The Stumbling Block

This "love me - love my dog" comedy appears in the Dutch EYE collection under the German title Der Hund als Hemmschuh (the dog as obstacle) wrongly dated as 1910. The actor who plays Billy (renamed "Robert" in the German version) is also wrongly identified as Maurice Costello; it is, as listed here, Leo Delaney. The two are not always that easy to tell apart; they looked sufficiently alike for Delaney to have played Darnay to Costello's Carton in A Tale of Two Cities. But Costello had fluffier, curlier hair than Delaney.

The collie is undoubtedly Jean who appears in several Vitagraph films about this time all directed by Larry Trimble who also owned the dog). Another film in the series, Jean the Matchmaker is available from the National Film Preservation Foundation but sadly not on youtube where many more people would see it.

The EYE version lacks footage. Sadly the scenes involving Norma Talmadge who played by the heroine's chum have been completely cut and the end is also missing; it is however very readily guessable even without reading the description of the film. It is not a film of any great depth of subtlety.

Leo Delaney loves Florence Turner, and she looks upon him favorably, but Jean the Vitagraph Dog doesn't like him in the least, and Miss Turner wisely follows her advice. So Delaney kidnaps Jean won't let her eat unless she eats from his hand. Jean resists as long as she can.

Delaney's resorting to abduction is supposed to show his devotion to Miss Turner, but to me it merely shows how very right Jean is. Delaney's subsequent behavior offers even more confirmation of this. Alas, since most of Jean's movies result in lovers getting together, Miss Turner's future looks like a grim one.

Norma Talmadge also appears in this movie.