Summary
In a stark portrayal of early 20th-century social stratification, 'The Midnight Burglar' unfurls the awakening of young Marylee Depue, a child born into opulence, to the grim realities festering beneath her family's gilded veneer. Her father, the magnate John Cromwell Depue, embodies a callous indifference, staunchly resisting any amelioration of the squalid, disease-ridden conditions within his tenement properties, despite a burgeoning wave of illness among his impoverished tenants. Marylee's mother, Emily, a woman whose philanthropic endeavors are mere fashionable affectations, inadvertently orchestrates a pivotal moment by taking her daughter on a perfunctory tour of these very slums. Here, amidst genuine human suffering, Marylee's sheltered innocence shatters, revealing a profound empathy previously dormant. This newfound compassion ignites a bold, almost subversive, act: at a societal ball, she dons the guise of a 'slum child,' collecting alms, a poignant tableau of performative charity juxtaposed with her burgeoning, authentic desire to aid. The narrative intensifies as Marylee, driven by an urgent sense of moral obligation, embarks on a clandestine nocturnal journey to visit Jones, a tenant whose wife is gravely afflicted with typhoid. Her desperate resolve culminates in a daring 'burglary' of her own family's pantry, absconding with a substantial bounty of sustenance for the ailing woman. Yet, her nascent heroism is curtailed when she herself succumbs to illness, prompting Jones to return her home. The film culminates in a rather facile, albeit emotionally potent, resolution: John and Emily, relieved to discover Marylee's malady is merely an excess of jam-laden cakes rather than a contagion from the tenements, experience a sudden, almost miraculous, moral conversion, pledging to reduce rents and sanitize their properties, a denouement that neatly, if somewhat implausibly, ties the knot on their newfound social consciousness.
Synopsis
Marylee Depue's father, John Cromwell Depue, refuses to improve the unsanitary living conditions in his tenements, although many of the tenants have become ill. John's wife Emily, who is involved in charity work only because it is fashionable among her friends, takes Marylee on an excursion through the tenements, where the child sees genuine suffering for the first time in her life. At a ball given by her mother, Marylee dresses as a slum child and collects money for the poor, and later that night she steals away to the tenement to visit Jones, whose wife has contracted typhoid. Determined to help the sick woman, Marylee steals a large basket of food from her own house and gives it to Jones, but he takes her back home when she becomes ill. Overjoyed to learn that Marylee's sickness was brought on by eating too many cakes with jam, John and Emily vow to lower the rents and clean up the tenements.
Review Excerpt
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Unveiling the Layers of 'The Midnight Burglar': A Silent Era Gem's Enduring Resonance
Stepping back into the nascent days of cinema, when flickering images and orchestral scores wove narratives without uttered dialogue, we encounter 'The Midnight Burglar' (1917), a film that, despite its age, still pulsates with a surprisingly robust social conscience. This isn't merely a historical artifact; it's a poignant mirror reflecting the stark class disparities that defined, and continue to define,..."
