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- The first all-animated film in history, a series of scenes without much narrative structure, but morphing into each other.
- A gang of outlaws are planning a bank robbery. After making preparations, they commit the robbery and make their escape amidst a sharp exchange of bullets. They return to their meeting place, and then hurriedly continue onwards, with lawmen close behind them.
- The action is laid in the seventeenth century, and the costumes, while historically accurate, are most lavishly elaborate. A bitter war is waging between two kingdoms, and as the King and Queen hold court in the throne room of the palace there arrives a courier, who, battered and exhausted, has scarcely strength as he falls at the foot of the throne to thrust into the hands of the anxious King, a message which tells of the disaster and panic that has befallen his forces. The King immediately holds council of war and calls for a trusty messenger to carry to his armies the reassuring intelligence that reinforcements have been rushed to their aid. The lot falls to a brave young courier, lion-hearted and with nerve of steel, who, before setting off, goes to take leave of his sweetheart. He discovers her resenting the unwelcomed advances of his rival, a contemptible scoundrel. The villain departs, swearing vengeance, and shadows the hero as he rides off. The sweetheart, on horseback follows to warn her lover of his danger. Now the villain, with the aid of his mistress, who has arranged a meeting by letter, dupes the hero by lying in the road, pretending she is wounded. The hero dismounts to assist her, and is stabbed in the back by the villain, who had hidden in the bush. He secures the message and they make for a neighboring inn, leaving the hero lying in the road, where he is found later by his sweetheart and her attendants. The lover is cared for by his sweetheart and some kindly farm folk, and the attendants are hastened to bring guards. The letter to the villain is found in the road, which indicates his whereabouts, and they repair to the inn where the villain is surprised and arrested. Recovering the message, the hero hastens on to the army. With renewed vigor the opposing forces are repelled and the day won. The last scene shows the return of the gallant courier with this cheering news. He is knighted by the King, and formally betrothed to his faithful sweetheart.
- An enthusiastic young couple is astounded with modern technology's giant leaps in the fascinating field of electricity.
- France, at the end of the sixteenth century. Henry III decided to eliminate his rival, the Duke of Guise, and, therefore, calls him in the castle of Blois. The mistress of the duke, warned of the King's intentions, informs him, but the noble, sure of his own authority, went there anyway. In Cabinet-Vieux castle Duke is stabbed by guards of the King, while he attends the murder hidden behind the curtains. Eventually, Henry III does burn the duke body to discard.
- On a warm and sunny summer's day, a mother and father take their young daughter Dollie on a riverside outing. A gypsy basket peddler happens along, and is angered when the mother refuses to buy his wares. He attacks mother and daughter but is driven off by the father. Later the gypsy sneaks back and kidnaps the girl. A rescue party is organized but the gypsy conceals the child in a 30 gallon barrel which he precariously places on the tail of the wagon. He and his gypsy-wife make their getaway by fording the river with the wagon. The barrel, with Dollie still inside, breaks free, tumbling into into the river; it starts floating toward the peril of a nearby waterfall . . .
- A complete performance of THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO filmed as a stage play with curtains between the five acts: Act I. "The Sailor's Return," Act II. "Twenty Years Later," Act III. "Dantes Starts on His Mission of Vengeance," Act IV. "Dantes as the Count of Monte Cristo," Act V. "Dantes Accuses His Enemies," and "finis" at the end. This is the oldest known film of THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO. Also, it depicts the oldest known film of the San Diego coast.
- King Herod is enchanted by Salome's dance and grants her wish for the head of John the Baptist.
- The first Russian narrative film.
- A family is terrified when an eagle carries off its young child.
- A young girl finds life with her staid parents Irksome, and decides to see the world. She falls asleep on a bench in a park and dreams of her future life. In rapid review visions pass, showing herself in handsome gowns and indulging in a life of recklessness. Finally she sees the inevitable end and is in despair. She awakens at this point, and is overjoyed to find that it has been all a dream, and rushes home thoroughly content to follow the even tenor of home life.
