Jones’ Burglar
(1909) American
B&W : Split-reel / 388 feet
Directed by D.W. Griffith

Cast: John R. Cumpson [Mr. Jones], Florence Lawrence [Mrs. Jones], Mack Sennett [the burglar], Owen Moore [club member], Arthur Johnson [club member], William J. Butler [club patron], Anthony O’Sullivan [club patron], Frank Powell [club patron], [?] ? [maid]

Biograph Company production; distributed by Biograph Company. / Scenario by Frank E. Woods. Cinematography by Arthur Marvin and G.W. Bitzer. / © 10 August 1909 (as Mr. Jones’ Burglar) by Biograph Company [J130484]. Released 9 August 1909; in a split-reel with They Would Elope (1909). / Standard 35mm spherical 1.37:1 format. / Working titles: Mr. Jones’ Burglar and Jones and the Burglar. The production was shot on 26 June and in July 1909 in the Biograph New York studio and on-location in Coytesville, New Jersey. The eighth film in the “Mr. Jones” series. Possibly Lawrence’s final Biograph film.

Comedy.

Synopsis: [Biograph Bulletin, number 264, [?] ? August 1909, page ?] : Everything on this old mundane sphere has its use. Even the burglar’s visit, strange as it may seem, may provide a blessing, as this Biograph comedy will verify. Jones has an insatiable longing to go to the Club for a little game, so as a subterfuge tells his wife he is called out on business. Mrs. J. by this time has become cruelly incredulous, and declares she will wait up for him. At the club Jonesy breaks the bank, things come his way, but when he leaves for home he anticipates that on his return things may continue to come, but not so felicitously. However, his luck is still with him, for he finds a burglar trying to gain entrance into his home. Aha! an idea. The burglar is a coward, and he forces him to break in and so plays the hero, thereby softening his wife’s anger by apparently apprehending him.
Synopsis available in Usai-Griffith-3 pp. 1-2.

Survival Status: Prints exist in the the Museum of Modern Art film archive [35mm nitrate negative], and in the Library of Congress film archive (paper print collection) [35mm paper positive, 16mm preservation positives].

Keywords: Clubs - Criminals: Burglars - Domestics: Maids - Gambling

Listing updated: 18 January 2009.

References: Barry-Griffith p. 41; Spehr-American p. 2; Usai-Griffith-3 pp. 1-2 : Website-AFI.