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Private Bunny
(1914) United States of America
B&W : Short film
Directed by George D. Baker
Cast: John Bunny [Private Bunny], Flora Finch [Flora Finch], Charles Eldridge [Old Finch, Flora’s father], Charles Brown [Ezra Wilson], William Shea
The Vitagraph Company of America production; distributed by The General Film Company, Incorporated. / Released 31 July 1914. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Comedy.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Working as a farm hand for Mr. Finch. Bunny is in love with Flora, his employer’s daughter, and all goes well until Ezra Wilson, a former resident of the town, returns from the city to see his old friends. Ezra, resplendent in a brand new Subway Guard uniform, makes a deep impression when he tells everybody he is “connected with a railroad.” Flora is simply carried away by him and gives Bunny the cold shoulder. Bunny leaves for the city determined to win both fame and fortune. In the city, he notices a sign reading, “Able-bodied men wanted for U.S. Army.” and after seeing a vision of himself marching down Main Street at the head of his troops while Flora looks on admiringly, Bunny becomes a recruit. He has quite a few mishaps, is badly hazed by the other recruits, does all the hard work, causes the drillmaster to lose his temper, and is finally put on guard duty. Here he falls asleep at his post, is arrested and sent to the guard house, where the sentinel carelessly replies to Bunny’s inquiry, “Oh, they will only shoot you at sunrise.” Bunny spends a very bad night, and before dawn manages to escape, boards an outgoing freight and arrives at his home town next day. There he and his uniform create a sensation. Flora humbly begs to be taken back, gives him a big dinner party, and things look very bright indeed. In the midst of the jollification, the sergeant from his regiment stalks in and arrests Bunny as a deserter. Amid jeers, the poor man is marched away with a ball and chain on his leg and placed in durance vile.
Survival status: Print exists in the UCLA Film and Television Archive film archive.
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 13 October 2023.
References: Montgomery-Comedy p. ? : Website-IMDb; Website-NFPF.
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