| Counterfeit | |
| Director: | George Fitzmaurice |
| Producer: | Adolph Zukor Jesse L. Lasky |
| Starring: | Elsie Ferguson David Powell |
| Cinematography: | Arthur C. Miller |
| Studio: | Famous Players–Lasky/Artcraft |
| Distributor: | Paramount Pictures |
| Runtime: | 50+ minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | Silent (English intertitles) |
Counterfeit is a 1919 American silent detective drama film[1] [2] directed by George Fitzmaurice and starring Elsie Ferguson. The assistant director was C. Van Arsdale.[3]
The picture was the fourth film Fitzmaurice and Ferguson worked on together.
As described in a film magazine,[4] Virginia Griswold (Ferguson), whose family is in financial straits, resolves to remedy the situation by finding the source of widely distributed counterfeit bills, as a large reward is offered for the capture of the maker of the fake bills. A clue takes her to Newport where she poses as one of the idle rich and falls in love with Stuart Kent (Powell), a man of means, who returns her affection. Vincent Cortez (Gerard), about whom little is known, also becomes enamored of Virginia and she accepts his affections, much to the consternation of Stuart. She offers no acceptable explanation to Stuart for this. Carefully and craftily she leads Vincent to the point of sharing confidences, although this course greatly enrages Stuart and for a time threatens to bring open rupture of their relationship. After Vincent admits he is the counterfeiter, however, Virginia brings Stuart to an understanding of the situation and a happy conclusion.
With no prints of Counterfeit located in any film archives, it is considered a lost film.[5] In February of 2021, the film was cited by the National Film Preservation Board on their Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films list.[3] [6]
