Silent Sundays: The Perils of Pauline: The Floating Coffin (1914)

In the final chapter of The Perils of Pauline serial entitled The Floating Coffin, Pauline Marvin (Pearl White) and her fiancé Harry are traveling on his new yacht. He also has a motorboat. Pauline has him show her how to work the mechanisms for the small boat.

            After some pleading Harry finally gives in and lets Pauline drive the motorboat for herself. She takes along her dog Rusty for the ride. The motorboat stops working and begins to take on water. Pauline manages to get herself and the dog onto an old boat.

            Not far off in the distance is a naval fleet. They are going to be using the boat that Pauline and Rusty are on for their target practice. The fleet shoots at the boat and puts enough holes in it to start sinking it. Pauline is frantic she tries desperately to get the naval fleet’s attention. She manages to find a pen and piece of paper and writes a note saying she is on board the old ship. Pauline gives the note to Rusty who she has swim to the battleships.

            The crew of one of the ships sees the dog swimming towards them. They take a small rowboat out to the dog. The crew sees the note and the captain calls a cease fire. The crew and the dog get to Pauline in the nick of time.

            Someone on the yacht has wised up to Koerner’s evil doings trying to get rid of Pauline for her money. The man punches Koerner and throws him overboard. Koerner eventually drowns.

            When Pauline comes back she embraces Harry and tells him she has finally had enough of having adventures and wants to marry him at last.

            For the past nine weeks I have thoroughly enjoyed watching The Perils of Pauline. Some of them were exciting and thrilling and some were just alright. Pauline Marvin is a great character. I liked how she went on all these adventures, planned or unplanned, and did so with such bravery and fun. My favorite aspect of all these episodes is that they were filmed in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Fort Lee was the original movie town. All the major studios started there. Over the summer I completed my internship as a museum registrar at the Fort Lee Museum working for the Fort Lee Film Commission. I found so many incredible movie artifacts from the early film industry and learned so much about it. The Fort Lee Film Commission are big fans of The Perils of Pauline and even use a behind the scenes photograph from one of the films as their logo.

            The Perils of Pauline is a must see for classic film fans. They are fun, innocent, and entertaining given the time period they were made in.  I can only hope that these films, if seen by more viewers, especially women, will inspire writers in some way to write strong, adventurous female characters. 

Silent Sundays: The Perils of Pauline: The Serpent in the Flowers (1914)

“I can tell your fortune by the lines in your hands.”

            This episode of The Perils of Pauline has our heroine on two dangerous and thrilling adventures.

            Koerner still up to no good trying to get rid of Pauline Marvin (Pearl White) his young ward. He enlists the help of some local gypsies. The chief gypsy is happy to help. He has Koerner bring Pauline down to his camp to read her fortune. The chief reads her fortune himself and tells her that she will be going on a long trip. As he relays his fortune men come out of the woods behind him and Pauline and throw a blanket over her head. The men take her to their camp. A gypsy woman who is in love with the chief has heard about the woman and becomes jealous.

            Pauline tries to escape the camp but is immediately caught and brought back.

            Harry, Pauline’s fiancé is concerned that she has been gone for so long and begins to search for her. The gypsy woman flags him down and shows him where Pauline is being kept. Harry has a fight with the chief ending with the chief being badly hurt. The gypsy woman’s love for chief is strong and she is angry with Harry. She finds a snake in the woods, puts in a basket with some flowers over it, and brings it to Pauline’s house.

            As Pauline looks at the flowers in the basket, Harry notices something moving in it. He throws the basket on the floor and out slithers the snake. He manages to kill the snake before it can cause any damage.

            Unfazed by the snake Pauline is ready for another adventure. She hears about a steeple chase race and wants to buy a horse so she can enter. Koerner sees this as an excellent opportunity to try to have Pauline killed. He finds someone to poke the horse with a needle to make it go wild. Pauline is thrown off her horse during the race. She is hurt but she will recover.

            The Serpent in the Flowers was good. I liked the idea of there being two adventures but the second part with the horse race really did not make any sense. I read that some of the episodes of the American and French versions of The Perils of Pauline were once spliced together and I have a feeling that is what happened with this episode.

            Stay tuned for next week’s concluding episode of The Perils of Pauline.

Silent Sundays: The Perils of Pauline: The Tragic Plunge (1914)

Pauline (Pearl White), her fiancé Harry, and her evil greedy guardian Koerner meet a Lt. Summers. He is a lieutenant in the navy and also designs submarines. Lt. Summers invites Harry, Pauline, and Koerner back to his place to meet his fiancée Mlle. Yagow.

