Works, By Duration: 11-15 minutes (82)

Total: 406 works

The White Caps

The two men renown as pioneers of early US cinema, Edwin S. Porter and D.W. Griffith, shared another claim to fame/infamy: each created a work inspired by Thomas Dixon Jr.'s 1905 The Clansman. Griffith's 1915 film The Birth of a Nation was adapted from the stage version of the novel. Edwin S. Porter was inspired by the novel to create this film. According to Before the Nickelodeon: Edwin S. Porter and the Edison Manufacturing Company, Edison advertisements held a pro-vigilante view, proclaiming: A lawless and criminal element almost invariably accompanied the advance guard of civilization and to keep this element in check the law abiding citizens were compelled to secretly organize themselves for their own protection...We have portrayed in Motion Pictures, in a most vivid and realistic manner, the method employed by the “White Caps” to rid the community of undesirable citizens.

While the White Caps role here as Morality Police may seem relatively benign compared to the lynch justice in The Birth of a Nation, the book also points out: This film narrative exactly parallels an earlier account of “White Cap” activity in a turn-of-the-century newspaper. In the newspaper account, the tar clogged up the man's pores and he eventually died.

The Train Wreckers

After servicing her final two corporate customers, the engineer and the switchman, Rail Tramp Trixie finishes the shift on her day job and heads to the woods to unwind with her own kind. But seems The Boys had gotten tired of waiting and started without her, because she spotted them all in a circle - doing what The Boys do in a circle. So she just stood back and watched: she liked to watch. When The Boys were done with their fun, they surprised Trixie with her favorite fun - a little B&D...doggy style. Reenergized, she headed down to the tracks for her freelance gig, hawking her wares by waving her flag from down below, a signal that was well-known all along the train line. When a trainload of randy squares heading to a convention eyed her flag, they brought the train screeching to a halt - and Trixie scored big-time. “All aboard!”

All around those parts, wives all agreed: of all the loose ladies, nobody could wreck a train trip like Rail Tramp Trixie.

What Drink Did

Yet another moralizing tale of intemperance, this one a 12-minute 1909 rework of the much better 1902 "Les Victimes De L`Alcoolisme" that was less than half the length.

The Lad From Old Ireland

While out in the fields among his hard-working comrades The Lad - who is the biggest, youngest, and clearly best-fed of the crew - realizes that this type of work was better suited to the weaker lot, who did not possess his skill in striking poses. So he kissed his Country Cunt goodbye, leaving her to take his place in the fields striking poses in a life of hopeless destitution, as he set out for a career in an area more suited to his talents - American politics -where money and high-class nookie could free him from the memory of the stench of the poverty and Country Cunt he left behind in dear Old Ireland.

Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [1912]

Is Jekyll a sincere scientist, who becomes the unfortunate victim of his own research? Or is he a mad scientist who craves the hyped-up stimulation of the drug he's discovered? Or is the drug actually nothing more than a placebo, that provides him a pretext for violently escaping his staid bourgeois existence? Or is he actually a psychopath who imagines himself as a scientist, and imagines that his violent psychotic episodes result from a drugged state? A multitude of possible interpretations is one reason for the enduring popularity of this tale.

A Strong Revenge

A weak comedy. Twelve minutes, one gag: homemade stench bomb revenge. Threadbare premise, even by early Keystone standards, with Ford Sterling forced to carry the comic load without help from Sennett or Mabel. And poor condition of print certainly doesn't help.

Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life

Oldfield's just the chauffeur, Mabel's just eye candy, and Sennett's just his usual bore, so Ford Sterling has to try his best to get a laugh out of this tied-to-the-tracks/race-to-the-rescue parody. But he only does pratfalls, silly walks, and gratuitous cop-killing: amusing, but not funny.

Max Linder As A Toreador (Max toréador)

Max sees a bullfight, then wants to become a toreador. Long, with few laughs. WARNING: Scenes of animal abuse. Not only the bulls, but also the pair shown above, that were forced to perform - despite clearly exhibiting zero comic aspirations. But one of them does commit at least one act of revenge, that Max quickly improvises on.

Max Takes A Picture (Max fait de la photo)

Max goes nuts when he sees big butt. Max tries to sneak snapshots of a Rubenesque beauty on the beach, but she gets payback - as Max ends up frantic with guilt. Too little content, dragged out too long.