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A Plucky American Girl
(1910) United States of America
B&W : One reel / 950 feet
Directed by [?] Gaston Méliès and/or William F. Haddock?
Cast: Edith Storey [Mary Ann], Francis Ford
G. Méliès production; distributed [?] on State Rights basis? by G. Méliès. / Produced by Gaston Méliès. Cinematography by William Paley. / Released 29 September 1910. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama: Western.
Synopsis: [From The Moving Picture World]? Just plain Mary Ann, that’s all, but there is something about this little country girl which stamps her as the right sort, with grit, grip and gumption to distinguish her among the famous men and women of the twentieth century, or any other century for that matter. Her father is a faithful old servant in the employ of the D.&C.R.R. as a signal man in a tower on the lonely stretch of the track at very important junction. After his day’s work, Mary Ann, who has studied telegraphy and likes to practice, comes to the tower to go home with her father, after the night signal man comes to relieve him. The night man is somewhat delayed and her father leaves Mary Ann at the signal station while be goes home to get his supper and rest. He starts down the track and that part of the rails have been torn up by a party of desperadoes, who design to wreck and rob the special limited. The old employee turns back on his way to the tower to report the danger and warn the trainmen. As he does so he is shot and wounded by the villains. He manages, however, to get back to the tower, where he finds the night agent on duty and Mary Ann gone home. While he is telling the night man about the torn track the outlaws burst into the room, shoot the nightman and knock the older man senseless. Mary Ann, sleepy and tired, impatiently waiting for her father’s return, looks out the window for him and notices there is something wrong with the switch and signal tower, looks at the clock and realizes that the “limited” is soon due. She hurries from the house, sees that the signals are not set for the “express” and quickly makes up her mind to get to the next station to notify the oncoming train. She sees a hand-car standing on a siding, jumps aboard and plies the handles. Soon she is at the station, breaks the window, jumps in and sends a message along the line, reaching a station where the message is received and in which the sheriff of the county happens to be. The station agent tells him, he forms a posse at once and they start out, signal the train, avert the wreck and arrest the outlaws; and all through the nerve and pluck of Mary Ann.
Reviews: [The Moving Picture World, 15 October 1910, page ?] Here is a thrilling railroad story, exhibiting one of those plain American girls as a heroine in a very unexpected manner. Desperadoes attempt to wreck an express, tearing up the rails to do so; but they are foiled and captured because this same plain girl develops such an unexpected sample of grit and gumption, two important features of an individual's make up. The girl's ride on the hand car to another station, breaking the window and sending the message along the wires to a station where the express can be signaled is one of the most thrilling scenes Melies has yet produced. And when it is all over and the dastardly scheme, frustrated by the nerve of a girl, comes to naught, vigorous applause is certain. Photographically the film could scarcely be improved.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: USA: Texas
Listing updated: 25 May 2024.
References: Thompson-Star pp. 129-130, 229 : ClasIm-226 p. 54 : Website-AFI; Website-IMDb.
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