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Billy’s Sister
(1910) United States of America
B&W : One reel / 950 feet
Directed by [?] Gaston Méliès and/or William F. Haddock?
Cast: Francis Ford [Billy], Edith Storey [Billy’s sister]
G. Méliès production; distributed [?] on State Rights basis by G. Méliès? / Produced by Gaston Méliès. Cinematography by William Paley. / Released 6 October 1910. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama: Western.
Synopsis: [The Moving Picture World, 8 October 1910, page ?] Full of booze, bluster, and fight, “Black Pete,” a big “bad man” of the wild west, comes from the local saloon ready to put daylight through anybody and everybody within the range of his voice and the reach of his gun and, to further convince the crowd that he is the terror of the territory, lands on an inoffensive bystander knocking him down. “Billy” is an entirely different sort of a citizen; he is a young chap living with his sister whom he loves very dearly; their love is mutual. Billy has received a letter and stops on his way home in an opening in the woods to read it. While thus engaged, an Indian girl is making her way through the woods. “Black Pete” coming along the pass sees and attacks her. “Billy” springs to her defense and knocks “Pete” down; in falling he strikes his head on a stone and is killed. In his haste to get away, Billy drops his letter. Shortly after the death of “Black Pete,” his body is found by some of his gang, who at the same time pick up Billy’s letter which readily connects him with the killing of Pete. They decide to capture and lynch him. The Indian girl overhears their vow of vengeance and warns Billy and entreats him to escape. He makes good his escape, tells his sister of the accident and the determination of the gang to lynch him. His sister, with a woman’s quick wit, quickened by love and impending danger, tells him to take off his cowboy togs and put on his store clothes, mount her pony, catch the next train at the railroad station, and get away as quickly as possible. He loses no time in starting and is now on his way to reach the train. His sister soon follows him dressed in his discarded outfit, her long hair turned up under the sombrero. She looks the counterpart of “Billy,” the ranger; it is not surprising that the gang mistake her for “Billy” and give pursuit, exactly what she wanted them to do: by misleading them “Billy” has plenty of time and chance to make his “getaway.” She leads the gang a long and rapid chase. There’s a flash, a dash: it’s a wild, exciting ride: whiz! whir! goes the lariat and swish! it lands over the girl’s shoulders, caught by the desperate men who pull her from her horse, drag her to a tree, and throw the rope over a branch; but they fall back astounded when “Billy’s” sister looks into their faces and shakes down her long brown hair and stands defiantly before them. They ask her what has become of her brother. She tells them he is further than they care to travel and a heap farther beyond their reach. They release her and she goes back to her home, where she rewards her faithful horse with her caresses and gratitude for his part in the saving of “Billy.”
Reviews: [The Moving Picture World, 22 October 1910, page 934] Billy accidentally kills a bad man — no loss, of course, but the bad man’s gang determine to lynch him. Warned by a friendly Indian girl, Billy, with the aid of his sister, escapes. Then she, dressed in his clothes, leads the gang a chase and when they prepare to lynch her she allows her hair to fall down, disclosing who she is and how badly they have been deceived. The picture says they let her go. But they must have been different from most bad men. Under most circumstances somebody would have been lynched, and it wouldn’t have made much difference to them who. Here they allow a girl to get away from them without a gesture of opposition, even though she was instrumental in helping the one to escape they were after. It is very nice and quite like a Sunday school, or some other peaceful organization, to allow the girl to go; but it will be generally recognized that a rescue of some description would have been necessary in the original scheme.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Native Americans
Listing updated: 27 May 2024.
References: Thompson-Star pp. 131-132, 229 : ClasIm-226 p. 54 : Website-AFI; Website-IMDb.
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