archive footage
An appreciative, uncritical look at silent film comedies and thrillers from early in the century through the 1920s.
archive footage
A compilation featuring comedic stars of the silent era including Will Rogers, Laurel and Hardy, and the Keystone Cops.
(archive footage)
This short film takes a nostalgic look at the Mack Sennett comedies of the silent cinema era.
C.C. aka Henry Morgan
Ford Sterling is married to a very jealous wife, who has a hobby of collecting French dolls. In order to keep her appeased and unsuspecting. he buys her an expensive doll for her birthday. But before he can give it to her, he gets mixed up with the blonde at the cigar-store, the doll gets burned up, and his wife is also burned up about many things.
King
Another hotel-room mix-up with the suspicious wife, Grace King (Josephine Whittell), checking up on her husband, Ford King (Ford Sterling),who is trying to sell his jewelry line to a lady buyer, Frances Brown (Kitty McHugh). The house detective (Edgar Dearing) gets involved and the room-service waiter, (Billy Dooley), constantly gets himself and his tray knocked over.
Sterling, Chief of Police
The Keystone Hotel hosts a very prestigeous beauty contest. When the cross-eyed judge presents the first prize to an elderly cleaning woman, angry members of the audience respond by hurling custard pies. The Keystone Kops are summoned, and arrive just in time to get plastered with pastry.
An RKO comedy short featuring Betty Grable who gets secretly married while her family is trying to fix her up with someone wealthy.
Mather
On an ocean liner crossing a professional gambler comes to the aid of a naive young man victimized by a jewel thief. The young man turns out to be his son he's not seen since infancy.
Hugo Meyer
When the daughter of a newspaper publisher is falsely charged with murder, a reporter on her father's paper goes into hiding with her. At first hoping to get an exclusive story, the reporter eventually finds himself falling in love and trying to find the real killer.
Max Schultz, German Janitor
A police detective's (Norman Foster) lawyer girlfriend (Judith Allen) works for a crooked criminal lawyer (Sidney Blackmer).
White King
In Victorian England, a bored young girl dreams that she has entered a fantasy world called Wonderland populated by even more fantastic characters.
Otmar von Wellingen
The wealthy von Wellingens are shocked when the father of their son Fred's fiancée Lia juggles desserts at a formal dinner. They encourage Fred to break the engagement. Lia goes to Berlin to marry a Baron von Schwarzdorf, and Fred arrives too late to stop the marriage.
Stout Hearts and Willing Hands is a 1931 short comedy film directed by Bryan Foy. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 1932 for Best Short Subject (Comedy), but was disqualified.
Amru
Hajj, a rascally beggar on the periphery of the court of Baghdad, schemes to marry his daughter to royalty and to win the heart of the queen of the castle himself. This film is believed lost.
Tangy
As they are leaving the church following their wedding, Count Adrian Beltrami and Countess Anna-Marie are told that the Austrians are marching on the town to quell an Italian uprising. The bride and relatives induce the count to flee to his castle, but Tangy, a silhouette cutter, brings word from the revolutionary committee asking him to return; the count goes, asking Tangy to pose as the count and protect Anna-Marie.
Sam Otis
Broadway actress leaves New York to become a star in Hollywood, and succeeds despite sleazy directors and her own ego.
Peter Braley
Musical about two sisters in love with the same man.
'Pops' Shendorff
Sally is an orphan who was named by the telephone exchange where she was abandoned as a baby. In the orphanage, she discovered the joy of dancing. Working as a waitress, she serves Blair (Alexander Gray), and they both fall for each other, but Blair is engaged to socialite Marcia. Sally is hired to impersonate a famous Russian dancer named Noskerova, but at that engagement, she is found to be a phoney. Undaunted, she proceeds with her life and has a show on Broadway, but she still thinks of Blair.
Ed Bondell
In this drama, a traveling troupe of actors find themselves in danger of becoming unemployed when their manager up and leaves. Two of the actors decide to marry and settle down. The lead actor helps set up the rest of the troupe with some performances. He then destroys the new marriage. Later the woman and the head actor fall in love. He then gives her the lead role in his newest show.
Mr. Mack
The Fall of Eve
Shorty McGee
On the eve of her wedding Lady Kay Rutfield runs off aboard her sloop. A storm carries her out to sea and she is rescued by a passing rumrunner bound for the Long Island Sound. Once they arrive in the States, Kay makes her escape and hides in the deserted mansion of Jimmy Winter. Jimmy is due to marry the following day. He comes home to the mansion unexpectedly, and finds Kay, who persuades him to let her pose for a night as his wife.
Mr. Jordan
Sports-loving inventor Richard Shelby develops an "Elasto-Tweed" golf suit then hits the road in hopes of making a few sales. Along the way, he meets Alice Elliott, who mistakes Shelby for millionaire sportsman Timothy Stanfield (Claude King). Forced to go through with the masquerade, Shelby ends up spending what little money he has, and then some.
