Volume II: Filmography

AN HOUR OF YOUTH

Working title and British release title: ONE HOUR OF YOUTH

April 12, 1914 (Sunday)

Length: 1 reel (999 feet)

Character: Drama

Director: Carroll Fleming

Assistant director: Carl Louis Gregory

Scenario: Lloyd F. Lonergan

Cameramen: Henry Cronjager, Roswell J. Johnson

Cast: Sidney Bracy (Jack), N.S. Woods (his servant), James Ayres (Myriah, a magician), Edward Walton (doctor), Al Wirth (policeman), William Noel (Phil, a "human polar bear"), Ed Brady (Bill, a "human polar bear")

Location: New Rochelle, including swimming scenes filmed in Hudson Park.

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.

ADVERTISEMENT, Reel Life, April 11, 1914:

"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."

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, April 11, 1914:

"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."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, April 19, 1914:

"'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."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, April 18, 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."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, April 8, 1914:

"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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