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Cult Review
Archivist John
Senior Editor
If you have ten minutes and like seeing how people in 1915 thought a fake mustache could solve every problem, then yes. It is a neat little slice of history.
People who need explosions or talking will probably hate it. It's silent, it's grainy, and the acting is very... enthusiastic. 📽️
So the brother is an engineer. He's working on this bridge, and then he just falls over. It isn't even a big fall, but the movie treats it like he fell off Mount Everest.
Suddenly he's in bed and everyone is worried about the contract. Because apparently, if you aren't physically standing on the bridge, the project fails?
His sister, Dorothy, decides she's going to be the one to save the day. She puts on his clothes and a hat and just walks onto the construction site.
The disguise is honestly hilarious. She doesn't really look like a man, she just looks like a woman in a very large coat who is avoiding eye contact.
None of the workers seem to notice. They just keep pointing at blueprints that look like they were drawn with a crayon. 🖍️
It reminds me a bit of the frantic energy in The Play House, though that one is way more about the gags than the drama.
There is a moment where she’s trying to smoke a cigar to look tough. You can tell the actress absolutely hates it.
The smoke gets in her eyes and she does this little squint that felt too real for a scripted scene. I wonder if they only had one take for that.
Also, the bridge itself looks like it's made of toothpicks and hope. I wouldn't walk on it, even in 1915.
The way the camera stays perfectly still makes everything feel like a stage play. It’s a bit like watching The Stolen Treaty where you just want the camera to move two inches to the left.
There is a guy who is suspicious. He keeps looking at her like, "Wait a minute, why does our boss suddenly have very soft skin?"
It creates this weird tension that the movie doesn't really know how to handle. It just kind of fizzles out into a happy ending because that's how these shorts usually go.
I liked the scenes of the actual construction workers though. They look like real guys who were just told to keep working while the actors did their thing in the foreground.
One guy in the back is just eating a sandwich for like three minutes. He's the best part of the movie. 🥪
It's not a masterpiece. It feels a bit rushed, even for a short film.
But there is something sweet about it. It’s better than The Knight That Failed which I watched last week and found way too boring.
Alice Guy-Blaché (the director) always has this way of making her lead women seem smarter than everyone else in the room. Even if the disguise is bad, she’s still the only one getting the work done.
The ending is very abrupt. Like, "Okay, the bridge is fine, everyone go home now."
I wish we saw more of the brother's reaction when she came home. He just sort of sits there in his pajamas looking confused.
If you’re into the history of how women were portrayed in early film, this is a must-watch. If you just want a good story, you might find it a bit thin.
Anyway, I’m glad I watched it. It’s better than watching a modern commercial for ten minutes. 🎞️
Check it out if you can find a decent print. Most of them are pretty scratchy these days.
IMDb 6.5
1924
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