Mack Sennett, The Gusher, 1913

The Gusher, 1913 (glass slide)
(source: free webs)
no copyright infringement intended

A burlesque comedy that comes from 1913, a Mack Sennett / Keystone short of 12 minutes. It takes place down in the oil fields. We have here the good fellow (Ford Sterling), the crook (Charles Inslee), and the ingénue (Mabel Normand). The good fellow is enamored head to toes to the ingénue. Not only that: he also wants badly to buy an oil-well. Once an oil king he would marry the girl, that's his plan. That's not a bad idea, I'd say. However the crook elaborates a scheme to cheat the buyer, and sells him a fake well. (that's so freaking horrible, don't you think?) Once he grabs the money the villain wants also to grab the girl, as a bonus. Not that easy, the good chap is there on guard! Plus the supposed fake well is actually a gusher. Wow! So the good guy is now the new oil king in town, and the two lovers can get married. Unfortunately the villain plans a fiendish revenge and puts the gusher afire. This really sucks, isn't it? (please excuse my French) A global mêlée follows, with The Keystone Cops coming on the stage, the confusion becomes the master.

You'll ask me how this has ended, all that crap. Well, it's going on this global mêlée, down in the oil fields, you know, up to our days.

(Warning: any resemblance  to some present events is purely incidental)

Mack Sennett, The Gusher, 1913
starring Mabel Normand, Ford Sterling, Charles Inslee,
and The Keystone Cops
(video by The Early Cinema)

(Early Movies)