- A Pierriette, standing near a crescent moon, snatches five pink suits from the air, and shaking each, it becomes a clown, who seats himself on the moon. In military unison they push their faces through a series of grimaces, and then leaning forward too far, they all go falling down from the moon. It is a long drop, but they reach some kind of bottom and there they execute a peculiar dance; as each jumps over the other in a game of leap-frog, he is transformed into a grotesquely attired negro minstrel, and from that guise into that of a Chinaman. Several dances, in the course of which they also change to girls, follow each other, after which, coming back to their own again, the five clowns begin to fall upward, and are soon back on the moon again.
- Lost film that adapted L. Frank Baum's books "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz", "The Marvelous Land of Oz", "Ozma of Oz" and "John Dough and the Cherub". Only the narration script, read by L. Frank Baum himself, and production stills survive.
- An eccentric photographer demonstrates the wonders of technology to a couple who want to be photographed by his innovative wireless procedure that accents one's inner personality. Are they prepared for the harsh truth of the camera's eye?
- Her husband being at his office, madame bids the chiropodist come and attend to her aching feet, and the specialist is seen entering the room to fulfill his duty. Madame's lover, however, entering at that moment, Mr. "Pedicure" is sent to the kitchen, and our guilty lovers are enjoying each other's company, when in comes her husband. Our young gallant is feeling very small and uncomfortable, not knowing what to do, when he sees the chiropodist's outfit and immediately assuming the specialist's ways, offers his services. Now, Mr. Husband may seem a fool, but he is up to a great many tricks himself, and seeing through the whole game, soon avenges himself. He forces the young lover to cut his corns. Our young Romeo would not mind performing this operation for his love, but his face shows how deeply he resents his present situation. At last Monsieur's feet are at ease and our young lover is already retreating with his stolen goods when the postman enters, and he must operate on him. Then comes the man servant, the grocer, the coachman, they all require his skill and attention, and at last, unable to stand the strain any longer, our sham doctor rushes out into the street, much to the amusement of the revenged husband.
- In the middle of a theatre stage, much to our surprise, a modern sculptor's minuscule creations come to life, until the grand finale where an astonishing metamorphosis awaits.
- Our picture relates to a crime committed by a Gorilla who escapes from his cage and through circumstantial evidence a young man, whom we will call in our story Jim, is accused and is just about to be convicted when, through the aid of our hero, Sherlock Holmes, he is freed just in time. Our picture opens with a girl and sweetheart, who are sitting in her room discussing plans for their marriage. The message is brought for Jim, compelling him to leave at once. Shipyard Scene. The Gorilla escapes from his cage from a vessel with his master, the captain, in hot pursuit. The frightened animal climbs a porch of this girl's house and into the window of her sitting room, and after a terrific struggle between her and the beast he kills her, before the captain can prevent him, The captain immediately returns to his vessel with the Gorilla and stays in hiding, fearing the consequences should anyone detect him. Discovery of Crime. The butler, who returns to the dining room is horrified to discover the room in great disorder and his mistress murdered. He immediately notifies the police, Police arrive and, after questioning the butler, they learn of her sweetheart's visit, and accuse Jim of the crime. Railroad Station. Jim, who is unaware of what happened, is about to board a train, when the police rush upon the scene and arrest him. Sherlock Holmes's Study. Holmes is reading a book when his old friend and college chum Watson arrives, who has read of the crime in the paper, showing same to Holmes. Holmes, after reading and by constant pleading of Watson, decides to lend his aid in unraveling the crime. Holmes at Work. Arrival at girl's residence. Herein are shown methods employed by Holmes to secure evidence or clue to discover the culprit. In His Study. Holmes returns to his study in deep thought, with his mind concentrated upon the crime. He is trying to unravel the mystery when he takes his old violin down from its peg and begins to play fantastic music which puts him in a trance to solve the problem. Herein are shown remarkable visions of the different clues and theories in Holmes's brain. The first vision is of Jim committing this awful crime, but vision fades away before the crime is committed. Second vision is of a burglar: that also fades same as the first. Holmes, who has learned of the Gorilla being in port, lends his thought to this and the vision appears of the Gorilla escaping from the ship, climbing the porch of the house and into the window and committing the crime that Jim is accused of. Holmes immediately jumps up with a start, and after numerous failures, discovers the ship, Gorilla and master, accusing same of the tragedy. He begs him to go to the courthouse with him. Court Room. Poor Jim is convicted to be hanged, when our hero Holmes rushes in with sufficient evidence that frees Jim. This picture is beautifully and elaborately toned throughout. Photography and scenery unexcelled.
