This silent comedy short stars Earl McCarthy(who vaguely reminds me of Charles Starrett) as "Hairbreadth Harry," a parody of the hero of early melodrama and who had his own comic strip beginning in 1906 (the closest modern analogy I can think of is Dudley DoRight). Of course, there is the heroine Belinda (also taken from the comic), who is chased after by the bad guys, headed by Relentless Rudolph, who resembles Snidely Whiplash, gleefully stroking his handlebar mustache and laughing wickedly when he does something bad, stamping the ground and pouting and saying "curses!" when he is defeated by Harry or by circumstances. McCarthy continued to work into the early sound era (I remember him as the crusading reporter in Dorothy Davenport Reid's SUCKER MONEY in 1932, wearing too much silent-era-style makeup and lipstick, but doing a good job otherwise), but died young in 1933. During the silent era most of his featured roles seemed to be in comedy shorts--his appearances in features were generally small, which continued into the sound era, where many of his roles were uncredited walk-ons. SUCKER MONEY may well be his only starring role in a sound film, although he seems to have at least a featured role in his final film, CHEATING BLONDES starring Thelma Todd, which I haven't seen, and in the early-sound serial CLANCY OF THE MOUNTED,starring Tom Tyler, which I also haven't seen. DANGER AHEAD shows the modern viewer that the conventions of silent-film melodrama were antiquated and worthy of lampoon even by this point, and it's a fast-moving short that doesn't need much explanation to be appreciated. You can learn more about the Hairbreadth Harry comic strip by doing an internet search--you'll see some sample strips and learn about the character's history.