The Heart Snatcher
About The Heart Snatcher
Lamo, a pauper, crashes a party given by a cinema owner who has grown rich, poses as the bandleader, and is thrown out. He comes back with chloroform, puts the guests under, and opens the safe, only to find that a safecracker named Jim has already emptied it. The police chase him to a blacksmith's shop, where he hides by taking a job. The man he tried to rob bribes the blacksmith, who beats him, and another chase ends with Lamo blowing himself up.
Cast & crew
More about The Heart Snatcher
Roy Del Ruth directed this Fox Sunshine comedy; the AFI Catalog also credits K. G. McLean as director. Henry Lehrman produced. The AFI running time is 22 minutes. Jack Cooper and Marvel Rea lead the cast, with Kewpie Morgan as the blacksmith and Blanche Payson as the blacksmith's daughter.
Themes
Making
Sunshine Comedies were Fox's slapstick brand. The short runs from a party and a chloroform robbery to a blacksmith shop and two chases.
Preservation
The Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam holds a print from its nitrate collection.
Notes
- The Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam holds a nitrate print and describes Lamo by name in its catalog note.
- Josef Swickard, Bobby Dunn, Harry Booker, Glen Cavender, and Frank J. Coleman are in the company.
- Joe Murphy is billed as a bass-fiddle player.
- A surviving Eye print runs about 19 minutes, shorter than the 22 minutes listed by the AFI Catalog.
Scenes
- Lamo conducts the party band until the guests see through him.
- He chloroforms the house and finds Jim has already cleaned out the safe.
- The blacksmith, paid off by the cinema owner, beats his new helper.
Also available
- Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam
