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Speed Versus Death
(1910) United States of America
B&W : One reel / 940 feet
Directed by [?] William F. Haddock?
Cast: Francis Ford [Mr. Braggs], Edith Storey [Mrs. Braggs]
G. Méliès production; distributed [?] on State Rights basis by G. Méliès? / Produced by Gaston Méliès. Cinematography by William Paley. / Released 12 May 1910. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama: Western.
Synopsis: [The Moving Picture World, 7 May 1910, page ?] Braggs, the young western settler, comes into view leading his broncho while he leads his little child on the horse’s back. Placing the child on the ground and watering the pony, he takes his knife from his pocket to make an extra hole in the saddle strap. The knife slips and penetrates his wrist, severing an artery. His wife comes to his assistance, makes a tourniquet with strips of her apron, jumps on the broncho’s back, and bids her husband to care for the child and keep up courage while she rides to town for the doctor. Urging her horse to its top speed, she flies like the wind while she rides against the possibility of her husband’s bleeding to death before she can bring him aid. The young rancher struggles against the loss of blood and is fast approaching unconsciousness while his mind is racked with fear lest his child, playing dangerously near the cistern, should fall into it. The wife reaches the small settlement where she encounters a crowd of drunks, cowboys, and loungers who tantalizingly detain her, asking her the purpose of her errand. She tries to explain and then pushes her way through their midst to the doctor’s house. In response to her entreaties and the urgency of the case, the doctor mounts his horse and with the wife starts on a terrible race against death to the home of the young rancher, making Paul Revere’s ride a mere joy-ride compared with the lightning-like speed and thrilling horsemanship displayed by the doctor and the wife, who reach the wounded man just in time to save his life and rescue the child from falling into the cistern.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Animals: Horses - Rescues
Listing updated: 23 May 2024.
References: Thompson-Star pp. 31, 35-36, 86-87, 228 : ClasIm-226 p. 54 : Website-AFI; Website-IMDb.
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