The Housebreakers
(1914) United States of America
B&W : One reel
Directed by Eddie Dillon (Edward Dillon)
Cast: Tod Browning [?] [Bunko Bill or Harris]?, Eddie Dillon (Edward Dillon) [?] [Bunko Bill or Harris]?, Fay Tincher [the commissoner’s niece], Max Davidson [the commissioner], Sylvia Ashton [the commissioner’s wife], Ed Rice [the cop]
Komic Company production; distributed by Mutual Film Corporation. / Released 13 December 1914. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Comedy.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Bunko Bill, a famous crook, gets a job at a country house as a gardener in order to rob the place. It is the home of the Commissioner of Police, and his niece is in love with a young man who is staying there. But she refuses to marry him unless he commits some deed of daring, such as catching a burglar red-handed, or something of that sort. So Harris, the aforesaid young man, cooks up a scheme with what he thinks is the gardener, alias Bunko Bill. It is that the gardener shall burglarize the house and allow Harris to catch him and turn him over, apparently to the police. He will then contrive to let him escape, etc. Bunko Bill steals the silverware one night beforehand, and Harris catches him. Though Bill is not very well pleased and while they are talking Mrs. Commissioner, a stern and husky female, holds them both up at the point of a gun and demands to know what is what. Harris is afraid to let her know of their scheme and Mrs. Commissioner has Bunko Bill arrested, and Harris also. Bunko Bill is recognized and arrested by the Commissioner and fearful of the Commissioner knowing that she was so careless as to be duped into hiring him, Bunko Bill, she allows Harris to pose as a real hero and he gets the girl.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 28 October 2022.
References: Skal-Browning pp. 251-252 : Website-IMDb.
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