User Reviews

In this one-reel comedy, directed by D.W. Griffith for Biograph, we find an early version of a plot still familiar today from the long-running musical The Fantasticks: a young man and woman run away from their parents to elope, only to learn, eventually, that their parents desired the match all along. In the stage musical, written a half-century after this film was made, reverse psychology has been practiced on the young lovers by their respective fathers, but in this short it's the bride's parents who pretend to forbid the marriage, and thus deliberately drive the couple to take desperate measures. The daughter is played by Mary Pickford, still in her first year of acting in movies, and although her character drives the plot forward -- she is, after all, The Runaway Bride -- this is more of an ensemble effort than a star vehicle. Director Griffith, never known for his facility with comedy, demonstrates in this instance that he could tell an amusing story with a surprisingly light touch.

From the moment they attempt to elope, Mary and her boyfriend (Billy Quirk) encounter difficulties. In order to make a decisive getaway from her parents, they switch from a carriage to an automobile to a rowboat, but nothing seems to be working the way it should. (Mack Sennett, still an actor and not yet a producer of comedies, appears briefly in this sequence as a rustic with a wheelbarrow.) Meanwhile, much of the humor comes from Griffith's cross-cutting from the hapless young couple to her overjoyed parents, who begin preparations for a wedding party just moments after the youngsters depart. Eventually, Mary and her suitor manage to sink their rowboat and douse themselves, and when they come staggering home, wet, muddy and exhausted, they find her house full of joyful friends and relatives ready to celebrate. Naturally, a minister stands ready to perform the ceremony.

They Would Elope is a charming short, still funny a century after it was produced. I saw it recently at a screening saluting Mary Pickford on the 100th anniversary of her entry into the movies. Her 1919 feature The Hoodlum was presented along with two Biograph shorts, restored and shown in beautiful 35mm prints. Picture quality was superb in all three cases, and it was especially gratifying to see the Biographs looking so sharp and clear, considering their age. The outdoor scenes in They Would Elope looked particularly good, and displayed remarkable technical proficiency for such an early work.

A Biograph comedy which illustrates the difficulties of a young couple who misconstrued the action of the girl's father and decided to elope because he made sport of them. And the trials through which they go in trying to escape from the irate father, who quite contrary to their expectations hasn't the slightest objection to the wedding and invites all the neighbors to assist in decorating the house and providing a worthy celebration when the young couple return looking for forgiveness. But they never go to the minister's, and returned home before any wedding occurred. Luckily there was a minister among the guests and he quickly supplied the deficiency. It was a very woebegone, bedraggled couple that stood up before him. hut they were plainly very happy and everybody had a good time. The film is in the Biograph's best vein and technically is even better than their excellent average. - The Moving Picture World, August 21, 1909