Gus Eisman
Gold digging blonde Lorelei and her brunette friend Dorothy are searching for rich husbands. This film is believed lost.
Tavern Keeper
While stationed in Switzerland, soldiers Louis and Rodney fall in love with local damsel Colette, much to the dismay of Colette's self-appointed boyfriend General Lavoris.
'Howdy' Jones
Figures Don't Lie is a showcase for the physical charms of lovely Esther Ralston, who in one scene proves the accuracy of the title by donning a fetching one-piece bathing suit. The main story concerns wise-guy insurance salesman Richard Arlen, who through a combination of hard work and sheer gall lands a job as sales manager. But he can't land heroine Ralston, who has remained cool to his charms ever since he tried to make a play for her on the street.
Herman Schultz
Three men join forces to raise an adopted son.
Perkins
John Curry is a friend of the Navajos who fails in his attempts to keep the white man from exploiting the tribe's secret altars. Realizing that there is oil to be found on the reservation, evil Will Newton gains entry to the area by posing as a trail guide for Elias Manton, an archeologist, and his daughter Mary.
O'Dowd
Casey is a slovenly junk man in a turn of the twentieth century hick town who has a remarkable ability to play baseball. An unscrupulous New York scout signs him up, so Casey and his equally dishonest manager go to the big leagues. Eventually, the scout and manager conspire to get him drunk and bet against him for a crucial game with the pennant at stake.
Count Pasada
American shop-girl Julie McFadden, wins a free passage to Paris; en route she meets Robert Van Wye, who has to kiss her when she loses a sack race. In Paris, Julie finds her proposed residence destroyed, and while waiting for Bob her purse is snatched; in the ensuing chase she gets lost and enters a dressmaker shop, where the two owners are in dire need of an English-speaking girl to deliver some gowns. Accidentally she is given free entry to the apartment of Countess Pasada and is shown to her rooms; the count is in his pajamas when she emerges from her bath, and she locks him in the bathroom.
Michael Poole
Doris Poole, whose parents were theatrical people, was orphaned as a child, and four members of the troupe adopted and raised her. When grown, she has become the leading lady in a San Francisco stock-company. She meets and falls in love with Ted, the millionaire son of a rich widow, but she thinks he is only a tax-cab driver. His mother objects to the romance and looks into Doris' past. She learns that her father had murdered, in a fit of jealousy, her mother, and tells Doris what she has found out. The four actors who had raised her had never told her how she happened to become an orphan. They persuade Ted's mother to send him on a voyage to the Orient in order to get him away from Doris. But they neglected to tell the mother they had also booked passage for Doris on the same ship.
Aubrey Piper
A blowhard who poses as a railroad executive (but is really just a $30-a-week clerk) catches a young bride and then drives her family's finances to the brink of ruin.
Bunny West
Four middle-aged actors jointly adopt an orphaned baby girl, raising her in a backstage milieu.
Tad
A Modest Comedy Drama
Ned Brewster
Polly Brewster, a penniless Hollywood model/movie extra inherits one million dollars. But her new lawyer, Tom Hancock, informs her that she has to spend it all within 30 days to inherit $5 million more from her spiteful Uncle Ned Brewster who tries to prevent it from happening.
James Allen
May McAvoy is a woman who is blinded in an auto accident and relies on prayer to regain her sight.
Hugo Niles
A lost film - Mary Gray, whose father manufactures cold cream, is engaged to sappy Horace Niles, the son of Hugo Niles, the elder Gray's most competitive rival in the cosmetics business. Chip Armstrong, a hot-shot public relations man, quits the employ of Hugo Niles and goes to work for Gray, persuading Mary to enter the Miss America contest at Atlantic City, with the intention of using her to endorse her father's cold cream should she win. Mary breaks her engagement with Horace. When it appears that she will win the contest, Hugo lures her home on the pretext that her father is ill, and she misses the contest. Chip and Mary return to Atlantic City, discovering that the new Miss America has told the world that she owes all her success to Gray's cold cream. On this note, Chip and Mary decide to get married.
Buck
Daydreaming waitress Jennie Hagen fantasizes about becoming a famous actress, while in reality she and her cook boyfriend, Orme Wilson, hope to one day own their own diner. Although Orme loves Jennie, he also has a weakness for stage stars -- so when a riverboat theatrical crew comes to their town, he is smitten by lead actress Lillian Lyons. Desperate to keep Orme, Jennie insists on going onstage to best Lillian, but is soon out of her depth.
Al Hennessey
William Hyatt (Tom Moore) runs an exclusive shoe store, and his happy marriage to Grace (Florence Vidor) is nearly derailed by his well-meaning, but hopelessly gauche pal, Al Hennessy (Sterling). Dagmar, a Parisian shoe designer (Esther Ralston) has come to town to meet with Hyatt and Hennessy, and Hennessy describes the situation to Grace in the worst possible manner, convincing her that her husband is having an affair.