- Alongside of a beautiful mountain stream in the foothills of Colorado there camped a Sioux Indian, who besides being a magnificent type of the aboriginal American, is a most noble creature, as kind-hearted as a woman and as brave as a lion. He eked his existence by fishing, hunting and mining, having a small claim which he clandestinely worked, hiding his gains in the trunk of an old tree. It is needless to say that he was beloved by those few who knew him, among whom was a little boy, who was his almost constant companion. One day he took the little fellow to his deposit vault, the tree trunk, and showed him the yellow nuggets he had dug from the earth, presenting him with a couple of them. In the camp there were a couple of low-down human coyotes, who would rather steal than work. They had long been anxious to find the hiding place of the Indian's wealth, so capture the boy, and by beating and torture compel him to disclose its whereabouts. In the meantime there has come to the place a couple of surveyors who enlist the services of the Indian to guide them to the hilltop. Here they arrive, set up their telescope and start calculations. An idea strikes them to allow the Indian to look through the 'scope. He is amazed at the view, so close does it bring the surrounding country to him. While his eye is at the glass one of the surveyors slowly turns it on the revolving head until the Indian starts back with an expression of horror, then looks again, and with a cry of anguish dashes madly away down the mountain side, for the view was enough to freeze the blood in his veins. Arriving at the old tree trunk, his view through the telescope is verified, for there is the result he improvised bank rifled, and the old grandfather of the little boy, who had followed the miscreants murdered. Picking the old man up he carries his lifeless form back to the camp, reaching there just after the murderers, with the boy, had decamped in a canoe. Laying the body on the sands and covering it tenderly with his shawl he stands over it and solemnly vows to be avenged. What a magnificent picture he strikes as he stands there, his tawny skin silhouetted against the sky, with muscles turgid and jaws set in grim determination. It is but for a moment he stands thus, yet the pose speaks volumes. Turning quickly, he leaps into a canoe at the bank and paddles swiftly after the fugitives. On, on goes the chase, the Indian gaining steadily on them, until at last abandoning hope, they leave their canoe and try to wade to shore as the Indian comes up. Leaping from his boat he makes for the pair, seizing one as the other swims to the opposite shore. Clutching him by the throat the Indian forces his head beneath the surface of the water and holds it there until life is extinct, after which he dashes in pursuit of the other. This proves to be a most exciting swimming race for a life. They reach the other shore almost simultaneously, and a ferocious conflict takes place on the sands terminating in the Indian forcing his adversary to slay himself with his own dagger. Having now fulfilled his vow he leaps into the water and swims back to the canoe in which sits the terrified boy, and as night falls he paddles slowly back to camp.
- Young Wilkinson is leaving his dear old mother for a journey to seek his fortune in a foreign clime. Now, the little cottage is situated near the coast. The waters of the sea have been infested with a band of gold-thirsty pirates, who pillaged every ship that came their way. Having successfully perpetuated one of their nefarious exploits, they are struck by a storm and forced to put out from their floundering vessel in a small yawl, in which they place a chest of valuables, for the shore. Thrown up on the coast by the voluminous waves, they disembark; there are three of them, the chief and two underlings. Taking the chest to a place of safety, they proceed to divide the spoils. A contention arises, and the two turn on their chief, who strikes down one of them at once, but is stabbed in the back by the other, whom he afterwards strangles. Gathering up the treasure, he struggles along, his life's blood oozing from the wound inflicted by the mutinous pirate, until he comes to the cottage of Wilkinson. A terrific storm is still raging and the poor old mother is trying to shut out the force of the gale when the chief staggers in. He begs her to hide the gold, which she does by dislodging several bricks in the fireplace and placing the treasure behind them. This is hardly done when the pirate chief drops dead from the loss of blood and the poor woman is felled by lightning. Hence, the hiding place is seemingly an eternal secret. What a sad home-coming it is for the son, after his success abroad. A year later, however, we find him a happy bridegroom and the sun again shines on the household. But eight years later he is stricken ill, with nothing in store for his wife and little one. The process server has seized the effects, and despondingly he goes to the kitchen to put an end to his unendurable existence. The good wife, suspicious, follows and just as he puts a pistol to his head she strikes his arm, causing the bullet to crash into the fireplace, splintering the bricks and disinterring the hidden treasure.
