The Broken Coin (1915)

The Broken Coin (1915) was a popular serial with 22 episodes, directed by Francis Ford and produced by Universal Film Manufacturing. Francis Ford himself, Grace Cunard and Austro-American actor Eddie Polo were the stars. Jack Ford, who would soon become the famous Western director John Ford, played a supporting part. The mystery adventure The Broken Coin was launched with much publicity, including a huge spread of fake coins with the effigy of king Michael III, a suggestion of two halves, and a text referring to the hiding place of the treasure. What a pity thus that nothing remains of the series! With a series of Spanish 'cromos', Ivo Blom tries to reconstruct this early silent serial.


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 1 (of 36). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Eddie Polo and Doc Crane in The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 2 (of 36). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Grace Cunard and Eddie Polo in The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 3 (of 36). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Scene from The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 8 (we miss cards 4 to 7). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Scene from The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 9 (of 36). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Scene from The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 10 (of 36). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Scene from The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 11 (of 36). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Scene from The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 14 (we miss 12 and 13). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Scene from The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 15 (of 36). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Scene from The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 16 (of 36). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Scene from The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).

An athletic reporter with a nose for news

At Women Film Pioneers Project, Jennifer M. Bean writes about the career of serial queen Grace Cunard: "Lauded as making the most 'popular' of films, Cunard’s stories tend toward the fantastic, and her female characters tend toward the fantastically unconventional." Cunard performed in over one hundred silent-era films, including five of Universal Studio’s most popular adventure serials in the 1910s. One of these five serials was The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).

Grace Cunard stars in the serial as Kitty Grey, an athletic reporter with a nose for news. In the first part of the 22 parts of the serial, Kitty leaves her office for lunch. On her way to the restaurant, she sees in an old curiosity shop half of a broken coin, inscribed in Latin. The name 'Gretzhoffen' attracts her attention, and she buys the mysterious coin. On her way out of the shop, she drops the papers she is carrying, which are picked up and handed to her by a foreign-looking stranger named Rolleaux (Eddie Polo). He had been watching the coin before Kitty came along. When the man enters the shop to buy the coin the owner of the curiosity shop (Doc Crane) tells him that the young lady who just left the shop bought it.

This is the start of an impossible, lengthy plot with hundreds of plot turns, and a Ruritania setting. The basis is that the mighty Count Frederick (Francis Ford) wants to overthrow the puppet ruler and weakling, King Michael of Gretzhoffen (Harry Schumm). For this, he needs to obtain the two halves of a broken coin, that together point at the hidden treasures of the former King. Rolleaux, formerly Frederick's aide, instead becomes Kitty's helper. A constant fight about Kitty's half coin sets about, in which gradually also a gang of Apaches is involved who also want their piece of the cake.

The plot expands even more when Count Sacchio (Ernest Shields) of the neighbouring kingdom Grahoffen wants to get hold of the broken coin too, so his King Philip (Mark Fenton) may start a war against his neighbour and dethrone his rival. More and more, Frederick proves to be not as bad as thought. The sympathy between him and Kitty grows, when they together with Rolleaux and a small army of loyal soldiers, fight the enemy army, with success. In the end, it comes out that Frederick is the real heir to the throne, and the puppet king is kicked out. Kitty becomes Queen.

The Spanish release title of The Broken Coin was a literal translation, La Moneda Rota. J. Verdaguer, the Spanish distributor of the serial had bought it from Trans-Atlantic aka Transatlantic, the European distribution branch of Universal in the 1910s, with a central office in London. In the Spanish version of the serial, the main characters were named Lucille, Hugo and Polo.


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 17 (of 36). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Scene from The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 18 (of 36). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Scene from The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 19 (of 36). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Francis Ford in The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 20 (of 36). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Scene from The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 21 (of 36). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Scene from The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 23 (of 36). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Scene from The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 24 (of 36). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Scene from The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 25 (of 36). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Scene from The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 26 (of 36). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Scene from The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 27 (of 36). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Scene from The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 28 (of 36). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Scene from The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 29 (of 36). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Scene from The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 30 (of 36). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Scene from The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 31 (of 36). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Scene from The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 32 (of 36). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Scene from The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 33 (of 36). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Scene from The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 34 (of 36). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Scene from The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).


Spanish cromos (coloured minicard) by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, card 35 (of 36). Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. / Distr. J. Verdaguer. Scene from The Broken Coin (Francis Ford, 1915).

Sources: Jennifer M. Bean (Women Film Pioneers Project), Wikipedia and IMDb.