A send-up of Griffith's THE LONELY VILLA and other movies of that sort, such as THE GIRLS AND DADDY, THE LONEDALE OPERATOR and many others, as the heroine, thinking that burglars are trying to break into her home phones her husband at the office, who rushes home.... well, who tries to rush home in his chauffeur-driven automobile.
Direction
Sennett inventing the parody film in 8 minutes flat.
Acting
Mabel Normand's exaggerated terror as commentary.
Director
Mack Sennett
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Mack Sennett built Keystone Studios by stealing Biograph's talent, including Mabel Normand and Fred Mace, making this a studio-flex diss track.
The 'call for help from the office' plot was so overused in 1912 that audiences immediately got the joke—early proof that parody requires shared cultural literacy.
US