            It turns out that Mlle. Yagow is a spy along with the valet. Koerner recognizes Mlle. Yagow as a possible ally in his evil plot to get rid of Pauline. He offers her $100,000 upon Pauline’s death.

            Lt. Summers completes his submarine plans and places them in what he believes is a secret place. The valet comes goes into the office not long after Summers has walked out. He finds the plans and takes them to his superiors. The valet tells his superiors he will do whatever it takes to sink the submarine with Summers in it even if it means he will die as well.

            Koerner arranges for Pauline to go on the submarine knowing full well what the valet has planned. The submarine goes underwater and as soon as it reaches a low depth the bomb goes off sinking the vessel to the ocean floor. The valet is found hiding and confesses about him and Mlle. Yagow working for the enemy who wants their plans. The submarine crew are able to get Pauline out and to safety by having her crawl through the torpedo launcher.

            Pauline and Harry set up a rescue for the crew. They then go find Mlle. Yagow. They fight her and the leader she is working for and escape with the plans.

            The submarine is able to be lifted to the surface and the crew are saved.

            Finally, Pauline is some peril! I liked The Tragic Plunge a lot. It was a little nerve wracking.

Silent Sundays: The Perils of Pauline: The Shattered Plane (1914)

Pauline’s (Pearl White) guardian Koerner suggests to her that she should ask a famous aviator if she can go with him on one of his record breaking flights. Koerner suggests this to Pauline because he is still trying to have her killed so he can take her money. Pauline’s fiancé Harry is not happy with Koerner for his suggestion. All Harry wants to do is marry Pauline but she is constantly going off on some adventures and getting herself in trouble.

            At the airport Koerner overhears the aviator tell a technician. The aviator is not too crazy about Pauline coming around but once he sees her he agrees. Koerner pushes his luck with asking the aviator if Harry can come along but the aviator says he can only take Pauline with him. Koerner goes to his partner Hicks with the news about the wires in the plane. Hicks has someone deal with the wires.

            In the meantime Harry still does not want Pauline going on the trip. He does everything he can to stall her. He messes with one of the cars causing it to break down on the way to the airport. Fortunately for Pauline and unfortunately for Harry another car comes by and she has the driver take her to the airport.

            Pauline is late for takeoff and the aviator leaves without her. Harry shows up believing she is on the plane. Soon the plane turns around and crashes. Harry is shocked and terrified because he believes Pauline to be on the plane. Before he becomes too upset Harry runs into Pauline. The couple leaves the airport and heads home.

            Pauline was once again not really in any peril. Harry is once again a hero making Pauline late for her flight. I thought it was so cool seeing scenes of Fort Lee where Shattered Plane and all the Perils of Pauline films were made. At the time these films were made Fort Lee and the surrounding towns were all wilderness and dirt roads. Today Fort Lee is home to the George Washington Bridge and “Bridgegate” and  insane amounts of traffic. It is hard to believe that the town and the towns around it were once small backwoods places the film industry would come over and use for exteriors. 

Silent Sundays: The Perils of Pauline: A Watery Doom (1914)

“Save me Henry! I’m afraid!”

            In this sixth episode of The Perils of Pauline entitled A Watery Doom…

            Koerner enlists the help of some local gypsies to help get rid of Pauline so he can have her fortune. The lead gypsy brings Koerner into a building and tells him Pauline will be placed in a basement where water will come through a wall they will blow out with dynamite. Koerner laments that Harry, Pauline’s fiancé always comes to her rescue and ruins everything.

            Pauline and Harry have just returned from a drive. A call comes through for Harry that one of his plants is on fire and he must hurry down. The caller was one of the gypsies.
Pauline goes with Harry just as Koerner planed.

            On the way down to the plant their car is stopped by the gypsies and both of them are dragged out of the car and tied up. Of course almost as soon as the bad guys put Harry and 

Pauline in what should be their demise, the couple managed to become untied. They cannot get out through the door above them since the gypsies have blocked it with furniture.

            Soon water begins to gush in. Pauline and Harry are unable to stop the flow and the room quickly fills with water and even worse, rats. Harry finds that they can climb up the chimney. When they are on the rooftop the gypsies see them and begin to shoot and chase after them.

            Back at the house, Koerner began to celebrate his success and wealth. He fired all the help. Before the help could leave Pauline and Harry come home. When Koerner sees the couple alive he runs out of the house terrified.

