The Hazards of Helen: Episode13, The Escape on the Fast Freight
About The Hazards of Helen: Episode13, The Escape on the Fast Freight
Helen Holmes, as the night operator at a small station, is left guarding a strongbox of money. Two robbers hold her up, lock her in a closet, and take the cash onto an outgoing freight. From a bridge over the yards she sees them and drops onto the roof of the car as it passes underneath. She fights them along the tops of the moving cars.
Cast & crew
More about The Hazards of Helen: Episode13, The Escape on the Fast Freight
Episode 13 of Kalem's Hazards of Helen series. J. P. McGowan is credited with the first 48 episodes. IMDb lists Paul Hurst as director of this chapter, with a script by Edward T. Matlack. Moving Picture World reviewed it on February 20, 1915. Holmes did the drop from the bridge herself.
Themes
Background
Kalem's railroad series ran beside Pathé's Perils of Pauline. Holmes and Pearl White were the stunt heroines exhibitors advertised.
Making
Holmes did most of her own stunts at Kalem. A 1916 publicity typescript credited to her said the thrills were McGowan's inventions and that she followed his direction. Terry Ramsaye wrote that typescript.
Reviews
Moving Picture World of February 20, 1915, called the chapter unusually thrilling and named the drop from the bridge onto the freight and the fight with the robbers.
Technique
Holmes drops from a bridge onto the roof of a moving freight car and the chase continues along the car tops.
Music
Silent.
Preservation
Found in the Dawson Film Find in 1978. Prints are at the Academy Film Archive, the Library of Congress, and the UCLA Film and Television Archive. The Women Film Pioneers Project notes a National Film Preservation Foundation DVD that includes this chapter.
Notes
- The series is separate one-reel stories, not a cliffhanger that continues the same plot.
- Holmes and McGowan left Kalem after episode 26 and set up their own company. Helen Gibson took over the lead.
- Moving Picture World called the bridge drop and the fight on the train the attractions of the chapter.
- The chapter was in the Dawson Film Find of 1978.
Scenes
- Helen drops from the bridge onto the roof of the freight as it passes under her.
Also available
- Internet Archive (TheEscapeOnTheFastFreight)
