The Sea Urchin (1913) Online

Lon Chaney plays " Barnacle " Bill, a hunched-backed fisherman who raises a little girl, ( Jeanie Macpherson ) the sole survivor of a shipwreck. Ten years pass and the girl has grown into a beautiful young woman , promising to marry the fisherman out of gratitude. Meanwhile, Bill has hired a handsome young man, ( Robert Z. Leonard ) and soon he and the girl fall in love. Remembering her promise to Bill, she sadly tells the young man they can never marry. Bill happens upon the two embracing and angrily threatens the young man with a knife. The next day the three set out fishing , and a heated argument begins leading to a vicious fight. The boat tips over and the men frantically search for the girl who has been washed away. Exhausted the young man collapses on the shore , but Bill finds the girl washed up on a rock and swims with her back to the shore. She immediately rushes to the young man and Bill now realizing she will never love him , throws his fisherman's sack over his shoulder and walks out of their lives forever.

Moving Picture World declared this " One of the strongest seacoast stories we have seen... A memorable offering , with some vivid scenes along a picturesque coast."

This lost film was directed by Edwin August and was probably the first for Lon Chaney to use his brilliant skills with makeup and disguise.

One of the strongest seacoast stories we have seen. Jeanie MacPherson appears as the girl saved ten years before by the hunchback fisherman. He has grown to love her, and though her heart goes out to another, she considers herself bound to him. But later, after some powerful and stirring scenes in a boat, during which the girl falls overboard, the old man realizes that the girl is not for him. He saves her from drowning and gives her over to her lover. A memorable offering, with some vivid scenes along a picturesque coast. - The Moving Picture World, August 23, 1913