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1914Thanhouser CompanyOne reelDrama

An Hour of Youth

Also released as and British release title: ONE HOUR OF YOUTH

No copy you can watch online. No print is known to survive. What follows is what does: the release, the cast, the story, and what the trade press said at the time.

The story

“Jack, as he tottered through the streets of his little home town, was pointed out as ‘the oldest inhabitant.’ Sometimes he was pleased at this but often he regretted his age and longed to be young again. By good fortune he attracted the attention of Myriah, a magician, who found a way to satisfy this wish. Through a magical drink Jack became young again for an hour. In that time he played in the snow and even went swimming in water filled with floating ice. Everything that he did was real, but in the short space of sixty minutes his time was up and he was once more a feeble, helpless old man, noted among his townsmen only for his great age.”

Summary from Reel Life · 11 April 1914

What the papers said

3 reviews · 1 advertisement

“’The oldest inhabitant’ drinks a potion and becomes young again—but only for an hour. In that time he dives in the snow, goes swimming in the ice bound river and returns to his home all within the allotted 60 minutes. Sidney Bracey is ‘the oldest inhabitant’ and William Noel and Ed Brady are the human polar bears.”

The Morning Telegraph · 19 April 1914

“A novel offering that is well done and interestingly worked out. There is discontinuity, either the fault of the author or director, as there is no satisfactory explanation by title as to where the genie, or as he is termed, the ‘Master of Mysteries,’ came from, or what caused his appearance. There was some winter where this picture was made. It is beautifully photographed.”

The Moving Picture World · 18 April 1914

More reviews

8 April 1914The New York Dramatic Mirror1 min

“A young man with a build like Hercules, and whose specialty is bathing in the ice-coated waters of adjacent lakes, has furnished the reason for this picture, which, because of its unusualness, holds its audience for the thousand feet of its length. It is clearly artistically photographed, and contains a certain amount of suspense. It is of the supernatural kind of a plot, but does not pause for some of the minor details. The oldest man in the village, evidently an octogenarian, or more, is granted, by a Faust-like apparition, an hour of youth. What does he do with his hour of blessed youth? Why, he dons a bathing suit, and proceeds in his bare feet to the nearest ice-coated pond and takes a refreshing swim. Then he has to hurry back to his warm quarters before the hour is up and catches him naked, or almost so, in the bitter cold. Of course, the miraculous disappearance of the aged man causes comment among his neighbors.”

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11 April 1914Reel Life1 min

“An old man transformed into a youth for one hour is the basis of this reel and is full of mirth and is a very breezy photoplay.”

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Cast and crew

Director
Carroll Fleming
Cast
Al Wirth as policeman
Ed Brady as Bill, a “human polar bear”
Edward Walton as doctor
James Ayres as Myriah, a magician
N.S. Woods as his servant
Sidney Bracy as Jack
William Noel as Phil, a “human polar bear”
Writer
Lloyd F. Lonergan
Photographed by
Henry Cronjager
Roswell J. Johnson

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More about this film

Filmed in
New Rochelle, including swimming scenes filmed in Hudson Park.
Bowers’ notes
  1. The title was first listed as One Hour of Youth in publicity, after which it was slightly modified before release. 2. Billy Noel was fond of taking icy swims and locally was known as a “human polar bear.” The swimming sequences in this picture were filmed at Hudson Park, where in the summer months Noel worked as a lifeguard. For a related instance of Billy Noel’s midwinter swimming, see Her Nephews From Labrador, released January 26, 1913.

From Volume II: Filmography of Q. David Bowers’ Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, reproduced with permission and unchanged. Read the history of 1914 →

Cite as: Bowers, Q. David. Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, “An Hour of Youth”. thanhouser.org/films/an-hour-of-youth/

Where a print is held

Held by
No print known