Where the Road Divided

WHERE THE ROAD DIVIDED (1915) is a 1-reeler from Lubin and is a morality tale about the city slicker and a country gal. Directed by and starring Edgar Jones at the end of his association with Lubin (which went bust in 1916).

Jones plays a country schoolmaster who loves his student Rose (Louise Huff, his real-life wife). But she's something of a flirt. She's also loved by country boy Jed (George Gowan) but it seems his love is from afar. Anyway, into this rural patch comes an engineer (Earl Metcalfe) checking out "mineral prospects." But he becomes enamored of Rose and fills her head with visions of the big city. As he's whisking Rose away in his snappy car (with a Pennsylvania plate), they pass Jones and Gowan, who run up and over the mountain pass so they can head them off.

The boys roll a stump down into the road but when the slicker can't shift the stump and the boys come running down the hill, he (for some reason) starts shooting at them and Jed fires back .... but guess who takes the bullet? With her last breath she says "I'm glad you came in time."

When "mining engineer" George Gowan shows up to look for prospects, he charms Louise Huff into running away with him, using visions of Market Street in Philadelphia. Edgar Jones and Earl Metcalfe run down the auto to save her from a fate worse than death.

Given that Lubin, the studio that produced this short, was based in Philadelphia, I doubt they felt that way. However they were the most conservative of the Patents Trust companies and would continue to specialize in shorts with old-fashioned plots. Lubin, however, arose out of opticianry equipment and knew how to use the equipment, so there are some lovely shots in this one -- although the story and its handling are nothing to write home about.

Co-stars Huff and Jones were married briefly, which might have lent some irrelevant interest to this movie.