Description
BEGGARS IN ERMINE – 1934 – LIONEL ATWILL – BETTY FURNESS – RARE DVD
John ‘Flint’ Dawson and his partner Jim Marley run a steel mill during the time that steel was replacing the wood in buildings and making possible the construction of skyscrapers and mighty bridges that could never be built with wood and nails. Steel is changing the world, but the men who make the steel are like all men since Cain and Abel.
There are two basic methods that business tycoons employ to grow their wealth. Some leaders fight and scratch and struggle to the top, destroying anyone and anything that gets in their way. They use their wit and the power of fear to great advantage, and they do indeed rise to the top many times.
Some leaders combine their wit to engage the help of many others who will join them on their quest. Napoleon Hill, who was taught the principles of wealth by Andrew Carnegie and Henry Ford, calls it the ‘Master Mind Group’ principle. One man of conviction and focus can accomplish great things indeed, but when one man can, by use of a pleasing personality and a plan, convince a group of men and women to join him in his vision, there is absolutely no limit to their efforts.
Jim Marley in this story is the first kind of businessman. He will steal Flint’s wife, contrive to dump a bucket of hot molten steel on his partner Flint to kill him, and continue to deceive and cheat everyone around him, until he alone owns every bit of the mighty steel mill and the wealth that goes with it.
Marley’s partner Flint Dawson will lose his legs when the molten steel is poured onto him, and while he is recovering in the hospital his wife will sell his half of the steel mill and take the money and sail to Europe. Flint Dawson gets out of the hospital with no money and no legs. The only thing he can do to earn his next meal is to become a beggar. But even though Flint has no legs and no money, he has a brain and he has a plan. He can do what Marley could never do. He can meet and befriend other beggars, . . . Thousands of beggars. One man with no legs, but thousands of friends, can get the best kind of revenge on his partner Marley. The very best kind of revenge. Pop a big bowl of white kernel popcorn with plenty of warm melted butter drizzled over it and enjoy the show.
Director: Phil Rosen
Stars: Lionel Atwill, Betty Furness, Henry B. Walthall