- George Redfeather, the hero of this subject, returns from Carlisle, where he not only graduated with high honors, but was also the star of the college football team. At a reception given in his honor by Lieut. Penrose, an Indian agent, the civilized brave meets Gladys, the lieutenant's daughter, and falls desperately in love with her. You may be sure he is indignantly repulsed by Gladys and ordered from the house for his presumption by her father. With pique he leaves, and we next find him in his own room, crushed and disappointed, for he realizes the truth: "Good enough as a hero, but not as a husband." What was the use of his struggle? As he reasons, his long suppressed nature asserts itself and he hears the call of the wild: "Out there is your sphere, on the boundless plains, careless and free, among your kind and kin, where all is truth." Here he sits; this nostalgic fever growing more intense every second, until in a fury he tears off the conventional clothes he wears, donning in their stead his suit of leather, with blanket and feathered headgear. Thus garbed, and with a bottle of whiskey, he makes his way back to his former associates in the wilds. He plans vengeance and the opportunity presents itself, when he surprises Gladys out horseback riding. He captures her after a spirited chase and intended holding her captive, but she appeals to him, calling to his mind the presence of the All Powerful Master above, who knows and sees all things, and who is even now calling to him to do right. He listens to the call of this Higher Voice, and helping her to her saddle, sadly watches her ride off homeward.
- An office worker takes desperate measures in an attempt to get up on time in the morning.
- Two feuding houses are united with the marriage and eventual death of their children.
- A countryman arrives in London to make his fortune, but after failing as a waiter, soldier, cleaner and sandwich-board man, he returns to the country and takes up his true occupation - as a scarecrow.
- As a judge passes sentence on a man, a gypsy woman in the audience vehemently protests, and she has to be physically removed from the courtroom. Soon afterwards, the judge returns home, and enjoys some time with his wife and child. But all the while, the gypsy woman is watching him closely, and is plotting a cruel revenge.
- Antos - a provincial loser who went to Warsaw once in his life. There he admires everything possible, including two delightful courtesans. He doesn't notice and is robbed by them..
- Shakespeare's historical tragedy of the rise and fall of Julius Caesar, told in fifteen scenes.
- Based on Shakespeare's play: Petruchio courts the bad-tempered Katharina, and tries to change her aggressive behavior.
- A newly married man finds it impossible to get along with his wife's mother, who lives with the couple, and plans to get rid of her. He receives an advertisement from a hypnotic school, which informs him he can learn to hypnotize by mail. He has an idea that he can hypnotize his mother-in-law, thereby making her leave his home. He receives the lessons and proceeds to learn the art. He practices continually wherever he goes. In the street car he scares passengers with funny antics; runs into a man carrying a sack of flour; makes his mother-in-law pack her belongings and leave his home. The amateur hypnotist meets his Waterloo when the indignant old lady finds him later.
- Dr. Henry Jekyll experiments with scientific means of revealing the hidden, dark side of man and releases a murderer from within himself.
- A French sea captain insults the honor of a young pirate's sweetheart. As you may expect, there will be repercussions.
- In this fiction film, a small girl in an urban slum seeks aid for her sick and starving mother. Trying to pawn her doll, she attracts the attention of the shop's owner old Isaacs, who later stops the men trying to evict the sick woman.
- At a political club, the members debate whose bust will replace that of Theodore Roosevelt. Unable to agree, each goes to a sculptor's studio and bribes him to sculpt a bust of the individual favorite. Instead, the sculptor spends their fees on a dinner with his model during which he becomes so inebriated that he is taken to jail. There he has a nightmare, wherein three busts are created and animated from clay (through stop-motion photography) in the likenesses of Democrat William Jennings Bryan and Republicans Charles W. Fairbanks and William Howard Taft. Finally an animated bust of Roosevelt appears.
- Two criminals lure a doctor away from his home with a phony note about a child's illness. After the doctor rushes off, the criminals break into his house and menace his wife and child. By the time the doctor realizes what has happened, his family faces a desperate situation.
- The story of the ill-fated love affair between Marc Antony and Cleopatra.
