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In the Tall Grass Country
(1910) United States of America
B&W : One reel / 980 feet
Directed by William F. Haddock
Cast: Francis Ford [Bob], Edith Storey [Nell]
G. Méliès production; distributed [?] on State Rights basis? by G. Méliès. / Produced by Gaston Méliès. Cinematography by [?] William Paley? / Released 29 December 1910. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama: Western.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Look before you leap, at hasty conclusions. Nell is a sweet girl and Bob is a good fellow; Nell is a typical Texas girl and Bob is a comparative newcomer to the west. Well, anyway, Bob falls in love with Nell and they are engaged. Bob’s sister Helen writes a note to Bob that she is coming to the Tall Grass Country to see him. He gets the letter at the post office, reads it and starts for home. At a corner of the road a woman appears, frightens Bob’s horse, and in controlling it, his sister’s letter signed, “Yours with love, Helen,” drops to the ground. The woman who so suddenly made her appearance in the road is an old fried-egg-faced gossip. She picks up the letter and hustles back to town to put Nell wise to Bob’s perfidy. Nell takes the bait and Bob is “in bad.” The old mischief-maker tells Nell that Bob is bringing the eastern girl to his shack and she saw them coming down. Sure enough Nell sees Bob caressing the girl as they are driving along together. Helen is delighted with Texas and likes to rove about its fields and prairies. One day she goes out in the tall grass and wanders a long distance away. A careless hunter shooting game sets fire to the grass and Helen is surrounded by prairie fire. Nell sees the fire, gets her spy-glasses to bring the scene closer and recognizes Helen in the midst of the flames. Revenge is now struggling with the more noble inclination to rescue the girl who has stopped between her and Bob. She rushes from the house and across the country until she comes to Helen, half carries and half leads her to safety while she herself falls fainting at the edge of a stream. Bob gets anxious about Helen’s absence, sees the smoke and flames of the burning grass, fears the worst and arouses the cowboys who all start out to find the missing girl. They find Helen, take her to her brother’s cabin where they revive her. She tells about Nell and again they go back over the trail to rescue Nell. Bob discovers her unconscious at the river’s edge, carries her to his home where she recovers. She shrinks from Bob and tells him to declare his love for the girl from the east. Bob begins to see the lay of things and tells Nell that she is slightly mixed in her conclusions: taking Helen by the hand, he relieves Nell’s mind by introducing his sister to her. Nell is dazed then looks foolish and saves herself from further embarrassment by throwing her arms about Bob’s neck and receiving the comfort of his loving embrace.
Survival status: Print exists.
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Native Americans - Prairie fires
Listing updated: 26 May 2024.
References: Thompson-Star pp. 153-155, 229 : ClasIm-226 p. 54 : Website-AFI; Website-IMDb.
Home video: DVD.
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