In the Nick of Time's primary photo
  • In the Nick of Time (I) (1908)
  • Short | Short, Drama
Primary photo for In the Nick of Time
In the Nick of Time (I) (1908)
Short | Short, Drama
Bessie Barton, a young girl of the Kentucky Mountains, is loved and courted by Robert Clayton, a wealthy young man from the blue-grass district. Jack Martin, a mountaineer, is also in love with Bessie and resents Clayton's attention to the...See moreBessie Barton, a young girl of the Kentucky Mountains, is loved and courted by Robert Clayton, a wealthy young man from the blue-grass district. Jack Martin, a mountaineer, is also in love with Bessie and resents Clayton's attention to the girl. The girl lives alone in a cabin situated on a high crag in the mountains, and for her protection there is a small drawbridge suspended from a sturdy oak, in front of her door, which, when raised, makes her home inaccessible. Here the orphan girl grows into magnificent womanhood. Clayton is proud of his sweetheart and decides to introduce her to his blue-grass friends. He prevails upon a number of them to accompany him to the girl's lonely home and publicly invite her to a May Day party which he is going to give on the lawn in front of his beautiful country home. Martin, the jealous mountaineer, determines to kill his rival. As Clayton and his friends are leaving, he appears with murder in his heart: but, in his blind rage, he falls to notice that Bessie is watching him in her anxiety and hope for the safe departure of her sweetheart and his friends. The villain raises his rifle to bring his rival to the earth, but the girl springs against him and diverts his aim; then severely upbraids him, disowns his acquaintance, and bids him leave her. On her way to the party, Martin halts the girl and tries to prevent her going. She lashes her horse and leaves him muttering bitter curses. When Bessie arrives at the party, Clayton introduces her to his aristocratic friends. The ladies laugh at her rustic apparel and decline to recognize her. The scene closes with Clayton's assertion that an insult to the lady is an insult to him; for she is to be his wife; which he reveals by comforting the abused girl. We next see a gang of laborers carrying dynamite from a shed to a nearby cut, preparatory to blasting the way for a new railroad. With jealous rage still smoldering in his heart, Martin comes upon the scene, steals one of the bombs and departs with the intention of destroying his rival's property. We see Bessie return to her mountain home, to again find her unwelcomed mountain lover waiting to make a last appeal. She tells him she does not and never could love him. He threatens to make her do so. She flees across the drawbridge and raises it barely in time to prevent his pursuit. He sees his successful rival approaching and prepares to kill him. Clayton arrives and climbs the rock steps toward his sweetheart's cabin. Martin approaches and covers him with his gun; ordering him to throw up his hands and say his prayers. Young Clayton, though facing sure death, tells Martin he is a coward to shoot an unarmed man. Martin's better nature gets the upper hand of his jealousy; he lays aside his gun and knife, declaring they are now equal. It is two hundred feet to the rocks below, and may the best man win. After a fierce struggle, his superior strength gives him the advantage and Clayton is knocked down, falling insensible at his rival's feet. Martin calls to mind the dynamite bomb he has stolen and decides it will be better to destroy the man himself than his property. He lights the fuse and lays the dynamite stick by his enemy. But the girl might rescue him or be hurled to death with him. His rifle! the rope! It is an easy matter with his deadly aim to remove that possibility. The bridge fails, the bomb is fusing, and Martin quickly departs, satisfied that the dynamite will remove all trace of the crime he intends to commit. The report of his rifle brings Bessie to the door, she takes in the situation at a glance, starts to let down the bridge to go to her lover's assistance. It is gone; but the rope is there. Must she see him die? No: the rope! to grasp it! swing across to the ledge, run to the helpless man, and throw the hissing stick of dynamite into the ravine far below. Just in the nick of time, this thrilling rescue is accomplished by the brave girl, and, with her sweetheart's unconscious head pillowed in her arms and as a great smoke rises from the chasm below, we leave them to that future that is always kind to brave and true hearts. Written by Moving Picture World synopsis See less
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Producer
William Nicholas Selig
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Status
Edit Released
Updated May 31, 1908
Release date
May 31, 1908 (United States)

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