The Kite (1915)

movie

Country: USA
Genres: Drama, Short
Release: 1915-05-07
Director: Tom Chatterton
Writers: C. Gardner Sullivan
Language: None | English
Stars: Rhea Mitchell , Edward Brennan , Howard Hickman , Joseph J. Dowling
Runtime: min
Awards: N/A
AKA: The Kite , The Kite (United States of America)
Plot: Benjamin Wheeler and his daughter, Marion, entertain at dinner Davis Watts, an eccentric capitalist, much interested in Wheeler's researches, and because of the warm weather they dine on the roof garden. Wheeler and his assistant, Hammond, have invented an electric kite, a device for detecting the approach of storms far in advance. When dinner is finished Watts seats himself in Mr. Wheeler's favorite chair. As Wheeler starts to play the violin, Watts falls forward in the chair, dead. The following morning the police learn that Wheeler was considerably in debt to Watts and he is held on suspicion. The poor old man is all broken up when taken into custody by the police, and Marion calls to enlist the services of Norman Dunbar, a famous scientific detective, on her father's behalf. Dunbar feeling that the roof must furnish the key to the tragedy examines it thoroughly and finds in the chimney which connects with the laboratory a highly sensitized steel plate and concludes that Watts was killed by a current directed against the plate. A few days later Dunbar locates the kite, torn and frayed, lodged securely in the telephone wires in a street in the slums. He hires a small boy to climb the pole and get the kite for him and then detaches from it a copper wire and a steel needle. That afternoon he calls on Marion and in the laboratory his attention is attracted to a large dynamo. Upon questioning Hammond he discovers that the dynamo has voltage enough to kill about ten men. Dunbar's suspicions are immediately directed to Hammond especially when he learns that Hammond wished to marry Marion but that her father would not hear of it. He feels convinced that Hammond intended to kill Wheeler, but that, because Watts took Wheeler's favorite chair, the shock was directed to him unintentionally. During Hammond's absence from the laboratory Dunbar sets a trap for him. He rigs up a large box kite, similar to the one made by Hammond and Wheeler. To this he attaches a coil of heavy wire. The other end of the wire is attached to the dynamo. He flies the kite from the laboratory window. He then awaits Hammond's return and when he comes in takes him up to the root. At a signal from Dunbar, Marion throws the switch on the dynamo, and Dunbar points out to Hammond electricity flashed from a needle on the kite to the plate in the chimney passed completely through the body of Watts. Dunbar accuses Hammond of killing Watts when he intended to murder Wheeler. Hammond confronted with the evidence of his guilt breaks down and confesses.
IMDB:tt0487678