Cruel, Cruel Love
About Cruel, Cruel Love
Lord Helpus is a rich man, not a tramp. His girlfriend walks in while the maid is in his arms and throws him out. At home he swallows what he thinks is poison and pictures himself tortured in hell. The maid and the gardener explain the embrace, and a note of apology arrives. He panics and calls an ambulance. The butler had poured out the poison and filled the glass with water.
Cast & crew
More about Cruel, Cruel Love
George Nichols and Mack Sennett are both credited as directors. Sennett produced for Keystone, and Mutual distributed the short. Wikipedia credits the script to Craig Hutchinson. Frank D. Williams photographed it. Release was 26 March 1914.
Themes
Making
David Shepard of Film Preservation Associates and Lobster Films of Paris both made restoration copies. The original two-reel form has been sold on video.
Look
Frank D. Williams photographed the comedy, including the hell vision after Lord Helpus drinks.
Preservation
Presumed lost for more than fifty years, then recovered as a complete nitrate print from South America. Restoration copies were made by David Shepard and by Lobster Films.
Notes
- Chaplin is billed as Lord Helpus, also called Mr. Dovey. Minta Durfee plays the lady, Eva Nelson the maid, and Chester Conklin the butler.
- Edgar Kennedy, Alice Davenport, Glen Cavender, and Billy Gilbert are also in the cast.
- Minta Durfee was married to Roscoe Arbuckle, another Keystone lead.
- For more than fifty years the short was treated as lost. A complete nitrate print turned up in South America.
Scenes
- Lord Helpus, sure he is dying, sees himself pitched into hell.
- The apology arrives, he summons an ambulance, and the butler's water is the only thing in the glass.
Also available
- Internet Archive (CC_1914_03_26_CruelCruelLove)
- Wikimedia Commons (Cruel, Cruel Love (1914).webm)
