Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life is a 1913 silent comedy short, directed and produced by Mack Sennett. It stars Sennett, Mabel Normand, Ford Sterling, The Keystone Cops and Barney Oldfield as himself, in his film debut. It was distributed by the Keystone Film Company, and released in the United States on June 3, 1913. The film is preserved and was released as part of a DVD box set, titled Slapstick Encyclopedia,[1] and is frequently featured in silent film festivals.
The film is notable for being one of the earliest films to include the plot of a villain tying a young damsel to the tracks of an oncoming locomotive; a holdover from the Gaslight era of Victorian stage melodrama.[2][3] It's also considered one of the first films to put a camera into a car to give the audience a driver's eye viewpoint.[4] The famous film still of Normand tied to the railroad tracks has been part of a museum exhibit, and featured in books chronicling the history of notable silent films.
Plot
A lady, 'Mabel Sweet and Lovely' is courted by a gentleman, 'A Bashful Suitor'. He offers her a corsage which she accepts. They coyly share a kiss. After the Suitor leaves, the Villain appears and grabs the lady. She hits him and escapes. This angers the Villain and he vows to get his way. At the next opportunity, the Villain once again kidnaps the lady, this time with the help of two henchmen, and chains her to the railway tracks.
The three villains travel by handcar to the station, where they assault two workers and steal a locomotive engine. The villains drive the train back towards the location of Mabel who is still tied to the tracks.
The railyard worker alerts the Suitor about the situation, who then rushes to ask his friend, racecar driver, Barney Oldfield for help.
The two friends jump in the automobile and race the speeding hijacked locomotive to rescue the damsel in distress. Mabel is dramatically saved at the last moment and is carried away to safety. The foiled villain kills his accomplice and shoots five Keystone Cops arriving by handcar to arrest him. Finally he turns the gun on himself but upon discovering the bullet chamber empty, he drops dead in a rage.
According to author William F. Nolan, Sennett was a racing fan, and approached Oldfield in a saloon and asked Oldfield; "did you ever think of getting into the flicks?". Oldfield responded with; "and have some dame throw a custard pie in my face?". Sennett told him he would be playing a "hero", and saving Normand from a "black-hearted villain" by outrunning a train. After hearing this, Oldfield told Sennett, "Mack, have a beer on the house, you just hired yourself a new movie star." After watching the film, Oldfield was said to have sadly shook his head and quipped: "For this kinda actin' I should have been hit by a custard pie."[5]
In 1913, Motography reported that an agent for the Santa Fe Railway, gave Sennett permission to use the old Redondo Road, and a late model locomotive, baggage car and passenger coach in the film, and that a special permit was obtained from Inglewood, California authorities for Oldfield to go the limit in the speed line. Oldfield reached speeds of 90 mph while filming the chase of the train. Cinematographer Lee Bartholomew, was standing on the running board of the locomotive, photographing "every move of the villain at the throttle, while Walter Wright with another camera, was filming the race between the train and the automobile and the rescue".[6]
Normand did her own stunt work in the film, with no "stunt double" being used for the scene where she was laying on the railroad tracks as the train approached.[7]
Themes and analysis
Author Chuck Klosterman says the plot of a villain tying a young damsel to the railroad tracks, dates back to the 1860s, and by 1913, the "trope had been adopted completely". He argues that the audience already sees the trope as being "comedic and satiric melodrama". He says the idea of "using a train to kill someone is so complicated and absurd that it can only be viewed as a caricature of villainy, because it was never based on any legitimate fear".[8]
American media scholarHenry Jenkins and author Kristine Brunovska Karnick said that Sennett used the "race to the rescue" scenario to capitalize on its "thrilling and suspenseful qualities", and then "exploited those qualities for purely visceral pleasure", thereby "stripping the narrative situations in the film of their usual emotional or moral weight".[9]