- The miser Scrooge passes down a London street the morning before Christmas, on his way to his counting house. So much is he detested that no one speaks to him until a beggar approaches, asks for alms, and is angrily stricken to the ground. A spirit appears and tells the miser that the beggar will again appear that night. Scrooge approaches his counting house, and as he is entering, the beggar again appears before him. He places his hands before his eyes to shut out the apparition, and when he looks again the figure has vanished. The interior of the counting house where Bob Cratchett, the clerk, and Fred, the nephew of Scrooge, are attending to their duties. Fred announces that he has just been married. His bride, together with the crippled boy, Tiny Tim, enter the office. Looking out the window, they discover the approach of Scrooge, and at the advice of Fred the ladies conceal themselves. Scrooge enters and is told of Fred's marriage. He kisses the bride, but immediately regretting his action, orders them out of the office. They plead for a Christmas holiday, to which Scrooge eventually consents. The spirit appears and leads Scrooge from the office. A merry throng on a London street, with a stranger scattering money to the children who gather about him. The spirit leads Scrooge to the throng, who shun him as he endeavors to speak to them at the command of the spirit. The cripple at the lodgings of Scrooge, and the latter entering, still led by the spirit. The beggar warms himself by the fireplace, while Scrooge in anger attempts to strike him, when he is transformed into the image of the dead partner of the miser. Horror-stricken, Scrooge sinks into a chair, and looking into the fireplace seeks a vision of his boyhood days. With a cry he sinks to the floor. The spirit again compels him to look into the fireplace, where he sees a vision of his forsaken sweetheart, as well as that of himself as a young business man. Thoroughly overcome, he falls to the floor exhausted, but the spirit again raises him with a command to follow him from the office. The meager home of the Cratchetts, where, at the command of the spirit, he showers money upon the ill-paid clerk and his happy family and is again led away. The Christmas festivities at the home of Fred, the nephew of Scrooge, Fred toasts his uncle, but the company refuse to drink to the toast. Scrooge, concealed in the recess of the window, notices this, and coming forward, showers them with money, promising that hereafter he will lead a different life. The spirit and Scrooge in the lodgings of the latter, where Scrooge falls upon his knees in prayer. Christmas Day, Scrooge gives a banquet to all his house can hold, including Fred, the Cratchetts and his friends, where he promises that in the future he will live to achieve the happiness of others.
- Pong Lee, a Mephistophelian, saffron-skinned varlet, has for some time carried on this atrocious female white slave traffic, in which sinister business he was assisted by a stygian whelp, by name Hendricks. Pong writes Hendricks that he has need for five young girls, and so Hendricks sets out to secure them. Visiting a rural district, he has no trouble, by his glib, affable manner, in gaining the confidence of several young and pretty girls. Pong is on hand with a closed carriage to bag the prey. One of the girls, as she is seized, emits a yell that alarms the neighborhood and brings to the scene several policemen and a couple of detectives, who have long been on the lookout for these caitiffs. The Chinese get away with the carriage, however, and Hendricks by subterfuge throws the police on the wrong scent. One of the detectives is a woman, and possessed of shrewd powers of deduction, hence does not swallow the bald story of the villain, and exercises her natural acumen with success. She shadows Hendricks, and by means of a flirtation inveigles him to a restaurant, where she succeeds in doping his drink. He falls asleep and she secures the letter written by Pong, which discloses the hiding place of the Chinaman. This she immediately telephones to the police, and while so doing Hendricks awakes and starts off to warn his friends. He arrives at the old deserted house ahead of the police, but escape is impossible, so the police rescue the girls, but fail to secure Pong and Hendricks, who afterwards seize the girl detective, and taking her to the house, tie her to a post and arrange a large pistol on the face of a clock in such a way that when the hands point to twelve the gun is fired and the girl will receive the charge. Twenty minutes are allowed for them to get away, for the hands are now indicating 11:40. Certain death seems to be her fate, and would have been had not an accident disclosed her plight. Hendricks after leaving the place is thrown by a street car, and this serves to discover his identity, so he is captured and a wild ride is made to the house in which the poor girl is incarcerated. This incident is shown in alternate scenes. There is the helpless girl, with the clock ticking its way towards her destruction, and out on the road is the carriage, tearing along at breakneck speed to the rescue, arriving just in time to get her safely out of range of the pistol as it goes off. In conclusion we can promise this to be an exceedingly thrilling film, of more than ordinary interest.
