A Life in the Balance - Production & Contact Info

A Life in the Balance (I) (1913)
Short | 10 min | Comedy, Short

A Life in the Balance (I) (1913)

Short | 10 min | Comedy, Short

The landlord of poor tenements rents rooms to three Italians. Not being impressed with their looks he spies upon them and discovers that they are making bombs. Securing a pistol he rushes into the room and chases them out. He then runs to ...See moreThe landlord of poor tenements rents rooms to three Italians. Not being impressed with their looks he spies upon them and discovers that they are making bombs. Securing a pistol he rushes into the room and chases them out. He then runs to the police station, but is kicked out by the cops who resent leaving their game of pinochle interfered with. The revengeful Italians enter the landlord's home while his wife has gone to the store and place their baby in a basket, which they attach to the end of a long spring, taken from an exerciser, and fasten the other end of the spring under the window so that when the window is raised it will permit the basket to fall four stories. The landlord is waylaid and tied to a fence, his gloating captors telling him of what they have done. He is in agony and tugs at his bonds, and manages to get the rope in his mouth, which he vainly tries to chew in two. His wife returns home and missing the baby, thinks he has taken it out. Alternate flashes are shown of the woman In the house and the baby dangling at the end of the spring, and the audience is kept in an expectant frame by the wife going to the window to open it and having her attention distracted by various incidents in time to prevent her from raising the window. A boy finally releases the frantic landlord, who rushes home just in time to save his child. Written by Moving Picture World synopsis See less

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Cast	+ Add Cast
9 cast members

Name	Known for
Ford Sterling The Landlord The Landlord See fewer	The Trouble with Wives (1925)
Dot Farley The Landlord's Wife The Landlord's Wife See fewer	The Red Kimono (1926)
Raymond Hatton Lead Arsonist Lead Arsonist See fewer	Behind the Front (1926)
Laura Oakley Neighbor Neighbor See fewer	The Black Box (1915)
Dave Anderson Cop Giving Chase (uncredited) Cop Giving Chase (uncredited) See fewer	The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914)
William Hauber Cop in Station (uncredited) Cop in Station (uncredited) See fewer	Passing the Buck (1919)
Bert Hunn Cop (uncredited) Cop (uncredited) See fewer	The Knockout Wallop (1915)
Rube Miller Cop (uncredited) Cop (uncredited) See fewer	Shy Thirty Cents (1916)
Coy Watson Baby (uncredited) Baby (uncredited) See fewer	Erskine Johnson's Hollywood Reel (1949)