Smike
A newspaper publisher finds out that his wild daughter has fallen in with a ring of gamblers. A reporter who has infiltrated the gang to get a story falls in love with the gang's female leader, and when the two are caught in a police raid, they find themselves in equal amounts of trouble.
Julian (Percy Marmont) is a poor artist who lives with wife Edith (Alice Joyce) and their newborn baby in Harlem. Struggling to make ends meet, he foregoes his artistic calling and draws for magazines. Reaching his limits, Julian convinces his wife he could reach higher grounds if he were to go to Paris. He moves to Paris while his Edith works at a shop on Fifth Avenue. Each of their lives evolves differently—Edith is courted by a wealthy suitor whom she ignores while pining for her husband, while Julian fails to meet his goals in Paris, returning defeated three years later. The meeting highlight how different their routes have been.
Jacob Hoogenduck
After graduating from a fashionable finishing school and touring Europe with her father, Selina Peake returns to the United States, where her father is accidentally killed after losing his fortune in a gambling den. Selina is reduced to teaching in a high school in the Dutch community at High Prarie near Chicago. She boards in the farmhouse of Klass Poole, a dull-witted market gardener, and finally marries Pervus DeJong, a poor and backward farmer. She shares the drudgery of her husband's futile life and finds happiness only in their small son, Dirk, whom she calls "So-Big."
Tricaud
O filme conta a história de um gênio científico que é humilhado pela esposa. Para expressar sua dor, ele se torna um palhaço de circo. Lá, aparentemente, ele encontra uma chance de renovação. Mas será que ele conseguirá encontrar a felicidade?
Juror
The story of a woman on trial for her life for shooting the man who had promised to love her but had deserted her...and of a woman on the jury who refused to condemn her when eleven men had voted guilty...a woman brave enough to defy public opinion, brave enough to lose the loss of the love of her husband by baring her soul to the world in order to save the girl on trial.
Paul Halvard
Millie Stope lives with her grandfather on a remote island. Man-child Nicholas, a fugitive from justice, also lives there and is terrorizing them - and he's interested in Millie. One day widower John Woolfolk, sailing on his yacht, happens upon the island. Soon he and Millie fall in love. Will jealous Nicholas stand for this?
Montreal Sammy
Jane Maynard opens a mission in memory of philanthropist Bland Hendricks. John Anstell, son of a powerful and selfish millionaire, Michael Anstell, falls in love with Jane, to the old man's disapproval. Anstell tries to undermine Jane's work by hiring reporter Tom Barnett to write an unfavorable story about the mission.
'Slapjack' Simms
Based on the novel The Spoilers by Rex Beach.
Rapkin
Horace Ventimore, a young London architect, stumbles across an old brass bottle. When he picks it up a genie suddenly appears and promises Horace that he will grant every wish Horace wants in exchange for his freedom. Horace accepts the genie's offer but finds out that things aren't working out quite as well as he thought they would.
Al Norton
In managing the shipyard inherited from her father, Derith Keogh has considerable labor problems and accedes to the unreasonable demands of John Trevelyan, an anarchist labor agitator. Derith's brother John is off in pursuit of an adventuress, and Angus Campbell, her superintendent, resigns in exasperation. Angus returns, however, to help Derith persuade Trevelyan to settle a strike, which Trevelyan accomplishes in spite of being shot by one of his own men.
Director
Squire Peachem (Ford Sterling) wants to marry the innkeeper's daughter (Normand). Since Peachem has a hefty mortgage on the inn, he thinks he can use it to effect a union, but the girl is not interested in him. She already has a sweetheart, handsome Randolph Roanoke (Owen Moore). Peachem and his dumb-as-dirt assistant, Blaa Blaa (Sennett), try to keep Roanoke and Mabel apart. Their feeble attempts are in vain, and Mabel easily manages to outwit them and win the man she loves. - Janiss Garza
Squire Peachem
Squire Peachem (Ford Sterling) wants to marry the innkeeper's daughter (Normand). Since Peachem has a hefty mortgage on the inn, he thinks he can use it to effect a union, but the girl is not interested in him. She already has a sweetheart, handsome Randolph Roanoke (Owen Moore). Peachem and his dumb-as-dirt assistant, Blaa Blaa (Sennett), try to keep Roanoke and Mabel apart. Their feeble attempts are in vain, and Mabel easily manages to outwit them and win the man she loves. - Janiss Garza
Professor Yonson - the Dancing Master
A dancing instructor gets involved with a newly rich family.
Orchestra Leader
A flirtatious hotel orchestra leader provokes conflict.
