little Partner." The film was released on December 19, 1916. During Vernon's movie career, her professional relationship with director Worthington produced twenty-two films, including six feature films. Claire McDowell (1877 - 1966) was born on November 2, 1877, in New York City. The year-old actress would play the villainess, Olga Veloski. She had appeared in over seventy short films before her appearance in this movie. This would be her first feature and her first bluebird film. She would headline in her next Universal film - the Red Feather production of "Mixed Blood" released on December 18, 1916 " Barney Furey" (1886 - 1938) was born Charles Manford Furey on September 7, 1886, in Boise, Idaho. He was year-old actor when he played the villain, Howard Dana. Furey was active in films from 1912 to 1937. " Arthur Hoyt" (1874 - 1953) was born on March 19, 1874, in Georgetown, Colorado. He was years-old actor when he played Grace Darling's father, Daniel Darling. Hoyt made his Broadway debut in 1905 and his final Broadway appearance in 1911. He made his first film in 1914 and his last in 1947. During his acting career, he was a Character actor who was usually cast in supporting roles and appeared in more than 275 films, including silents and talkies. " Helen Wright" (1868 - 1928) was born Helen Boyd on November 19, 1868, in St. Paul, Minnesota. She was years-old when she played Grace Darling's Mother, Mrs. D. G. Darling. Wright was a well-known Universal character actress who appeared mostly in silent films between 1915 and 1930. She spent most of her career under contract at Universal. Wright would later appear with Emory Johnson in the Universal production of The Morals of Hilda released on December 11, 1916.
Director
William Worthington (1872 - 1941) was born on April 8, 1872, in Troy, New York. He was years of age when he directed this film. Worthington started his career as an opera singer and stage actor, then began acting in movies in 1913. He directed his first short film in 1915. Before directing this feature, most of his directorial experience was directing short films. He continued to direct films until 1925. Worthington continued to act until his death in 1941.
Screenplay