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The Lost Child
(1904) United States of America
B&W : 538 feet
Directed by Wallace McCutcheon (Sr.)
Cast: Kathryn Osterman
American Mutoscope & Biograph Company production; distributed by American Mutoscope & Biograph Company and Kleine Optical Company. / Cinematography by G.W. Bitzer. / © 15 October 1904 by American Mutoscope & Biograph Company [?] [H51655 and/or H105288]?. Released October 1904. / [?] Mutoscope 68mm spherical 1.36:1 format? / The production was shot at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, New York, on 1 and 3 October 1904. Based on a newspaper account of a true incident.
Comedy.
Synopsis: Neighbors chase a tramp with a basket after a mother suspects her child has been kidnapped. // [From Biograph promotional materials] Another Great Comedy Chase by the Originators of “Personal” and “The Escaped Lunatic” The story of THE LOST CHILD is founded on a recent happening in Brooklyn. A youngster crawled under a porch and went to sleep. The mother missing it immediately set up a cry of “Kidnappers,” and soon the whole neighborhood was wild with excitement. The police reserves were called out, and an enterprising newspaper came out with an “extra” offering a reward for the ruffian. The laugh was on everybody concerned when the child was finally discovered. So it is in THE LOST CHILD. The scene starts in the dooryard of a pretty suburban home. A young mother brings her baby out on the lawn, leaves it with some toys and a kitten and goes back into the house. The youngster plays for a little while, and then crawls into a dog-kennel and goes to sleep. The mother comes out shortly and frantically rushes about the yard searching for the child. It is nowhere to be seen. She hurries out to the street, and there at her very gate is a mysterious man putting something into a large basket. It is the kidnapper, of course! The woman does not hesitate an instant, but assaults him with all the fury of a desperate mother. The astonished man succeeds in breaking away before he is totally demolished, and thinking the woman is crazy, starts off on a dead run. The mother pursues hot-foot. She is joined in the hue and cry by her colored cook and Irish washerwoman. Around the corner is a policeman chatting with a nursemaid. A crusty old gentleman is being wheeled up and down in an invalid’s chair, and a couple of girls are strolling along chatting gaily. The chase bursts into this group full tilt, and everyone joins in, even the old gentleman in the chair. As the chase progresses it goes through a corn field. The villain escapes temporarily by hiding behind a corn stack where a farmer’s family are shucking corn, but he is discovered by the old man and the whole crowd run back in pursuit, joined this time by the farmer’s family. Next we see the supposed kidnapper speeding down a country road with the pack in full cry, augmented this time by a dago pushing a junk cart and a one-legged boy hopping along on crutches. The chase breaks next into a deep cut. The kidnapper plunges down the bank at breakneck speed, followed by the whole crowd. Invalid’s chair, baby-carriage, junk-cart and all go rolling from top to bottom; about as ludicrous a situation as any-one could imagine. The kidnapper is finally caught hiding in a brush heap, and although he vehemently protests his innocence, is dragged back to the house by the policeman followed by the clamoring mob. In the meanwhile the scene goes back to the dooryard where the baby is seen at the dog kennel peacefully playing with the pup. The mob arrives on the scene. The mother clasps her lost child to her arms and the chagrined policeman finds that the kidnapper has nothing in his basket but a guinea-pig. The film is without a flaw photographically, and is just right as to length. Each scene is snappy and full of life, and the laugh is continuous.
Survival status: Print exists in the Library of Congress film archive (paper print collection) [35mm paper positive].
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: African-Americans - Animals: Dogs, Guinea pigs, Horses - Baby carriages - Back roads - Baskets - Canes - Captures - Carriages - Carts - Chases - Children - Crutches - Doghouses - Fences: PIcket - Kidnapping - Policemen - USA: New York: Brooklyn - Wheelchairs
Listing updated: 11 May 2018.
References: Film viewing : Leyda-Before pp. 43, 47; Niver-Early p. 188; Niver-First p. 76-77; Shipman-Cinema p. 32; Usai-Griffith-1 p. 17 : Website-AFI.
Home video: DVD.
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