Summary
A methane haze of negligence hangs over Blue Top Quarries: a drunken hoist-engineer, Bill Travers, botches a cable and two laborers drop like rag-dolls into the chasm. The quarry’s iron-willed proprietor, Eastman, fires the souse on the spot. Revenge brews, bitter as slag. Under a moon bruised with soot, Bill and a nameless accomplice snatch Eastman’s infant son; the night ends with a pistol crack, the accomplice’s gut blooming red, and the quarry owner left clutching air. The kidnapped child vanishes into the bruised hills. Eastman’s wife collapses into hysteria; physicians are summoned, but only one pair of hands—those of the penniless village surgeon known simply as “Doc”—can steady her pulse. Doc arrives, confident that competence will at last purchase security: a salaried post at the quarries, a future, a wife. Instead, Eastman pays him in curt gratitude and shows him the door. Humiliation ferments while the sheriff’s posse beats the brush for the missing heir; they find only hoofprints and echoes. Meanwhile the wounded accomplice festers in a pine-board cabin; Bill, mounted on a mule that seems conjured from a ghost story, descends to beg Doc for clandestine aid. A blindfolded ride, the scent of blood and wet bark, a lantern fizzing in the dark. On a second visit Doc’s ears catch an infant’s mewl beneath the rafters; suspicion crystallizes into certainty. He alerts Eastman, who storms in with badges and rifles, but Bill—captured yet silent—keeps the mountain’s secret. Doc gambles everything on a chestnut mare that remembers the trail; the horse climbs through fog, locates the cradle, and trots home with the child swaddled across the saddle. Mother Eastman reclaims her living heart; Doc reclaims his dignity along with the quarry contract and, at long last, Betty’s hand.
Synopsis
As the result of an accident due to the carelessness of Bill Travers the engineer of the Blue Top Quarries, two of the workmen are seriously injured by the falling of a hoist. The engineer, who was under the influence of liquor at the time is discharged by Mr. Eastman, the owner of the quarries. In revenge Bill and his pal steal Mr. Eastman's baby boy. Bill's pal is shot by Mr. Eastman as he is making off and is seriously wounded. Mrs. Eastman is overcome by the shock of the loss of the baby, and Mr. Eastman sends for "Doc," as he is popularly known by everyone in the village. "Doc" is a young surgeon who has made a name for himself among the residents of the town. He has a hard time financially and when he received a call from the owner of Blue Top he feels that he has at last an opportunity to make good and possibly a chance to secure the berth of doctor at the quarries. After attending Mrs. Eastman he is curtly dismissed by Mr. Eastman and his hopes for a lucrative position are dashed to the ground. His sweetheart Betty bids him be brave, saying that his turn will surely come. In the meantime Mr. Eastman has had the sheriff's posse out hunting for the lost child but to no avail. Bill's pal suffers tremendously from the wound and Bill makes the journey from the mountain cabin to the village on a mule. He persuades "Doc" to return with him to attend to his injured friend. He insists on blindfolding "Doc" so that "Doc" cannot reveal the location of the cabin. "Doc," through Betty, suspects that Bill may have the stolen child hidden in the cabin and on his second trip to the cabin his suspicions prove correct. He tells Mr. Eastman who foolishly advises the sheriff who lays a trap for Bill. Bill is captured but refuses to lead the men to the cabin, with the result that Mrs. Eastman is prostrated with sorrow. "Doc" finally decides to trust to Betty's horse, which he has ridden to the cabin on the occasions of his visits. The horse, which has been fed each time at the cabin, leads the way and the baby is found and restored to his mother's arms. "Doc" is rewarded by the coveted berth at the quarries and is enabled to marry his heart's desire.
Review Excerpt
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In the flicker of 1914 nitrate, Doc feels less like a quaint one-reel rescue tale and more like an X-ray of early-twentieth-century masculinity: a society where liquor, dynamite, and pride are the holy trinity, and where a man’s worth is weighed against stone and silence. Director Herbert Bostwick never achieved household-name status, yet within this single reel he distills a moral cosmos—fault, penance, redemption—into roughly twelve minutes of celluloid that somehow breathe longer than many ..."