Ford Sterling
This short was a promo piece for Mack Sennett's Yankee Doodle in Berlin
Kaiser Bill
Behind enemy lines, Captain Bob White disguises himself as a woman in order to fool members of the German High Command, including the Kaiser himself.
Reginald Scuttle - the Conniving Butler
A wealthy invalid tries to add his hard-working cook to his will, but the conniving butler gets in the way.
The Merchant
His Lying Heart is a silent comedy short.
Director
His Lying Heart is a silent comedy short.
The Flirt
The Snow Cure is a silent Comedy short.
Keystone Performer
Fatty and the Broadway Stars is a 1915 American short comedy film directed by and starring Fatty Arbuckle.
The Father
About a boy growing up and acting like this abusive, alcoholic father.
Director
About a boy growing up and acting like this abusive, alcoholic father.
The Messenger Boy
Keystone silent comedy.
Director
Keystone silent comedy.
The Desperate Scoundrel
After a dastardly villain steals milk from a baby, he tries to put the heroine through a laundry press.
Director
After a dastardly villain steals milk from a baby, he tries to put the heroine through a laundry press.
The District Attorney
A farce involving a judge, his young wife, and the DA she's seeing.
Director
A farce involving a judge, his young wife, and the DA she's seeing.
The Chief of Police
A gang of thieves continually threaten or attempt to kill the Mayor, always setting up the bumbling Chief of Police as the culprit. The Chief's very friendly relationship with the Mayor's wife doesn't help. When the Mayor's valuables are stolen the Chief is given a chance to redeem himself.
Director
A gang of thieves continually threaten or attempt to kill the Mayor, always setting up the bumbling Chief of Police as the culprit. The Chief's very friendly relationship with the Mayor's wife doesn't help. When the Mayor's valuables are stolen the Chief is given a chance to redeem himself.
Gassy Gotrox - Tattletale
A happy young couple become engaged, and soon afterwards they are married. But after their marriage, the husband begins to stay out carousing with his friends, leaving his wife at home with her mother. Then, when the three of them go to the opera together, the husband spots one of his friends in another box. Soon the domestic difficulties reach their peak.
Fight Spectator
Charles Murray out romancing in the park.
Peter P. Snitz - the Husband
A man plots to kill a friend and marry his wife in order to get hold of insurance money.
Spectator (uncredited)
To show his girl how brave he is, Pug challenges the champion to a fight. Charlie referees, trying to avoid contact with the two monsters.
Sgt. Hofmeyer
A police officer attempts to steal a go-cart from a child.
Schmaltz
Ford Sterling in the park courting.
Director
Across the Hall
Across the Hall
Band Leader
In a dance hall, two members of the orchestra and a tipsy dancer fight over the hat check girl.
Self
Um "Film Johnnie" é alguém que fica perto de cinemas ou estúdios para conhecer estrelas ou conseguir um emprego. Neste filme, Carlitos tenta conhecer sua atriz de cinema favorita no Keystone Studio, mas não faz amigos lá.
Mr. Snookie, a Thief
Uma jovem ingênua tem seu guarda-chuva roubado. Carlitos a ajuda a recuperá-lo, porém quer ser recompensado pela tarefa, mas não recebe nada além da advertência de um policial.
Director
Two criminals chase a plainclothes policeman who, while taking out his dog, witnesses their crime.
Suspicious John
Two criminals chase a plainclothes policeman who, while taking out his dog, witnesses their crime.
Chief of Police
Baffles, Gentleman Burglar
A Robust Romeo is a 1914 movie starring Roscoe Arbuckle and Emma Bell Clifton.
Schemer
Ford Sterling and Mack Swain are a couple of neighborhood toughs who fight over Emma Clifton and get involved in burglary in this Keystone from 1914.
Director
Ford Sterling and Mack Swain are a couple of neighborhood toughs who fight over Emma Clifton and get involved in burglary in this Keystone from 1914.
Chief Tehiezel
In the Clutches of the Gang is a 1914 movie starring Ford Sterling and George Nichols.
The Husband
Some Nerve is a 1913 movie starring Ford Sterling and Dot Farley.
Zuzu
A comedy short with Ford Sterling impersonating a band leader and a flirtatious Mabel Normand creating trouble between her admirer, Caesar, and the leader.
Oil Well Buyer
Mabel has two suitors - an oily con man, whom she mocks in a very funny scene where she is shown twiddling a fake moustache and making her feelings very clearly felt. Even in this early comedy her natural fun comes through. The one she really loves is clumsy yokel Ford Sterling, who is determined to buy an oil well that the con man has for sale. The conman gets a local fellow to pour oil over the property. Ford falls for it and buys it - Mabel and he are to be married. Then the fellow confesses that it was just a scam - there was no oil.
The Police Chief
His Sister's Kids is a 1913 movie starring Roscoe Arbuckle and Minta Durfee.
