The Telephone Girl and the Lady

I have seen hundreds of short films by D. W. Griffith and one common theme I have noticed in these early films are women in peril. So often, the likes of the Gish sisters or Mary Pickford are being attacked by evil rascals. In "The Telephone Girl and the Lady", the lady, Claire McDowell, is attacked by a masked thief and her only hope is if the telephone operator (Mae Marsh) hears her pleas for help and summons the police.

This is a decent and entertaining short film. My only complaint is that the first half could have been tightened up a bit and the plot takes a while to actually get going. Otherwise, pretty impressive for 1913.

Telephone Girl and the Lady, The (1913)

*** (out of 4)

D.W. Griffith short intercuts two different stories before mixing them together at the end. The film focuses on a telephone girl (Mae Marsh) who leaves work for her lunch break at the same time as "The Lady" (Claire McDowell) goes to a jewelry store to pick up some priceless jewels. When the telephone girl returns to work she gets a phone call from the house of "The Lady" as a robbery (Harry Carey) has broken in and is trying to steal the jewels. This is certainly Griffith experimenting with how to work the format and for the most part he succeeds. I think the early stories could have been handled a little bit better but it's clear Griffith was just using that to set up the ending, which contains some nice suspense of the thief slowly torments a maid to try and get the jewels while the police are trying to get to the scene. Marsh turns in another fine performance as does Carey as the thief. Lionel Barrymore can be seen playing the cop who answers the telephone call from Marsh.

Mae Marsh works, happily, as an ordinary telephone operator; among the calls she places is one to the jewelry shop "Julius Jorgenson", as wealthy Claire McDowell calls to arrange a meeting about some jewels. Ms. Marsh uses her break time to see policeman suitor Alfred Paget. "The Telephone Girl and the Lady" cross paths as the former is on her way back to work, and the latter is returning home from the jewelry store. McDowell is impressed with Marsh's friendliness. They do not know Ms. McDowell is being followed by bicycle thief Harry Carey; he is planning to relieve McDowell of her jewels.

Later, "The Lady" McDowell sends "The Telephone Girl" Marsh a beautiful necklace, writing, in an accompanying note, "I am asking you to accept this token in appreciation of your promptness and painstaking efforts to please." From her telephone operator position, Marsh calls to thank McDowell for the gift. While the two women converse, burglar Carey sneaks enters McDowell's house, placing "The Lady" in great danger! Marsh hears McDowell being assaulted at the other end of her telephone line - will she be able to rescue McDowell from Carey's clutches?

D.W. Griffith, G.W. Bitzer and the good folks at Biograph deliver another winner. The location scenes are beautiful; generous amounts of early 1900s New York scenery are displayed on screen. The Biograph players perform an exciting story well. Carey is particularly menacing in his scene with McDowell; adding an amorous edge to his attack. Marsh is also notable; she is both expressive and natural, in a thoroughly charming performance. The story is a little confusing, however; it is adapted from a play, where some further explanation of story elements and character motivations may be clearer.

****** The Telephone Girl and the Lady (1/6/13) D.W. Griffith ~ Mae Marsh, Claire McDowell, Harry Carey