            A Watery Doom is back on form with the suspense and the action compared to the episode before this. Harry is the hero in this episode leaving Pauline with nothing really to do. Still, The Perils of Pauline, was of course, entertaining and enjoyable. 

Silent Sundays: The Perils of Pauline: The Deadly Turning (1914)

In this exciting episode of The Perils of Pauline entitled Deadly Turning our heroine Pauline Marvin (Pearl White) has entered herself into an auto race. She has not told anyone she entered. Pauline tells Harry and her guardian Koener when a letter arrived to inform her that she has been accepted into the race.

            Koener sees this as another excellent opportunity to get rid of Pauline so he can take her money from her inheritance. He goes to another one of his many associates for help in his quest. This associate he threatens most likely because Koener knows something he did and does not want word to get out. Koener tells this associate to take his car (Koener’s) in the race and when they come around a bend he is to get close enough to Pauline to make her go over the edge. Koener has yet another associate throw something on the road when Pauline comes to a certain spot to make her crash.

            During the race the associate who was supposed to be throwing things on the road is caught and chased away. And the other associate did not manage to get Pauline to go over the edge. Pauline safely wins the race.

            The Deadly Turn is short running just under ten minutes. There was no time to really feel any excitement or to get into the story. Even though she did not do anything significant in this film Pauline Marvin is still a great film character. Here is a woman in 1917 entering an auto race. What a daredevil!

Silent Sundays: The Perils of Pauline: The Pirate Treasure (1914)

In this episode of The Perils of Pauline entitled The Pirate Treasure:

            Koener and his old associate Hicks are still trying to get rid of Pauline Marvin (Pearl White) and take all her money. Koerner and Hicks have an old man go to Pauline’s house pretending to be an old man with a story.

            The old man goes to the house and tells Pauline the story of how he had been working on a ship years and years ago and had come into some treasure. The old man claims to have lost the treasure and would like Pauline’s help in finding it.

            Pauline’s fiancé Harry does not want her going on any trips to find this treasure but of course she strikes out on her own not telling him all the details of her trip. Wanting to know what she is up to Harry follows her. Harry and his friend are misled by a guide from town and are set adrift in the ocean. They come upon the villa of some of their friends but no one is there. They go ashore and disguise themselves. They find out Pauline’s plans.

            Koener finds out that Harry has made it on board the ship. He sees this as a perfect chance to get rid of both Pearl and Harry. He plants a bomb on the ship. Pauline and Harry find the bomb. Fortunately for them there is another ship coming their way and they wave wildly for it to come and save them.

            Pauline and Harry are saved… for now. Koener, Hicks, and the old man have escaped.

            The Pirate Treasure was good but not as much fun or as exciting as the first two episodes of The Perils of Pauline. Even so it is definitely worth watching. 

Silent Sundays: The Perils of Pauline: The Goddess of the Far West (1914)

         This episode of The Perils of Pauline entitled Goddess of the Far West continues where episode one left off.

            Pauline Marvin (Pearl White) had been kidnapped and left for dead in a burning house until Harry Sanford came and rescued her. No ones that Harry’s father’s secretary Koerner was the one who was trying to kill her so he and his associate Hicks could take her money.

            Now Pauline is constantly hounded by the press. She needs a break so she decides to go to her aunt’s house in Montana. Koerner still wants Pauline’s money. He packs his bags as well and heads out west without Pauline knowing. Hicks tags along with him as well. Koerner gets some local rough necks to go along with his plan of kidnapping Pauline and leaving her in the woods.

            Pauline is picked up from the train station by her uncle. On the way the rough necks that Koerner hired kidnap Pauline right off the wagon. They take her out into the woods and tie her up and leave her in a cave. Pauline is able to untie herself but she cannot find a way out.

            Some Indians in the hills are fox hunting. The pursued fox comes into the cavern where Pauline is stuck. She figures if the fox can get in and out then there must be some way for her to do the same. She manages to climb out of a small hole in the ground but gets stuck. She sees one of the Indians and asks for his help. The Indian thinks she is part of a legend that a white woman would come from the ground and help their people in battle. Pauline is brought back to the camp and brought to the chief. He promises to train her for her battle.

            In the city both Harry and Koerner receive letters. Harry’s comes from Pauline’s aunt telling him that Pauline has been kidnapped. Harry rushes out to Montana. Koerner’s letter is from Hicks and the rough necks that the job has been done.

            One hundred volunteers are rounded up back in town in Montana to find Pauline. They get to Pauline just in time to save her from the plans the Indians have in mind for her.

