Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life
About Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life
A bashful suitor gives Mabel a corsage and they kiss. After he leaves, the villain grabs her. She hits him and gets away. He and two helpers chain her to the railroad tracks, steal a locomotive, and drive it back at her. A rail worker tells the suitor. He and Barney Oldfield, the racing driver, chase the engine in a car and pull her off in time. The villain kills an accomplice and shoots five Keystone Cops who arrive on a handcar. He turns the gun on himself, finds the chamber empty, and drops dead in a rage.
Cast & crew
More about Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life
Mack Sennett produced and directed it. Keystone released it in the United States on June 3, 1913. Mabel Normand plays Mabel. Ford Sterling plays the villain. Sennett plays the suitor. Barney Oldfield plays himself, his first film. The Keystone Cops arrive on the handcar.
Themes
Making
Sennett put the real driver Oldfield in a car against a locomotive for the rescue.
Notes
- The villains reach the engine by handcar, after beating two workers at the station.
- Oldfield's car races the stolen locomotive.
- The last shot is an empty gun. He falls over anyway.
- The intertitle name for Normand's character is Mabel Sweet and Lovely.
Scenes
- Mabel is chained to the rails as the stolen engine comes back.
- Oldfield's car reaches her first. The villain's last click is an empty chamber.