Sgt. Cohen
Cohen and his rival Goldberg enlist in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Goldberg receives a lieutenant’s commission while Cohen becomes a sergeant. During the Battle of Gettysburg, Cohen inadvertently becomes a hero when he tosses back an enemy hand grenade and raises a fallen flag in the midst of the conflict. Goldberg conspires to have Cohen shot by a firing squad, but Cohen’s girlfriend Rebecca rides to the rescue.
The Villain
Two rivals for Mabel's hand play a series of dirty tricks on each other. Finally, one of them gets Mabel alone and is about to marry her, but his rival comes up with a strange scheme to stop them. Soon the Keystone Kops arrive on the scene, and chaos quickly ensues.
The Diner
Wine is a 1913 movie starring Roscoe Arbuckle and Ford Sterling.
Rajah
A Small Time Act is a 1913 movie starring Ford Sterling and Roscoe Arbuckle.
Ship Captain
Mabel, her father and Mr. Tra La La, a suitor, much to her disgust, for her hand, take a trip on the coast steamer, "Harvard." Mr. Short, his rival, follows them. He, with the connivance of the ship's captain, gives Mr. Tra La La a most strenuous and ludicrous trip.
Papa
Race-car drivers pursue Mabel Normand, whose father has a clear favorite.
An unscrupulous doctor tries to drum up business by having the sidewalk in front of his house covered with banana skins, inviting slip-and-fall injuries. Guess you couldn't get sued for that in 1913. Later, he mistakenly gives a patient some poison for medicine, causing her father to blackjack the quack.
Kraut
An amusing bowling match between Messrs. Sauer and Kraut. The balls and pins are manipulated by an electric magnet and perform some queer antics. There is, of course, the usual roughhouse finish, with Ford and Mabel in the important parts. Good fun, without offense.
The Peddler
A husband who has spent a convivial night is sleeping off the effects in bed while his devoted wife ministers for him.
Egbert Throckmorton
The Fatal Taxicab is a 1913 movie starring Mabel Normand and Ford Sterling.
Actor / Onscreen Villain
A young man falls in love with his mother's kitchen maid, Mabel. But his mother objects strongly, and arranges for him to meet another young woman whom she considers more suitable. Mabel confronts the young woman, and is dismissed from her position. Later, when the young man learns about the new career that Mabel has found, he begins to act in an agitated and unpredictable manner.
A short silent comedy starring Mabel Normand and Ford Sterling.
Professor Bean
Professor Bean's Removal is a 1913 movie starring Ford Sterling and Mabel Normand.
Love and Courage is a 1913 movie starring Roscoe Arbuckle and Mabel Normand.
Mr. Fickle
Love and Rubbish is a 1913 movie starring Ford Sterling and Charles Avery.
The Constable
Safe in jail is a 1913 movie starring Ford Sterling and Edgar Kennedy.
Rastus
Rastus and the Game Cock is a 1913 movie starring Ford Sterling and Mack Sennett.
A presumably lost film starring Mabel Normand and Roscoe Arbuckle.
The Bandit
Willy is a rather effeminate young man, and is abused by the town bully. He suspects that the bully is a coward at heart, so disguises himself as a bandit and shoots up the town.
Neighbor's Husband
This early Keystone has Pete spying on his neighbor's wife through one of those little knotholes in a fence. The neighbor (Sterling) notices and chases him all over town with sheriff and family close behind. Fatty Arbuckle plays the peeper's wife(!).
Louis - the Chef
Louis, the chef and Oscar, the head waiter, are in love with Mabel the pretty cashier. The Waiters' picnic is held, and Mabel is the cause of much trouble between Louis and Oscar.
The Cop
Nellie's father is a judge, afflicted with a species of St. Vitus' dance. When he feels an attack coming on he takes a dose of medicine which always brings relief. One day he forgets the medicine, and feeling the attack coming on he sends Nellie home for the medicine. She jumps into her auto and drives like the wind, pursued by two bicycle cops. One of the cops is a rejected suitor, and he hopes to catch her and arrest her, for spite. The other cop is the accepted lover, and he rides to save her. Amusing situations are shown while the trio are riding at terrific speed. Nellie is arrested, but is released upon the plea of her sweetheart.
The Driver's Rival
Mabel's husband is a hansom cab driver. After a quarrel Mabel imagines herself neglected, and listens to the honeyed words of a tempter, and finally agrees to elope 'with him. A boy is sent for a cab, and the innocent youth calls the husband. The vehicle drives up and the couple run into it, their identity unnoticed by the driver, and they absorbed in each other, not noting the man on the seat. Hubby glances into the mirror reflecting the interior of the cab, and the fun starts. A comical fight takes place between the two men, and the would-be home breaker is soundly thrashed, and penitent Mabel is taken back to her husband's arms.
The Villain
When Mabel Normand romantically rejects a villain, he ties her to the railroad tracks, leaving her bashful suitor to appeal to famous racecar driver Barney Oldfield for help.