Author Mark Howell says that Oldfield's role as the driver who saves the "damsel in distress", promoted his image as a "brave and heroic race car driver, fearless in the face of danger, since that is the way in which he makes his living on the race track".[10]
Reviews
Contemporary reviews
The Moving Picture World praised the film saying; this company of funsters again comes under the wire a winner in this hilarious burlesque. Good burlesque without objectionable features.[11]
Various newspapers and theaters gave the film positive reviews stating: one of the greatest melodramatic productions, featuring the well known speed king, Barney Oldfield, that has ever been produced;[12] one of the greatest one-reel Keystone Comedies ever produced. A rip-roaring riot of fun, with the greatest comedy director Mack Sennett;[13] Barney Oldfield in moving pictures should be a treat in itself;[14] a unique film, a combination of sensational, thrilling and humorous melodrama.[15]
Modern
Author Rob King said the film's "popularity resided precisely in their ability to fuse comic pleasure with genuine thrills, promoting hybridized viewing experiences that straddled the effective registers of slapstick and sensation melodrama".[2]
Film critic Michael Grutchfield said the film is a "patently thin veneer hung over a thrilling chase and a lot of silly satire". He liked the photography in the picture, calling it "impressive for 1913". He opined that Oldfield didn't really have any "interest in even trying to act, his only job is to drive a fast car, and he does that fine". He argues the film "doesn’t hold up that well, and isn’t even of great historical interest, inasmuch as it seems to lead people to false conclusions".[16]
Film critic Fritzi Kramer said the movie was a "pretty typical Keystone offering. He said "Sennett mugs himself silly but Normand and Sterling are as fun as ever". He graded the film a "solid C+", but stated it's only memorable "as one of those tied to the railroad tracks films".[17]
Legacy
Iconic film still, with left to right: Hank Mann; Ford Sterling; Al St John and in foreground Mabel Normand
Beginning in May 1939, the Museum of Modern Art in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, began a thirty day exhibit that featured the film, along with sixty-nine other films, that traced the history and development of the motion picture from 1895-1935. The museum used the film still (seen here to the right), as part of the exhibit.[18] Approximately 200 film stills from memorable motion pictures were used as part of the exhibit.[19]
In 1940, the film still was exhibited at Duke University, as part of a circulating exhibit from the Museum of Modern Art.[20] In 1944, the film still was included in the book A Pictorial History of the Movies, by Deems Taylor, which featured 700 scenes from famous movies of the past half century.[21][22]
In 1955, the Quad-City Times featured the famous film still as part of a series titled "Remember These Old-Time Movies".[23] In 1957, the film still was featured in the book The Laugh Makers: A Pictorial History of American Comedians by William Cahn.[24][25]
In 2013, the short film was featured as part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences centennial celebration for one-reeler short films. The film was presented on a restored 1909 hand-cranked Powers Model 6 Camergraph Motion Picture Machine, created by Nicholas Power, and cranked by Library of Congress consultant Joe Rinaudo.[26][a]
Daniel Buttridge of The Independent, credits the film for the "stereotypical mustachioed meanie", which became a "cultural convention", that he says, is still employed "by all manner of media almost a century later".[28]
Gallery
Mabel Sweet And Lovely
The Bashful Suitor
The Villainous Rival
Mabel chained to the tracks
Train racing towards Mabel
Barney Oldfield and Mabel's suitor speeding to save her
Notes
^Joe Rinaudo, consultant and provider of restored films to the Library of Congress, demonstrates threading a 1909 Powers Cameragraph Motion Picture Machine.[27]
Chalmers, J. P., ed. (June 7, 1913). "Comments On The Films: Barney Oldfield's Race For Life". The Moving Picture World. Chalmers Publishing Company. p. 1033. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
"Barney Oldfield in Keystone Speed Film". Motography. Vol. 9, no. 6. Electricity Magazine Corporation. March 15, 1913. p. 206. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
Nolan, William F. (1961). "To Tame A Beast". Barney Oldfield: The Life and Times of America's Legendary Speed King. New York: Putnam. pp. 126–127.
