Suspense.

1913
7.4| 0h11m| en| More Info
Released: 06 July 1913 Released
Producted By: Rex Motion Picture Company
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

An isolated house is too remote for a lone servant, who leaves a note, quietly exits the back door, and puts the key under the mat. Left alone in the house is a mother and her infant. A tramp has watched the servant leave and begins to skulk. When the lady of the house sees him outside as he discovers the key, she's terrified and desperately phones her husband, who's at work in town. He jumps into a car that's idling in front of his office and races toward home, the car's owner, and police, in hot pursuit.

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Reviews

BlazeLime Strong and Moving!
Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good
GazerRise Fantastic!
Loui Blair It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.
Hitchcoc The title tells it all. A woman and her child are alone at the house because the hired help decides to take off. Her husband is at work. She realizes there is a man outside, a hobo. He gets into the house after she has called her husband. Then we have the classic "Will he get there" plot. He steals a car and leaves he driver, who immediately gets the police involved. This was directed by a woman and for a short film is edited very well and tells a convincing story.
Michael_Elliott Suspense (1913) **** (out of 4)This semi-remake of D.W. Griffith's 1911 film A WOMAN SCORNED takes many of the masters best known techniques and adds new one to them making the end result certainly live up to the title. A woman's maid quits without notice leaving her and her baby all alone when a tramp comes upon the house, finds a key under the door mat and decides to come in. The woman frantically calls her husband at work and he must try and get home before the tramp reaches his wife. This is one of the most legendary films from this era and it's easy to see why because not only does it take stuff from Griffith but there's also enough new stuff here that you'd have to wonder if someone like Fritz Lang or Alfred Hitchcock saw this and learned some of their trade. There are so many wonderful moments here including one where the camera is placed above the tramp looking down on him. Another great scene happens when a car accidentally runs over a man and the way it's shot is just breath taking to watch. The most important thing seen here are a couple split screens where the screen breaks down into three sections and we get to see what all the major characters are doing. This is used to great effect when the wife is on the phone with the husband and the tramp cuts the phone line. As was the case in many Griffith films, the ending pretty much has the good guy having to reach the bad guy before it's too late and directors Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber (who plays the wife) do a terrific job at slowly building up suspense and then pushing it into high gear once everything begins to mount up.
tavm This silent drama short was directed by Phillips Smalley and his wife Lois Weber who also appears. She plays a woman with a baby left alone in the house after her maid leaves a notice of her quitting. A wandering tramp finds the key under the outside mat left over by the maid. When the mother realizes her situation she calls her husband at work who rushes in a stolen car with police and car's owner in pursuit...While melodramatic, this was quite an exciting thriller for the early days of cinema that still provides some moments today. And how fascinating to see one of the earliest uses of the split-screen in seeing various actions happening simultaneously which in this instance is in three ways in what was called the triptych. So on that note, I highly recommend Suspense.
F Gwynplaine MacIntyre I viewed a print of 'Suspense' in the National Film Archives, in London. Phillips Smalley is credited as director, but the film was probably co-directed by Lois Weber. Women film directors have always been a rarity, although Alice Guy Blache was also directing films in early silent days. Lois Weber's career is especially interesting because (unlike Mme Guy Blache, who directed from behind the camera), Weber played the lead roles in her own films, directing herself.'Suspense' reminds me of a couple of early DW Griffith films in which a young woman (or a pair of young women), alone in an isolated location, is in jeopardy. We have a similar situation here. Lois Weber plays a young wife in an isolated house. She and her infant are unexpectedly left alone by her husband when the maid has abruptly given notice, leaving her latchkey under the doormat. A passing tramp discovers the situation and tries to break in. When the woman rings her husband (are there no police?), the distress call is terminated when the tramp cuts the 'phone line. The husband, rushing home to rescue his wife and child (are there no police?), steals a motorcar. NOW there are police, as a cop nabs the husband for grand theft auto. Rather than explaining that his wife is in danger, he gives the cop the slip.SPOILERS NOW. The tramp, meantime, has found the maid's latchkey and he lets himself into the house. Just when things look grimmest for Wifey and her child, the cops arrive ... not to nick the tramp, but because they've been pursuing the husband all the way here. Only when the tramp is safely nabbed does the husband finally explain himself.I was eager to view 'Suspense' partly because I'm very interested in Lois Weber's career -- she proves herself a decent actress (by silent standards) and a fine director (ditto) -- but my primary interest in this film is because I was told that the tramp in this film was played by an actor who *might* be Lon Chaney. After viewing 'Suspense', I determined that the villainous tramp in this brief film is definitely NOT the Man of a Thousand Faces. However, there is a brief appearance by another tramp during the chase sequence: this actor wears realistic beard growth and an application of grime, and does indeed appear to be Chaney.'Suspense' is well-acted, quite well-directed and brilliantly edited, with some impressive cross-cutting and even a triptych split-screen effect. It's a shame that the plot line is so contrived, but despite some plausibility issues 'Suspense' is most definitely suspenseful. I'll rate this movie 8 in 10, and I wish that Lois Weber were better known.