Toplitsky's Partner
Toplitsky runs a second-hand clothing shop, but his partner "admires" his wife. Two conniving businessmen, intent on gaining a place in the store, inform Toplitsky of an upcoming tryst. A runaway bear adds to the complications.
Jones - Foreman of the Jury
Jones is broke. His girl is giving a birthday party, and her various suitors give her costly presents. Jones finds a beautiful lavaliere, which be gives to Mabel, and wins her heart. He is chosen as the foreman of a jury, and when petty offenders are brought to trial turns a deaf ear to all pleas for mercy, gaining the hatred of the other jurors. Finally a man is brought up who is to he tried for stealing the necklace Jones found. A strong case is shown, and all the other jurors want to find him guilty, but Jones holds out for an acquittal. Mabel comes into the court room and sits alongside of the complainant. The necklace is seen and an uproar takes place. Jones is accused as a thief and in a highly melodramatic manner takes a huge vial from his pocket, drinks the contents and falls back dead.
A new electric chair has been installed in the prison, and the officials impatiently await the first execution. The victim, with careless disregard for their feelings, makes his escape from the prison. The sleuth goes in pursuit, and finding the discarded convict's garb dons it as a disguise, hoping to meet the hunted man and ingratiate himself. Prison guards capture the sleuth, and disliking to disappoint the waiting crowd, decide to execute him. He is placed in the chair and the current turned on, but he stubbornly resists death. The current is doubled and trebled, to no avail. Meanwhile the real criminal has been captured, and he is brought back in time to save the sleuth from his perilous position.
Smith
Mabel has two suitors, Smith and Jones. Smith is an elderly man who impetuously sweeps everything before him, and his dashing ways win Mabel's heart. Poor Jones is downcast when he learns that Mabel is to marry Smith, and follows Smith home. He learns that Smith is already married and has ten little children.
Professor Smelts
Professor Smelts the band leader gets into a romantic rivalry with one of his musicians over the affections of a pretty girl.
Baron von Sneezer
Smith's chum is a very poor Baron. Smith and the Baron are invited to a ball, and the Baron, not having evening clothes of his own, "borrows" Smith's dress suit. He is having the time of his life when Smith arrives, thoroughly angry, and taking the Baron in a room takes the clothes away from him. The Baron is in a terrible predicament, dodging around from room to room, as people intrude upon his hiding places. He tries to hide his face with a handkerchief, and a lady catches a glimpse of him as he dives under a bed. She screams in terror, thinking he is a mad man, and then the poor Baron is chased all over the house. Someone telephones for the police and they assist in the capture and lead him away.
Perkins
A man goes fishing in the same pond where a burglar has thrown a sock of money stolen from the man's house.
The Landlord
A Keystone Kops short about a landlord discovering three "anner-kist" tenants building a bomb.
Father wants Mabel to marry a little, wealthy shrimp. She is in love with Charlie, a big, strapping fellow. Mabel is locked up in the house, but her lover sets the house on fire, and In the confusion runs to the minister's house with her. Father and his choice pursue, but Mabel and her lover hide in the chimney. Father sticks around with a big gun, and Mabel and her lover make up as negroes and are married, father being persuaded to act as best man.
The Jester
His subjects have been vainly petitioning the king for improvements in his reign, without avail. The king pays too much attention to the sweetheart of a country bumpkin who shows his resentment by chasing his royal highness with a pistol and perforating the royal legs. The king takes refuge in the top of a tree, from which ignominious position he is finally rescued by his courtiers. In consideration of the bumpkin promising not to tell the queen of this latest escapade, the king grants the petition of his subjects.
The Police Chief
A banker's young daughter, playing a game of "hide and seek", is apparently locked within the vault resulting in comedic rescue.
Krause - the Bridegroom
When some pranksters pour red pepper on a new groom's bouquet, the wedding becomes a hijinks factory.
Jones
Jones is engaged to a jealous girl, Ethel. His stenographer has a fainting spell in his office and Jones attempts to revive her. Ethel walks into the office and sees the girl in Jones' arms and bounces out. She sends Jones a note breaking her engagement, and in despair he attempts to commit suicide.
Society Party Guest
The misfortunes of a deaf burglar.
Meyer
Cobbler Meyer puts Limburger cheese in the shoes of grocer Schnitz to sabotage his attendance with Mabel at a house party.
The Man
Advantage was taken of the fact that a floral parade was being held at Pasadena, Cal. in which the Keystone car was entered and won second prize, to produce a comedy film around the incident. Fred Mace and Mabel Normand are invited to take part in the parade, and Mack Sennett plans to keep her away and take her place Accordingly Mabel is locked up in her dressing room. But she escapes after considerable difficulty. She rushes to the line of march and makes frantic and amusing efforts to catch the Keystone automobile while the two sleuths attempt to dodge her. Mabel gets into difficulties with the police who are endeavoring to maintain order, and is championed by Ford Sterling, who is among the spectators.
