Ethel’s Burglar (1915)

movie

Country: USA
Genres: Drama, Short
Release: 1915-08-19
Director: Murdock MacQuarrie
Writers: Murdock MacQuarrie
Language: None | English
Stars: Murdock MacQuarrie , Marjorie Beardsley , Frank MacQuarrie , Margaret Whistler , Betty Nathan , Adele Lane , Edward Sloman
Runtime: min
Awards: N/A
AKA: The Empty Gun (United States of America) , Ethel's Burglar (United States of America) , Ethel's Burglar
Plot: Ethel lives with her old aunt and uncle and is the pride of their hearts. One night she goes out to a party. Her old aunt gives her a key to the door so that she will not wake the old people on her return home. After the party some of the girls go with Ethel to her gate and then leave her. As she goes to open the door she finds she has lost the key, but a passing policeman manages to get the door open for her. Coming to the fire to get warm, Ethel sees a man's foot and a burglar comes out of the window holding a gun on her. The girl, instead of being frightened, reaches up and breaks the gun, showing it to be empty. Norton, the burglar, then tells her of being down on his luck and unable to get work. The girl takes pity on him and writes him a letter to her uncle asking that the burglar be put to work. Meanwhile the policeman has stumbled across the key, which Ethel lost, and returns to give it to her. Ethel goes to the door, and while she is out of the room, the thief goes to the safe which the girl left open, and starts to rifle the cash box. His better self prevails, however, and he closes the box but picks up a locket on the table. Opening it he sees a familiar face, and puts it into his pocket just as the girl returns. She misses the locket and asks about it; he begs her to let him keep it, and then tells her how years before he was passing the uncle's house, which was on fire and how at the risk of his life he had rushed in the burning house and saved the life of their baby niece, who was Ethel. She tells him she remembers the incident, and will give him a good picture, which she goes upstairs to get. The uncle hears noises below, and, slipping down, gets a policeman and arrests the burglar. They handcuff him and are about to take him out when Ethel returns and explains to her uncle. Norton promises the girl that he will lead a straight life from then on.
IMDB:tt0444807