- In a saloon in a Mexican border town, a group of cowboys, including a Mexican named Pedro, play poker. One man is discovered cheating, and is shot dead by Pedro, who is wounded as he attempts to escape. Pedro is followed home by the local sheriff, who proves the next victim of Pedro's quick temper and pistol. Pedro's wife, Juanita, is thrown into jail, but he manages to break her out. They head for the border, unaware that a posse is waiting for them.
- A kabuki scene starring actors Ichikawa Udanji an Uchikawa Unosuke. Yoshizawa Shoten, originally a photographic store, became involved in the exhibition of motion pictures in 1897, promoting the first ever film show in Yokohama on March of that year. By 1900 the company was involved in the making of original films, mainly newsreel items.
- The story opens showing the exterior of a blacksmith shop, the blacksmith and father are at work on a wagon wheel, both talking to Gambler Joe, who is the well-known gambler of the West. The gambler, who the blacksmith thinks is a friend, turns out, as is always the case, to be a villain. It happens to be the noon hour and the blacksmith's wife arrives with lunch bucket. The blacksmith introduces his wife to Joe, the gambler, and they are next seen leaving the blacksmith shop together. They are now followed by an old hag (The Village Gossip) and Snake, a local scandal monger, who goes to the confiding blacksmith and father and tells him his wife is in love with Joe, the gambler, and they are planning an elopement. The blacksmith refuses to listen, and pushes Snake, the local scandal monger to the ground, and Gossips (the old hag) startles the blacksmith by showing him his wife and Gambler Joe going up the road in a wagon at a fast clip. The next scene shows the blacksmith saddling his horse, and taking his gun in pursuit, and after an exciting ride overtakes the gambler, who shows fight. The blacksmith dismounts his horse, and he meets the gambler face to face. At this moment the driver for the gambler rushes up behind the blacksmith and hits him on the head, knocking him senseless to the ground. Then the gambler and driver pick the blacksmith up and carry him across the lot to the railroad tracks, and place his body across the tracks. This is followed by the thrilling rescue of the blacksmith by his wife as the swiftly moving train approaches. She now realizes at last, her eyes being opened, takes her husband home, and tells the gambler to leave, that she will never see him again. The wife, whose perfidy is turned to love and obedience by seeing through the thinly veiled machinations of the villainous gambler.
- This picture is an illustration of the story of Beatrice Cenci, the young woman who planned the murder of her guardian, in Rome, in the year of 1599. We see Francesco Cenci, who is an extremely gruff and cruel man, with Beatrice, who is his ward. He makes love to her, but she spurns his entreaties, for she has one who is very dear to her heart by the name of Guido. She writes a note to him to come to the tower of the castle, which he does, and gains access to her quarters by means of a rope ladder, which she lowers from the window. We see them planning a nefarious crime, and while he goes to get the aid of two ruffians, she drags the old man by putting a potion in his wine, and soon he is feeling the effects of the poison and retires to his room, where he lays in a stupor on his cot. Guido returns with his assistants and they enter the old man's chamber and while he is sleeping sink a knife into his heart. They throw the body from a window and make good their escape, but some servants who have heard the excitement rush out and find the corpse of their master lying in a heap under the window. They immediately pursue the murderers, and overtake them in a lonely spot in the woods, where they kill Guido and one of his companions, but spare the other fellow, who promises to reveal the secrets of the plot. They take him back to the castle and there confront him with Beatrice, who is apparently in deep grief over the body of her dead guardian. He accuses her of being the instigator of the crime and she is taken to prison. The last picture shows her in the prison and submitting to the tortures of the strappado, but she strongly proclaims her innocence of any hand in the affair. Finally she is confronted with the body of her lover Guido, and, realizing her loss, she confesses and is condemned to die on the scaffold.
- A boy dreams toys come to life.
- Caught off-guard by Indian mutineers, a British soldier saves his last bullet for his daughter lest she be taken. This silent film features an original, scene-specific piano score compiled from period appropriate photoplay music.
