Charles marries an actress against the wishes of his parents, and breaks with his family. His son eventually sees to the reconciliation of his father and grandfather.Charles marries an actress against the wishes of his parents, and breaks with his family. His son eventually sees to the reconciliation of his father and grandfather.Charles marries an actress against the wishes of his parents, and breaks with his family. His son eventually sees to the reconciliation of his father and grandfather.
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- Alice Guy(unconfirmed)
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- TriviaIncluded on the "Alice Guy Blanche Vol. 2: The Solax Years" Blu-ray, released by Kino.
Featured review
What Did I Just Watch?
I saw "A Terrible Lesson" on Kino Lorber's Alice Guy Blaché vol. 2: The Solax Years Blu-ray, except I didn't see it under the title "A Terrible Lesson" that they had for one of the films included on the disc. That film was the exact same print I'd already seen for "God Disposes" (1912) on the EYE Filmmuseum's YouTube channel, where it's stated that the title was previously mislabeled as "A Terrible Lesson." An email exchange with Kino Lorber further clarified the matter, as they explained that "God Disposes" was misidentified on their disc as "A Terrible Lesson" and that, once more, "A Terrible Lesson" was misidentified as "Mr. Bruce Wins at Cards" (1914), a title which I'm not even sure was a real title, regardless of its appearance on internet databases. It's not included in Guy's filmography from Allison McMahan's book, "Alice Guy Blaché: Lost Visionary of the Cinema," which is generally a more reliable source that what one will find on the web. (If one trusted the interwebs, e.g., they'd think fellow pioneer female filmmaker Lois Weber had something to do with the first Tarzan movie, but read a book from a Shelley Stamp or someone who's done some research, and there appears to be no there there--same goes for a lot of things, but I digress.) Such mistakes happen, and as Kino Lorber explains, it'd be cost prohibitive to correct the Blu-rays they've already manufactured.
This confusion is small, besides, compared to what I'll just go ahead and call one of the biggest controversies of early cinema: the dating and identification of Guy's alleged first film, or maybe a couple or more films that she made later, but for more on that you may see my reviews for the 1896 "The Cabbage-Patch Fairy" and the 1900 "The Cabbage-Patch Fairy," which are actually the same film in that everyone who has seen either one of them has seen the same print, and for "Midwife to the Upper Class" (1902), which has also been mistaken for those or that film, but is it's own title.
As for the film that is actually "A Terrible Lesson," a one-reeler that Guy released in 1912 under her Solax studio, it's actually about a character named Mr. Bruce (which just leads me to further suspect that there's no such title as "Mr. Bruce Wins at Cards," but who knows), who, indeed, plays cards and wins money gambling. At its beginning and end, it's basically just another case of Guy railing against men gambling, which she also did, for instance, in "Burstup Homes' Murder Case" (1913), as Mr. Bruce here neglects Mrs. Bruce and their child to partake in the supposedly-unsavory habit. From there, though, things get weird.
Apparently inebriated or tired, Mr. Bruce is convinced to spend the night at the home or hotel casino where he's been winning at gambling, despite the the two men being blatantly out to steal his money. One can't blame Mr. Bruce, however, for not suspecting the manner in which they'd attempt the theft. He locks his door and prepares the pistol he apparently has at hand, but the thieves have other ideas, as their room next door includes a secret peephole hidden behind a portrait and a crazy device for either smooshing him to death or restraining him to his bed, as a cranking system lowers another surface onto the bed. Fortunately, Mr. Bruce is able to escape by hanging onto utility wires and climbing down the corresponding pole to safety, which is followed by him alerting the police to the shenanigans going about.
A terrible lesson learned, indeed, although I'm not quite sure it's the anti-gambling one presented in the picture or what it could actually be. Maybe it's just that when filmmakers, like Guy, were making multiple one-reel scenarios every week for years, one had to just shoot every nonsense idea they could dream up. And this one was a doozy--it puts to the shame of too plausible something such as Guy's "The Detective's Dog" (1912) where rover rescues the gumshoe form a Bond-villain-type setup of him being tied to a table saw. "A Terrible Lesson" also features some decent cutting with a bit fewer title cards than usual, although it's still very much in the dated tableau style of the rest of Guy's Solax one-reelers, and what appears to be a servant character in blackface also detracts from what is otherwise an amusingly absurd scenario.
This confusion is small, besides, compared to what I'll just go ahead and call one of the biggest controversies of early cinema: the dating and identification of Guy's alleged first film, or maybe a couple or more films that she made later, but for more on that you may see my reviews for the 1896 "The Cabbage-Patch Fairy" and the 1900 "The Cabbage-Patch Fairy," which are actually the same film in that everyone who has seen either one of them has seen the same print, and for "Midwife to the Upper Class" (1902), which has also been mistaken for those or that film, but is it's own title.
As for the film that is actually "A Terrible Lesson," a one-reeler that Guy released in 1912 under her Solax studio, it's actually about a character named Mr. Bruce (which just leads me to further suspect that there's no such title as "Mr. Bruce Wins at Cards," but who knows), who, indeed, plays cards and wins money gambling. At its beginning and end, it's basically just another case of Guy railing against men gambling, which she also did, for instance, in "Burstup Homes' Murder Case" (1913), as Mr. Bruce here neglects Mrs. Bruce and their child to partake in the supposedly-unsavory habit. From there, though, things get weird.
Apparently inebriated or tired, Mr. Bruce is convinced to spend the night at the home or hotel casino where he's been winning at gambling, despite the the two men being blatantly out to steal his money. One can't blame Mr. Bruce, however, for not suspecting the manner in which they'd attempt the theft. He locks his door and prepares the pistol he apparently has at hand, but the thieves have other ideas, as their room next door includes a secret peephole hidden behind a portrait and a crazy device for either smooshing him to death or restraining him to his bed, as a cranking system lowers another surface onto the bed. Fortunately, Mr. Bruce is able to escape by hanging onto utility wires and climbing down the corresponding pole to safety, which is followed by him alerting the police to the shenanigans going about.
A terrible lesson learned, indeed, although I'm not quite sure it's the anti-gambling one presented in the picture or what it could actually be. Maybe it's just that when filmmakers, like Guy, were making multiple one-reel scenarios every week for years, one had to just shoot every nonsense idea they could dream up. And this one was a doozy--it puts to the shame of too plausible something such as Guy's "The Detective's Dog" (1912) where rover rescues the gumshoe form a Bond-villain-type setup of him being tied to a table saw. "A Terrible Lesson" also features some decent cutting with a bit fewer title cards than usual, although it's still very much in the dated tableau style of the rest of Guy's Solax one-reelers, and what appears to be a servant character in blackface also detracts from what is otherwise an amusingly absurd scenario.
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- Cineanalyst
- Mar 26, 2021
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- A Hard Lesson
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- Runtime14 minutes
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- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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![Darwin Karr in A Terrible Lesson (1912)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYzdlZDJkNDgtNTE0Ni00YTk3LWIyODgtOTQ0YmU1ZDRlMjJmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDUyOTUyNQ@@._V1_QL75_UY133_CR53,0,90,133_.jpg)