The Girl and Her Trust
About The Girl and Her Trust
Grace, the telegraph operator at Hillville, is told that Train No. 7 is bringing a $2,000 payroll to her office. Two tramps who rode the train see the cash, break in, and haul the strongbox away on a handcar, taking Grace with them when she jumps aboard. Jack, the express agent she had just refused a kiss, flags a locomotive and runs them down. The tramps are caught, and Grace kisses him.
Cast & crew
More about The Girl and Her Trust
D. W. Griffith directed for Biograph. George Hennessy wrote it. G. W. Bitzer photographed it. Biograph released it on March 28, 1912. It remakes Griffith's 1911 short The Lonedale Operator.
Themes
Background
Biograph one-reelers in 1912 were still the main product of the American short-film business, and railroad chases were a standard way to fill the last minutes.
Making
Griffith restaged his own 1911 telegraph-office thriller, this time sending the stolen box down the track on a handcar while a full train closes in.
Look
G. W. Bitzer shot the short, cutting between the handcar and the locomotive Jack flags down.
Preservation
A print survives. Copies are on the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- Dorothy Bernard plays Grace. Wilfred Lucas plays Jack.
- Alfred Paget and Charles Hill Mailes play the two tramps. Robert Harron is a telegrapher's assistant.
- The payroll in the plot is $2,000.
- It is a remake of The Lonedale Operator (1911), with the chase moved onto a railroad handcar and a locomotive.
Scenes
- Grace jumps from the platform onto the moving handcar.
- Jack stops a train and uses it to overtake the tramps.
Influenced by
- The Lonedale Operator (1911)
Also available
- Internet Archive (TheGirlAndHerTrust)
- Wikimedia Commons (The Girl and Her Trust (1912).webm)
