The Animal (1913)

movie

Country: USA
Genres: Drama, Short
Release: 1913-08-17
Director: Allan Dwan
Writers: Allan Dwan
Language: None | English
Stars: Wallace Reid , Pauline Bush , Marshall Neilan , Jessalyn Van Trump , D. Barlow
Runtime: 10 min
Awards: N/A
AKA: The Animal , The Animal (United States of America)
Plot: Reid, "The Animal," a man of great strength and brutal impulse, arouses a certain admiration within Miss Bush, who at a distance, has witnessed his fearless battle with an opponent of unusual proportional advantages. Neilan, her escort, a young man of more sensitive nature, is repulsed by the struggle and turns away with the girl, who reluctantly follows. They are later overtaken by Reid, who has previously made overtures to Miss Bush. He puts her escort to flight and gathers her unwillingly in his firm embrace. She gradually yields to his command and consents to be his wife. Another contrast of extreme nature is effected through the gentle wooing of Toddles by her lover, which also gives way to marriage. A year elapses and a child is born unto Toddles. The loving couple fondle their own but for a short time, before Heaven recalls it and they are left to mourn its death. In the rude hut of the forceful Reid and submissive wife an infant opens its eyes for the first time upon the world. Reid, who is attracted by the excitement in his home, endeavors to enter but is denied admission by the nurse, and he moodily wanders away in thought until at last his gaze is attracted by the simple grave in which Toddles and her husband's joys and hopes are slumbering. He halts and from a distance watches the parents' grief, unmoved through lack of comprehension. Upon his return, cheers greet him at a passing tavern as father of a son. He is sullen and dull in understanding; stares perplexedly and goes his way moodily. At his home he is confronted by his own offspring and looks blindly for the cause of the mother love which is now centered upon her nursing child. A fit of jealously is aroused within him and his first impulse is to kill the helpless infant which threatens to spring between them. He pauses to reflect and moodily wanders off, to pause again near the grave to watch the silent prayers of the grief-stricken parents. A sudden thought finds expression within his brutal nature and he slowly retraces his steps. At the cradle of the child he pauses to gather his tiny offspring in his arms and stealthily goes forth to the home of the mournful parents and places it in the arms of Toddles, who fondles it dearly to her breast in hysterical joy, as Reid silently takes his leave. Upon his return he finds his wife in an insane frenzy at the loss of her child. He regards her in bewilderment, firmly denying any knowledge of their child. A search is made by sympathetic neighbors of the woods and vicinity but to no avail, while the wife hysterically nurses the empty blanket to her breast, calling for her child. Neilan, her old sweetheart, whose unspoken love has never failed, pleads with the husband to find the child and restore the mother's reason. The husband, at last moved by Neilan's argument, goes to the home of Toddles and forcibly takes his child from her clinging arms and restores it to his grief-stricken wife.
IMDB:tt0002631