In spite of the fact that he is "mother's angel," a boy stops at nothing that is naughty, until finally the boys of the neighborhood call a meeting, at which all wear white masks, and the bad boy is brought before them and sentenced to be tarred and feathered. When the tar is applied, and likewise the feathers, it is found to the consternation of the boys that they are there to stay, and so the bad boy wanders all night in his unhappy condition and is taken for a ghost.
United States
A single intertitle—"He was mother’s angel"—flashes like a guilty halo, and already the nickelodeon audience of 1913 knew they were complicit in something savage. The film, clocking in at a lean eleven minutes, never bothers to name its imp. Raymond Lee, barely taller than the gate-legged camera tripod, plays the bo...
still_frame
Comparing the cinematic DNA and archive impact of two defining moments in cult history.
Ward Lascelle
Unknown Director
Community
Log in to comment.
" A single intertitle—"He was mother’s angel"—flashes like a guilty halo, and already the nickelodeon audience of 1913 knew they were complicit in something savage. The film, clocking in at a lean eleven minutes, never bothers to name its imp. Raymond Lee, barely taller than the gate-legged camera tripod, plays the boy as a smirking cupid whose arrows are slingshots and firecrackers. Director-writer (uncredited, as was custom) lets the boy’s transgressions pile up in brisk tableau: a stolen app..."
