When Heart Wires Cross

When Heart Wires Cross (US 1911)
Director: Unidentified
Cast: Richard Travers, Fritzi Brunette
Production company: Powers Picture Company

Production date: 1911
Sound: silent
Color: b/w
Length (in feet): 800 ft.
Length (in reels): 1
Running time: 11 min., 51 sec.
Frame rate: 18 fps

Restored by the George Eastman Museum and the Film Foundation, with funding for digitization provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation 
Preserved at Cinema Arts Laboratory
Digitized by Eastman Museum Film Preservation Services
This film has been made accessible to the public in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: NEH CARES. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this video, do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities

When Heart Wires Cross was filmed in New York City by the Powers Picture Company in 1911. Despite the lack of an opening title card and intertitles, we can follow the misadventures of two young bachelors who meet and woo two young bachelorettes.

They inadvertently mix up times and meeting places and end up with each other’s date. This causes acrimony, jealousy, and vows never to engage with the opposite sex again. Once the suitors discover their errors and offer sincere apologies, all is forgiven and this one-reel film has a happy ending.