Their First Execution

Once more this intrepid company of burlesquers has chosen a rather dubious subject for humor, an electrocution. The subject is treated in such a light, ridiculous fashion that we forget its serious side and, while this is not uproariously funny, there are some really amusing situations in the film. It will please a certain class of picture goers. - The Moving Picture World, May 10, 1913

The prison staff is all atwitter because it's going to be their first execution using the new electric chair and the governor is coming for the show. But their prisoner escapes and in the usual Keystone mix-up, they capture sleuth Ford Sterling and strap him into Old Sparky....

Sterling was probably Keystone's biggest star at this point and although he doesn't appear in his 'Dutch' personna here, he does some of his extreme mugging. So, the question for this movie is: does Sterling's mugging as a nominal five thousand volts of direct current being pumped into him strike the audience as funny, or is the idea of being electrocuted frightening enough to make this one merely bizarre? Keystone had a specialty of these extreme comedies and no doubt this one played well enough to keep it in circulation for a while. I find it rather disheartening, but do wish they had remade it with Ham & Bud and ten thousand volts .... each.