Summary
In an era where the dusty thoroughfares of rural America served as the primary stage for itinerant misadventures, William Watson’s 'Skeletons' emerges as a kinetic blend of slapstick heroism and gothic absurdity. The narrative follows the peripatetic duo, Nervy Ned and his perpetually famished valet, whose pedestrian journey is violently interrupted by the breakneck passage of a carriage—an event that propels them from the margins of society into the heart of a high-stakes abduction. After witnessing a maiden being sequestered within a sprawling, opulent estate, the pair orchestrates a rescue characterized by ingenious mechanical retribution, tethering the antagonist to the very vehicle of his villainy. However, the sanctuary of the mansion proves illusory; upon entering to revive the swooning damsel, Ned and his companion are thrust into a surrealist nightmare. The corridors become a labyrinthine theater of the macabre where they are pursued by a phantasmagoria of animated skeletons—later revealed to be a clandestine criminal element. The film culminates in a resolution where the transactional nature of heroism is subverted; Ned eschews a monetary bounty in favor of a romanticized aesthetic reward, asserting a nomadic philosophy that equates the absence of property with the absence of metaphorical skeletons.
Synopsis
Walking along some country roads is a hazardous undertaking, a fact which Nervy Ned and his valet had brought to their attention very forcibly when a horse and carriage careened past them at the rate of about forty per. They just escaped by the skin of their teeth and, quite naturally followed the subsequent course of the vehicle as far as their eyes would permit. That, however, was far enough for the carriage drove in through the gate of a magnificent estate and stopped. The next thing the two "companions of the road" saw was a beautiful girl being carried, against her will, from the carriage. Being gentlemen they immediately went to her assistance. By tying a rope to the axle of the carriage and also the the villain's leg and giving the horse a none too gentle hint that it was time to move on they managed to get rid of the first obstacle in their path. The girl promptly fainted in Ned's arms and so with instructions to his valet to prepare the way he carried her into the house. What was there to greet them was not revealed to them until they had selected suitable clothing from a convenient wardrobe. Then they met them, while searching for water to revive the girl. Five or six skeletons. Frightened, they ran and were chased. Chased from room to room, until every room in the house had been covered. Then papa arrives with the police and the "skeletons" are captured. The girl relates the bravery of her hero to papa who offers monetary reward. Ned refuses, much to the disgust of his hungry valet, being satisfied with the beautiful smile the girl gave him. Nervy Ned says "Live in a box car and you'll have no family skeletons."
