A great silent film produced by D.W. Griffith and headlined by the amazing Mary Pickford. Her boy friend she called a coward when at first he wanted to avoid the escaped criminal. Of course in the end her boy friend is brave and saves her by fighting the criminal. Just in time the police show up and save the day. Love the part where they make up and she has him kiss all the spots were the criminal hurt her. It all ended with a big hug! Love is truly a splendid thing!
Very good film. Interesting that the hero does not have to overcome the villain, he just has to risk his life to buy time for the police to show up. It would never be played that way in a film today. Mary excellent as always. I will have to check to see if that's the same locomotive we saw in The Lonedale Operator (1911).
Simply wonderful, and full of historic locations later used by Mabel Normand, Douglas Fairbanks, and Buster Keaton. This post explains how it was all filmed near the future site of LAX - silentlocations.com/2020/12/27/mary-pickfords-a-beast-at-bay-a-century-before-lax/
Because it was the American Biograph Cops who arrived instead of the Keystone Kops…no Model T’s were destroyed nor were any pratfalls committed during the filming of this drama.
I agree with Gene. ALL of these films should be played with the music of their time. Just as if you saw it in a theater at the time, with live music played on a piano or organ.
@@richardsummers8805 I watch silent films daily. I find period music emphasizes their datedness and makes the over-the-top acting unbearable to watch. Somehow giving them more contemporary accompaniment - for me at least - emphasizes their timeless relevance. The computer's ability to extrapolate the missing frames from the lower frame rate helps immensely too. As a child, when I saw silent films, the music was always cheesy Wurlitzer organ, or worse yet, honky tonk piano, and the screen action was either speeded up because of the slower frame rate of the time, or flickery because of the missing frames that occur when the projection speed is slowed down to avoid the hyperactive, silly movement of the mismatched frame rate. Now computers can extrapolate the missing frames in those gaps and make the motion look more natural. Somehow when I hear old fashioned music with the films, I''m reminded of how ridiculous they all looked when I first saw them in the '60s and '70s, with everyone scampering about as if they were all on amphetamines.
It's wonderful seeing the degree of naturalism in films of this age, not all were like this by any means. Very easy to see why Pickford was so popular.
Great MP short! Nice to see her more in an action short, and driving as well, along with high production values too! The 1912 Biograph shorts certainly are alot better quality than 1909-1911!
After he saved Pickford and she is apologizing for having thought him a coward, a better ending would have been for him to see a pretty bystander batting her eyes, and dumping Pickford on the spot to join up with the other woman.
This is the third Mary Pickford short that I’ve watched for the first time today on your page! Edwin August plays the boyfriend who comes to the rescue to free Mary from the escaped convict played by Alfred Paget who would later play Babylonian Prince Belshazzar in D.W. Griffith’s 1916 epic Intolerance. I also recognized Mae Marsh with Mary at the beginning of this film! Thank You for another priceless early Mary Pickford film! 😉
I don't know who you folks are, but abundant and loving thanks for posting this wonderful little film. I love them for their visual "time capsule" appeal that captured historical periods and places in the background, rather than as "film classics" per se. That said, the quality of the film and its resolution impressed me to no end. I suspect serious restoration efforts. If so, bravo! Great work! And yes, Mary Pickford is a doll! Wow! (Pardon my "sexist" comments, snowflakes...). Can we have more, many more in the future? How about posting "Napoleon" by Abel Gance? Be well.
!["A Beast At Bay" (1912) [Full Film]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
