The Girl and Her Trust (1912)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

D.W. Griffith

Writer:

George Hennessy (writer)

Release Date:

28 March 1912 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Drama

Plot:

Some tramps assault the telegraph office trying to rob $2000 delivered by train. The telegraphist girl...

Plot Keywords:

Remake | Railway | Trap | Melodrama | Product Placement

Cast

Dorothy Bernard	...	Grace, the Telegraph Operator
Wilfred Lucas	...	Jack, Railroad Express Agent
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Edwin August	...	Younger Tramp
Christy Cabanne	...	Baggage Handler (as W. Christy Cabanne)
William A. Carroll	...	Engineer
Charles Gorman	...	Older Tramp, Next to Train
Robert Harron	...	Telegrapher's Companion / Remote Station Worker
Walter Long	...	Grace's Bashful Suitor
Charles Hill Mailes	...	Remote Telegraph Operator
Anthony O'Sullivan	...	(unconfirmed)
Alfred Paget	...	Tramp
W.C. Robinson	...	Simple Suitor
Charles West	...	Telegrapher

Runtime:

17 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company:

Biograph Company

Goofs:

Continuity: When the 2 tramps are taking the express trunk for the station, it is dark outside when they open the door. Looking through the window next to the door, it is light outside. It's also light outside when tramps get outside of the station. The same happens when the telegraph operator leaves the station.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Fejezetek a film történetéböl: Az amerikai film kezdetei (#1.3)" (1989)

A fundamental film!

I've just recently come across this tile while watching the Landmarks of Early Film and I must say I'm completely taken by it.

OK, the visual effects are very dated, but then again, the effects themselves are not what makes the movie.

The thing that really impressed me was the character development of "The Girl". At first we see a girl working at the railstation and being the one who's in charge of keeping the money (one would more likely expect a man doing that in the wild west, not a woman). Next we see a man who fancies this girl and she's concerned for the money. He calms her down. I was sure that she'd be a helpless damsel in distress and he'd come in and rescue her. And here's the thing that surprised me most - it gets deeper then that.

The girl locks herself inside as the two tramps try to steal the money. She has the key to the strongbox. Handing the key over would surely save her, but she keeps to it. Also after locking herself into the room she doesn't faint or starts panicking. No! She actually tries to get help by telepraph. One of the tramps realizes it and cuts the line. Then she even finds a way to scare them off! Amazingly she puts a bullet into the keylock, places the scisors at the back and hammers away to fire the bullet off (something even MacGyver would be quite proud of).

And when the tramps take the strongbox she chases after them! She is a real heroine. But she is overpowered and the man from earlier on (with the help of rail employees) chatches the bad guys in a locomotive/handcart action chase sequence. And to make it a truly happy ending, they even have a little romantic scene when the girl is saved and the guy offers her lunch at the front bumper of the locomotive.

Brilliant.

OK, it's shorter, black and white and with no sound effects at all, but at points it reminded me so much of the panic room... You know... People on the outside trying to get to what a "helpless" woman has in a room they can't break into. And over 100 years old - I was breathless!