GB
1914
15mins
Dir: Edward Hay-Plumb
Starring: Alma Taylor and Stewart Rome
A man fakes an engagement to a typist to please his rich aunt, but then gets blackmailed by a forger
This early silent drama was part of the cinematic staple of the 1910s and packed love, blackmail, and forgery into its fifteen minute story. Alma Taylor and Stewart Rome were under contract to leading producer Cecil Hepworth at the time and were a big draw for Walton Studios. Alma Taylor was one of the major British stars of the 1910s and early 1920s. In 1915, she was voted the most popular British performer by readers of Pictures and the Picturegoers, comfortably beating Charlie Chaplin into second place. Stewart Rome, meanwhile, was one of the biggest male stars of the silent era and by the time he finished his career in 1950, had appeared in more than 150 films. An Engagement of Convenience features an arrival scene outside a station, the identity of which remains so far unknown. It could be Walton-on-Thames as Walton Studios were nearby and costs usually prohibited travel further afield in the silent era.