- Though somewhat obscure in the beginning, this subject shows the efficacy of a mother's prayer. Holy is the name Mother, and many who stray from the path of righteousness to the radiantly alluring avenues of sin and prodigality, are rescued from the inevitable end by her prayers. So it is with the hero of this story. Jose, a handsome young Mexican, leaves his home in the Sierra Madre Mountains to seek his fortune in the States. On leaving, his dear old mother bestows upon him her blessing, presenting him with a pair of gauntlets, upon the dexter wrist of which she has embroidered a Latin Cross. This she intended as a symbol and reminder to him of her and her prayers for his welfare. She cautions him to be temperate, honest and dispassionate: to bear the burden of life's cross with fortitude and patience. We next find him in a tavern on the border, where congregate the cowboys, miners and railroad construction employees, a new line from the States into Mexico having just been started. This tavern is the principal hotel of the place, and as a matter of course there is a motley assemblage in the barroom, which also serves as the office. Tom Berkeley is the engineer of the construction company and the affianced of Mildred West, a New York girl. Mildred, being of a romantic turn of mind, and wishing to cheer Tom's life in this sandy purlieu, consents to join him and become his wife. This is the day of Mildred's arrival, and Tom meets her and her father at the train to bring them to this hotel. Bill Gates, an assistant engineer, has long loved the fair Mildred, but has received no encouragement, in fact his attentions are to her odious in the extreme, for she has seen behind his veneer of gentlemanly civility the despicable brute that he is. Their entrance at the tavern causes quite a stir, for the pretty face or the girl makes an impression on all, particularly Jose. He is silting drinking with a friend on one side of the room, while just across the way is a party of cowboys playing poker. One of the boys takes a roll of money, which is done up in a bandanna handkerchief, from his hip pocket, peels off a five and puts the roll back. The Chinese servant sees this and upsetting a glass of liquor on the floor, gets down, ostensibly to wipe it up, steals the money and drops the bandanna at Joses feet, who upon rising thinks it his own, puts it in his belt and goes out. He has hardly left the place before the robbery is noticed and of course suspicion points to him, which seems well-grounded, upon his being brought back with the incriminating bandanna hanging from his belt. At once there is a cry of Lynch him!" and although he protests his innocence, and despite the pleading of Mildred, who really believes him so, he is taken out to be hanged. Off to the woods they drag him and placing the rope about his neck they give him one more chance to confess, but still insisting be is innocent, he asks for a chance to pray. As his eye falls upon the cross on his gauntlet his thoughts go back to her, who, no doubt, is now praying with him and for him, through a mother's intuition. Meanwhile Mildred at the hotel is in the extreme of commiseration for Jose, who she is sure is guiltless. Coming from her room she runs suddenly into the Chinaman in the act of hiding a roll of money under the hall carpet, and before he is aware of her presence she has snatched the money from his hands and gained the admission that he is the real thief. Like a flash she is off after the would-be lynches, arriving just as Jose, taking a last glance at the cross is swung in the air. Breaking through the crowd she causes the startled cowboys to release their hold on the rope, and Jose drops to the ground uninjured. A hurried explanation and return of the money to the owner, and all start after the Chinaman, leaving Mildred and Jose on the scene. He cannot express the gratitude he feels for the girl, but swears that if ever she needs his help he will come to her. Taking out his knife be cuts in two the gauntlet and gives her the wrist as a token of his pledge, and as she takes it her eyes sink deep into his heart, enkindling a hopeless passion for her. She in turn promises to always keep his token with her. Time runs on, and Jose cannot obliterate the sweet face of the girl from his mind's eye. She has in a measure usurped that of his dear mother, hence to ameliorate his sorrow, he takes to drinking and goes to the depths of degradation. At the end of five years the railroad contracts are completed and a garden fete is given in honor of Tom Berkeley, the engineer, by the officials. Bill Gates, of course, is present and renews his attentions to Mildred, who is now Tom's wife. She at first mildly repulses him, but when he becomes insultingly persistent, she screams, which brings to her side Tom, who with one blow sends Gates crashing through the trellis work of the arbor. Gates swears vengeance and, going to a low tavern for help, comes upon Jose, drunk, of course, and with him and another greaser they waylay Tom's carriage in a lonely road on their way home from the fete. A blow on the heart puts Tom out, and Gates carries Mildred, who had fainted, to the tavern, where he takes her, assisted by Jose, to the upper floor. Jose then, at Gates' suggestion, goes downstairs for some drink. During his absence Mildred revives and makes a desperate struggle to escape but she is restrained by Gates, and finally falls exhausted on the cot, as Jose returns with the bottles. There upon the floor is the cross-embroidered wrist of the gauntlet, which Mildred has dropped during the struggle. Jose seizes it and the truth at once dawns upon him. "Oh, God, what have I done? Yet it is not too late to undo it." So with the ferociousness of a wolf he leaps at the throat of Gates and after a terrific battle drops him lifeless to the floor, as the husband and friends burst into the room. The tables are now turned and Mildred has a chance to thank him for his deliverance. Jose at the sight of the cross makes a solemn resolution, which he immediately fulfills, to return to his dear old mother in the mountains, in whose arms we leave him, concluding a film story that is one continuous concentrated absorbing thrill. -- The Moving Picture World, August 15, 1908
- Macbeth usurps the Scottish throne by murdering his predecessor.
