Lost1910Thanhouser Company1,000 feetComedy

The Convict

Name: The Convict
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1910-09-23

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

“The convict is discovered stealing along a country road, glancing about for signs of danger. His stripes are discernible on that portion of his breast and on that portion of his trousers’ leg not covered by the long coat he wears—which cannot conceal the stripes that tell all; hence his keen watch for passersby. Still, he does not spy a nearby farmer until too late; the cry ‘prisoner loose’ is raised, and a dozen rustics make after the unfortunate. Convict meets accomplice who is waiting with carriage; jumps in the carriage and the pair drives off. Baffled pursuers come up, sight a wagon, all pile within and resume pursuit. Convict jumps from carriage and drops behind boulder, accomplice driving straight on with the wagon hot after him; when the wagon has passed him by, convict comes from behind boulder, crosses road and disappears on other side—but has been seen crossing the road by a small girl who kept out of sight until the convict had disappeared, but who now rushes off to tell of her discovery. Put back on the trail by the little girl, pursuers follow their quarry to the waterside, where a second accomplice awaits the convict with a rowboat, and into which he jumps and pulls for the other side. Another rowboat sets out in pursuit. One of the pursuers telephones constables on the other side of the water to catch convict when he tries to land.

“Race of the rowboats. Nearing shore the convict finds himself hemmed in—pursuers on water and constables on land. Luckily for him, pursuers in their efforts to grab his boat overturn their own; he gets to shore, where accomplice is caught though he himself escapes. Constable and pursuer chase him to town road, where third accomplice awaits with auto; they speed off. An automobile too happens along, allows pursuers to use his auto to chase convict’s, and all enter except constable who rushes off to ‘phone town police of convict’s coming. Receiving the message, chief of police leaves with coppers for town end of road, across which they stretch rope and await convict’s auto. As the convict dashes down Main Street new pursuers spring up at every step. Yet when he reaches the opera house he calmly walks into the entrance and, facing his pursuers, takes a dignified stand beside the billboard on which is printed: ‘Latest Moving Picture—Today’s Feature—STUNG! or The Convict’s Escape—A Roaring Comedy Now Showing.’”

Summary from The Moving Picture World · 24 September 1910

What the papers said

2 reviews · 1 advertisement

“A burlesque picture which becomes more thrilling as it proceeds. The convict is supposed to have escaped and the way he is chased and surrounded bodes no good for him. But somehow he manages to elude the steadily increasing army of pursuers until they are gathered around him, when he calmly shows a motion picture announcement, and the reason for all this melee, in which the whole countryside took part, becomes apparent.”

The Moving Picture World · 8 October 1910

Read in full · 1 min

“The vaudeville advertiser who devised the convict deserves an immediate raise in his salary by his house. No doubt he got it—in the film. Perhaps, in real life, things might not happen so luckily for the convict unless the carriage, the boat and the automobile were previously arranged for him. Even then, Fate might conceivably have some disagreeable card up her sleeve. In the film, at any rate, everybody bit nicely. They pursued the escaped convict in increasing crowds until he led them to the theatre he was advertising. There they all obligingly bought tickets to the show and, no doubt, enjoyed it hugely. They did if it was as good as the film is. The least interesting sections of the film are the telephone messages exchanged by agitated police officials; but they set off the livelier adventures of the convict with agreeable contrast.”

The New York Dramatic Mirror · 28 September 1910

24 September 1910The Moving Picture World1 min

“You have no idea as to how marvelously a Thanhouser can twist a story until you see this gripping dra—well, perhaps, it isn’t a drama at that—or a comedy even. We hate to tip you off as to WHAT it is. When you see the picture, with its totally unlooked-for climax, you’ll know why!”

Have you seen this film, or a print of it?

Prints of films thought lost still turn up in attics, private collections and archives. A record like this one is how the next one gets found.

Tell us about a print

Cast and crew

Cast: Marie Eline as the little girl

Every name opens that person's page, with each film they appear in and which of them you can watch.

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More about this film

Bowers’ notes: The issue of The Moving Picture World from which certain synopses and reviews of this time are taken bears the date of September 24, 1910 on the cover, which is correct, and the incorrect date of September 23, 1910 on the masthead page.

From Volume II: Filmography of Q. David Bowers’ Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, reproduced with permission and unchanged. Read the history of 1910 →

Cite as: Bowers, Q. David. Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, “The Convict”. thanhouser.org/films/the-convict/

Where a print is held

Held by: No print known