Talk:The Perils of Pauline (1914 serial)

Are railroad and sawmill scenes a myth?

I've come across suggestions that the 1914 version of this title never actually featured scenes where Pearl White was tied to a railroad or sent heading for a buzzsaw. At first I was skeptical because I've often seen this movie cited as the origin of those particular plot devices. But after a bit of initial research into sources that describe the episodes it seems such scenes are conspicuous by their absence.

I've come across various references to "Pauline's trestle" on the New Hope and Ivyland Railroad as the site of a scene with Pearl White, but on further investigation it seems that references which describe her being tied to the track could be due to people leaping to conclusions. References which mention her tied to the track tend to be vague and none are specific about which episode it was supposedly in. On the other hand I've come across several descriptions of a scene with Pauline running along the top of a moving train as it crosses the trestle (see for example [1]). I find these latter descriptions more convincing as they are more specific and detailed.

Apart from the fact that there was a train scene (albeit without Pauline tied to the track), there are a number of other reasons why confusion might have arisen. At least one of the later remakes of Perils of Pauline had a scene with Pauline tied to the track as well as a scene with a buzssaw. I also think Pearl White may have done such a scene in one of her other films (It seems that if you're looking for the original model for things like The Perils of Penelope Pitstop then The Exploits of Elaine is a closer match than Perils of Pauline). Also, there were a number of other serials around that time that had damsel in distress scenes on railroads (The Hazards of Helen is among the candidates)

I guess it's possible there was something in one of the reels that has been lost (ie. something in the original 20-chapter release that isn't in the surviving 9-chapter version). Can anyone provide more conclusive evidence?

Circusandmagicfan (talk) 22:56, 11 February 2008 (UTC)Circusandmagicfan

You are correct. There never was any sawmill or "tied to railroad tracks" scene in The Perils of Pauline (1914). Not even in any of the footage which no longer exists. They are just movie myths, similar I suppose to "Play it again Sam" which Bogart never actually says in Casablanca.

There was only one silent serial I am aware of which had a sawmill buzzsaw scene and that was Perils of Thunder Mountain (1919). It is actually a reworking of a scene in a then famous stageplay called Blue Jeans. Check out the book Melodrama and Modernity by Ben Singer if you haven't already for more info on that.

The train tracks scene which is associated with serials for some reason was actually popularized in a couple Keystone comedies (Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life and Teddy at the Throttle). Check youtube - I think both are posted there. There was an episode of Hazards of Helen where she was tied up and stumbling around and falls on some train tracks as the train approached (it was in episode #10). That is the closest you'll get to that scene being in a serial - and Helen wasn't really a serial, it was a series.

The scene with the train tracks in the 1947 "biography" version of Pauline is a resonably close reenactment of the scene in Teddy at the Throttle.

For some reason these myths became associated with serials and Pauline in particular very early on - I've seeen references to them published in the 1930's. Perhaps because Pauline is the only silent serial which most people could ever name, they assume that it must have had those scenes in it. Cars going over a cliff, death traps, explosions, etc were serial cliches that were used often. The sawmill and train scenes are actually rare - its more like they are believed to be cliches when they really aren't.

At least two scenes with trains did occur in the 1914 Pauline. One is where a male airplane pilot parachutes out of his plane and lands on some tracks as a train approaches. Pauline was the passenger in the plane and she takes the controls and lands the plane safely herself. The second train scene is where a circus train has a gorilla which escapes and threatens Pauline. Neither of those are in the surviving 9 chapter version.

Hope this helps.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.169.176.69 (talk) 06:35, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

Sample scene

Here is a Youtube video with that scene. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URriYBt-cH8

I'm not sure what serial it is from. George Slivinsky (talk) 12:14, 23 March 2013 (UTC)

Possibly incorrect information in description

Not sure how this works, but I wanted to flag this for someone more familiar with this topic. The article states "Although each episode placed Pauline in a situation that looked sure to result in her imminent death, the end of each installment showed how she was rescued or otherwise escaped the danger." But David W. Menefee in his book "The First Female Stars: The Women of the Silent Film Era" says the exact opposite on page 194. Here's a link:

http://books.google.com/books?id=VpXVmTfHNZEC&lpg=PA194&ots=s42P_IcQqQ&dq=perils%20pauline&pg=PA194#v=onepage&q=perils%20pauline&f=false — Preceding unsigned comment added by 38.103.38.201 (talk) 21:14, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

I had the same impression, Sinebot, although I found the link you provided to be of little help. My own, albeit limited, knowledge on the subject has the rescue scene reenacted at the beginning of each new episode, not at the end, which would defeat the whole rationale of a "cliffhanger," no? Also cf. the related Wiki article on "Serial Film:" "Viewers had to return each week to see the cliffhangers resolved and to follow the continuing story." Orthotox (talk) 21:43, 18 November 2012 (UTC)

In this early serial there were no cliffhanger endings carried over to the next episode. They were self-contained. George Slivinsky (talk) 18:41, 15 December 2012 (UTC)