- The same mysterious ring of Émile Cohl's THE MAGIC HOOP reappears here to bring to life a case of toy soldiers (ninety years ahead of TOY STORY). When one is left behind, a strange course of events leads him to a distant tribe. THE LITTLE SOLDIER WHO BECAME A GOD is easily one of the most surreal of Cohl's live action/stop motion hybrids. This film features actors performing in blackface. Fandor does not condone racist stereotyping, but blackface is nonetheless a significant aspect of American history in general and film history specifically. Early cinema was deeply rooted in vaudeville, where blackface was a popular staple. As film critic Ty Burr wrote in a recent assessment of Al Jolson's THE JAZZ SINGER, "Minstrelsy was the then-accepted cultural mechanism by which the governing white culture could appropriate and tame various representations of black people." The history of blackface is complex (even African American performers donned burnt cork to appear onstage in the early 1900s), and its legacy is far from being resolved. While blackface iconography appears offensive today, it remains deeply telling of the culture from which it emerged.
- With the family of Mr. Phlipp there is employed that wrecker of domestic serenity, a pretty French maid, whose trim figure and cherry lips are simply irresistible. This is all very fine for Phlipp, who is wont to bask in the radiance of her smiles and to sip the honey from her rose-leaved lips. But, alas! his bliss is short-lived, for, the perspicacious Mrs. Phlipp grows suspicious and surprises the erring couple in an osculatory diversion. The meretricious maiden is put to right, and the sinful Phlipp is assailed with most vociferous vituperative verbosity. Storm after storm of opprobrium is hurled at him until with vermiculation his restrained rage bursts forth and he takes his spite, not by "kicking the cat," but by smashing everything at hand. The wife, meanwhile, has gone to the newspaper office to advertise for a Chinese servant malum in se. The Confucian arrives, is put to work, and then the fun begins. His services in the library are dispensed with by the irate husband. Next he visits the dining-room, where a globe of live goldfish excites an appetite which he proceeds to appease. He has devoured several when his piscatorial pleasure is interrupted by the housekeeper, who drags him around the room by his queue, almost pulling it from his cranium. Now, the affairs gastronomic are presided over by a lady who answers to the name of Bridget, is of pronounced Hibernian proclivities, and has a strong aversion for anything yellow. What happens when she meets the Chink throws the "Monkey and Parrot" story into gossamer oblivion. They get along so nicely together, baud multum. He resents Bridget's sangfroid with a mouthful of water, spraying her visage as he would a shirt-front. Oh, fury! "Going down?'' The Chink does; down the airshaft by way of the window, taking the sash with him, propelled by Bridget. There is a tacit understanding between Bridget and the Cop, so he makes his usual call and is being regaled with hot mince pie and coffee, when the saffron individual returns with a rat in a trap. At the right of the rat the muliebrity of Bridget asserts itself and up on a chair she leaps in terror, while the Cop fans the Chink, who drops the trap. The commotion brings the household to the kitchen in alarm. At the sight of the rat the women mount the table and chairs, while the Cop, hero of the occasion, throws the rattrap through the window, and peace again reigns. All this while there has been reposing within the incandescent walls of the gas range oven, a large succulent turkey, which during the hubbub is quite forgotten, and when the oven door is opened, there is smoke, nothing but smoke, which ends our story typically, as with many seemingly good schemes, this Chinese servant idea ends in smoke, and the Chink, like Othello, finds his occupation gone.