            Goddess of the Far West was fast paced and exciting. It was nice to see a female lead in such an early film use her head to get out of a jam instead of being a damsel in distress. I think the title is a bit funny because Pauline did not go to the Far West as in Asia she went out to the far west of the United States and she was a goddess-like figure to the Indians.  

Silent Sundays: The Perils of Pauline: Chapter One (1914)

Imagine going to movie theaters in the early 1900s when movies were still new. Every story idea was fresh, every idea and camera angle were new and inventive. They were a great adventure, a great romance, a great comedy. They were all still innocent and sweet and exciting. There are so many films that make me wish I could go back in time and see them in the theaters. One series of films I would like to travel back in time and see is the very first chapter of The Perils of Pauline that was first released in 1914.

            Pauline Marvin (Pearl White) has been left in the care of an older man named Sanford after her father died.  Pauline is set to inherit a large fortune but while she waits for her inheritance Sanford looks after her money.

            Sanford has a young son named Harry. Harry is madly in love with Pauline but she is in no rush to get married. She wants to live her life and travel the world.

            The old man has a secretary named Koerner. One day Koerner is approached by a man he used to run around with. The man wants money from Koerner or else he will tell Sanford that Koerner was once in jail and escaped. He tells the man to wait that Sanford will likely die soon and leave him something.

            Sanford does eventually die. He places Koerner in charge of Pauline’s money. The secretary relays this information to the man he knows. The man comes up with a plan to have Pauline go up in a hot air balloon at Pallisades Park and fly away. The man bribes a few people at the park to put his plan of killing Pauline into motion.

            Pauline is thrilled to be going up in the hot air balloon. Of course her ride does not go over as she had hoped. When the rope to the air balloon is cut Pauline finds herself sailing over the Palisades cliffs. In a smart move she climbs down the rope and lands on the cliff side.

            Harry and Koerner had been following Pauline. Harry gets to Pauline first and attempts to pull her up by tying the rope to his car. He climbs down to get her. When he gets to her to rope falls. Koerner and the man have cut the rope. Pauline comes up with the idea to inflate the balloon again and fly back up. Koerner comes down. He knocks Harry down and carries away Pauline. Koerner takes her to an abandoned house. He has Pauline tied up, places her on the floor, and sets the room on fire.

            Luckily Harry arrives before the house can burn down and saves Pauline. Back at the house Koerner calls the police to report Pauline missing thinking she is dead. Pauline comes walking into the house with Harry. They are both a bit shaken but they will alright.

            The last few seconds literally end with a question mark since Koerner walks away with the other man. The last title card tells the audience to come back the following week to see another chapter of Pauline’s story.

            I had first heard about the Perils of Pauline through the Betty Hutton film of the same title. That film is good especially because Betty Hutton is hilarious and her Rumble, Rumble, Rumble number is one of my all time favorite musical numbers in a film ever but it barely has anything to do with the real story of the film series or Pearl White. Ever since that time I have been interested in seeing the original Perils.

Fire was put under my behind to watch the series after I began interning at the Fort Lee Museum in Fort Lee, NJ. For those of you who might not be aware Fort Lee was where the motion picture industry really took off. The motion pictures studios in New York would send their troupes over the Hudson River to film outdoor scenes. Soon studios such as Goldwyn, Selznick, World, Solax, Universal, and Éclair built studios in the town. Many films from the various studios filmed along the Palisades Cliffs. At the museum I have seen and handled several photographs and pieces of memorabilia from The Perils of Pauline and also those pertaining to Pearl White. Every few years the museum shows one of the chapters from the series along the cliff side of the Palisades where White filmed many of her famous scenes. The museum even uses a famous photograph of White, camera man Arthur Miller, director George Seitz, and Antonio Moreno on their business cards and other professional signs and posters to advertise. The Perils of Pauline hold a special place in the heart of the local cinephiles in Fort Lee with its view of the Palisades but I believe they take more pride in that Palisades Amusement Park is featured (PAP, even though it closed down, is a huge part of the area’s history).

I greatly enjoyed watching the first chapter of The Perils of Pauline. It was cute and I must say it was even exciting. It is definitely a film and a series I would have liked seeing had I been alive one hundred years ago. Pauline Marvin would have been my hero and someone I admired. 

If you live in New Jersey or would like to take a trip to see some silent film memorabilia please come by The Fort Lee Museum. Also, please visit the Fort LeeFilm Commission’s website for more information on the early film industry.