Antone
A burlesque of a Spanish courtship, in which two rivals for the hand of a beautiful senorita battle with each other.
Heinze
Heinze is lazy, and his wife is disgusted with him. His friend, Pat, secretly admires Mrs. Heinze, and one day tells her to make Heinze help her with her work. Heinze refuses to assist her and is doused with a pail of water. Angered, he leaves the house and meets Pat, to whom he tells his troubles Pat advises him to play off dead, to see if his wife loves him.
The Police Chief
A Keystone film, especially from the beginnings, is always worth attention.This film is notable for the profit which it manages to derive from derisory material. It plays more on the resources of comedy than those of burlesque.
Mack's Commander
A Civil war comedy starring Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand. The film is considered lost.
A Friend
Brown is troubled with an over-abundance of affection, and his wife and mother-in-law convince him of their displeasure in many ways. Brown has a friend who has never met Brown's folks, and becomes acquainted with Mrs. Brown while she is with her mother. He invites them for an automobile ride and manages to start up the automobile as soon as Mrs. Brown has seated herself, leaving her mother behind. That worthy lady, however, runs after the machine and refuses to get lost. The friend has sent word to Brown to meet him at a restaurant, and Brown has a lot of nice champagne iced and awaits his guests. He is thunderstruck when his wife walks in, soon followed by his mother-in-law, who sit down to enjoy his hospitality.
George
Georgie Burns is a conceited, athletic individual, who has turned his home into a gymnasium. His pretty wife is exceedingly vexed but cannot cure him of his love for strenuous sports. A forlorn tramp comes to the floor begging for a meal, and George promptly knocks him down.
The deacon's daughter, Betty, is in love with Harold Price. The deacon wants to buy a horse from Harry's father, but because Mr. Price will not give it to him at his own figure the deacon quarrels with Price, and forbids his daughter to see Harry. A troupe of minstrels, stranded, are walking back to New York, and Harry and Betty meet them. They make up as actors, and, accompanied by their new-found friends, rush to the deacon's home and tell him they are an eloping couple who wish to be married. The deacon ties the knot, and after the ceremony the make-up is removed, and he finds he has officiated at his own daughter's wedding. He finally sees the humor of the situation, and his charitable spirit is shared by Harry's father, who makes him a present of the horse he coveted.
The Villian
A villain attempts to win the love of a pretty fisher girl, who is in love with a village youth. The villain finally kidnaps the girl and carries her out to a rock at low tide, where he ties her. He stands on the shore hoping that the rising water will force her to promise to marry him. The water rises higher and higher, tremendous waves dashing over the girl, and when it seems impossible for her to live another minute her sweetheart arrives with a crowd of the village people and rescues her.
Alfred
Hiram, a country youth, is in love with Sallie. They go fishing and Sallie falls into the water. Hiram cannot swim, so he runs to the road and stops an automobile, driven by Alfred, a city chap. The latter rescues Sallie, and she feels grateful to him. His attentions to Sallie are not displeasing, and Hiram becomes insanely jealous.
George - the Drinker
George is addicted to the flowing cup, and his friends all try to reform him. His intentions are good, but his will is weak and he cannot resist the companionship of bibulous friends. Drastic measures are resorted to, to cure him. One of his friends dresses as a woman, who presents a fierce aspect. When George awakens he is told that while under the influence of liquor he has married his woman, and she proceeds to assert herself. George is in a terrible mental state, but finally he sees the shoe of the "woman" who has forgotten to change those pedal protectors, and the scheme dawns upon him.
Mabel's Dad
Three rivals are aspirants for the hand of Mabel. Dad falls asleep in a rowboat and is set adrift by one, who tries to win favor as a hero by rescuing him, using a motorboat going at lightning speed. He is exposed, however, and his work goes for naught, as Mabel clings to the man of her choice.
Hoffmeyer
Hoffmeyer is harassed by creditors, but thinks his troubles are over when he receives a legacy of $500. He sneaks away from his wife to make a "flash" around town, and comes home at 2 A.M., feeling happy. His joy is short-lived, however, when he finds the door locked, and his spouse on the other side demands the money before she will permit him to enter. He takes half of it and hides it under a barrel, and his wife, peeping behind the curtain, sees him. After he has retired she goes out to get the rest of the money, and Hoffmeyer locks the door and refuses to let her in until she sends in the money. Clad in her nightgown, she is being thoroughly chilled, when she sees men approaching and runs away.
The Magician
Mabel poses as "Cousin Jack" in a scheme to test her two quarreling suitors who decide to take young "Jack" to a cabaret.
