The Lonedale Operator (1911)

Writers:

Release Date:

23 March 1911 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Drama | Romance | Western

Plot:

When her father becomes ill, a young woman takes over the telegraph at a lonely western railroad station...

Plot Keywords:

Train | Telegraph | Payroll | Melodrama | Wrench

Cast

Verner Clarges	...	In Payroll Office
Guy Hedlund	...	On Train
Jeanie Macpherson	...	In Payroll Office
W.C. Robinson	...	In Payroll Office

Runtime:

17 min (16 fps)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Inglewood, California, USA

Company:

Biograph Company

Trivia:

The text of the first telegram is signed 'GWB', the initials of camera George William 'Billy' Bitzer.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Since the movie was shot on an open-air set, the wind blows the paper's on the desk in the office as well as the clothes of the actors and Blanche Sweet's hair.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Historia del cine: Epoca muda (1983) (V)

Fine early Griffith

This film, nicely preserved with tints, is part of the "Treasures" 4-disc DVD set from the American Film Archives. It captures DW Griffith in the middle of his stint at American Biograph, and it demonstrates his developing skill with montage. I'm fond of Lonedale because it captures day-to-day life in a bygone era (for example, the secretary operating an early typewriter and the operation of steam locomotives).

The performances are by necessity done in broad strokes. Blanche Sweet, then a very mature-looking 15-year-old plays the story's heroine who bluffs her way out of a sticky situation.

This film is one of the highlights of the Treasures DVD set.