Jim Smith and Sallie Rice are very much in love with each other, but her father vehemently shows his disapproval of Jim. An elopement is planned, and at midnight Jim has the country magistrate waiting for him at the cross roads. He goes to tap on Sallie's window, but makes a mistake and awakens old man Rice, who, clad in his pajamas, pursues him with a shot-gun, and as Jim joins the magistrate, takes a pot shot at them, which finds lodgement in the judge's back. When Rice finds out what he has done, he is in fear of the law, but Jim pays the judge to settle the matter on condition that Rice gives his consent to his daughter's marriage.
Bandit
Sleuths Mack and Fred go after bandit Ford, but wind up tied to a tree by the crook with a ferocious bear approaching.
Bashful Mack has his friend Fred take flowers and presents to his girl Mabel by proxy, but the "friend" takes advantage and lures her to the altar in Mack's place.
Mabel prefers conceited Fred to earnest rube Mack, but when she is held up by tramps Fred runs out on her and leaves Mack to rescue her.
Brown
Brown is insanely jealous of his wife and mistakes her brother for a lover, while the Brown's child is kidnapped by an evil tramp.
The minister is appointed head of a purity league designed to keep a risque dancer from performing her act; however, the deacon becomes infatuated with the girl at an amusement park and has his picture taken with her, which causes much scandal and blackmail.
Police Chief Larkin
Mrs. Smith hired detectives to trail her husband, whom she believes is being unfaithful; police chief Larkin gets mistaken for Mr. Smith by the detectives, who raise hell when they catch him "cheating". Based on an extant still, this is the first verifiable Keystone Comedy to feature a group of comic cops.
Black, another suitor
At a summer resort, Mabel puts ugly bumps under her bathing suit to discourage fair-weather suitors; however, Black sees her doing it, and earns the inside track to her affections.
married flirt
Mack takes Mabel to Coney Island, only to have her stolen by slick Ford, who is temporarily out of sight of a watchful wife and children.
Grocery Clerk
Ford arranged for lazy Brown to be kidnapped and dynamited by thugs, so that he can move in and marry Mrs. Brown. Locations include Rambo's Hotel, First Street in Coytesville, New Jersey, and Ford Lee, New Jersey area, probably in July or early August.
Mr. Smith
Mrs. Smith's friends decide to teach her flirty husband a lesson by engaging him in a saucy game of "blind man's bluff" for his wife's discovery.
chef
A cocky butler poses as a Count to win an heiress during his master's absence, but his scheme is foiled by the chef whom he snubbed.
Captain Warner
Veteran Warner and old gardener Burns vie for the hand of Widow Simpson, and the gardener steals the former's uniform and joins in the ranks of a parade, pursued by his rival. Utilizes footage shot during a Thomas Ince battle production at Inceville, the Grand Army of the Republic parade in downtown Los Angeles which commenced at 9:30am PST on September 11, 1912 (including starting area at 5th and Los Angeles and viewing stands near finish by Courthouse at Broadway and Temple), and other G.A.R. festivities at the National Soldiers' Home at Sawtelle in Los Angeles.
her father
Mack attempts to elope with Mabel, but her friend dons the veil; this confuses both Mack and Mabel's dad Sterling - who trails the couple with the intention of breaking things up.
his father
Effeminate college boy Mace is sent West by father Sterling to make a man out of him, but Mace only responds to a severe beating.
When a new neighbor attempts to save a young wife from an intruder, her husband misunderstands; the jealous husband raises a ruckus and winds up in court, where the judge turns out to be the new neighbor.
Schultz
A constable and his sergeant are rivals for a girl, and to impress her they both attempt to apprehend an escaped convict. Probably the first Keystone film with comedic cops; Keystone trade ads upon its release heralded as, "An uproarious 'Cop' picture."
Cohen
After second hand clothier Cohen receives $1000 from a rival firm (unaware that the amount was borrowed to force his bankruptcy), he must dodge a disguise-wearing bill collector. Filmed in the For Lee, New Jersey area, probably in July or early August, 1912.
Mack's Father
Mabel and her sweetheart go to the beach and play a trick on the boyfriend's father.
Landlord
A Mack Sennett comedy short starring Dell Henderson & Mabel Normand.
This is quite like "Helen's Marriage" which came out a few months earlier in 1912. Once again, Edward Dillon is trying to elope with Mabel Normand, but papa interferes. The big joke is when Ford Sterling and Elmer Booth kidnap the minister in order to marry Dillon and Normand. They mistakingly get Papa instead. It is the one strong gag in the film.
An old toymaker invents an automatic doll and goes to the lawyers to apply for a patent. That day a young girl is reported missing, and Dan, the cop, receives word that a reward of $500 is offered for solving the mystery of her disappearance. Dan's sweetheart gets a position as cook in the inventor's family, and catching a glimpse of the doll, thinks it is the missing girl. Dan for a while has a vision of $500, only to wake up to find both he and his sweetheart out of a job.
