The Open Track

"The Open Track" is a short action film from the action series of short films "The Hazards of Helen". This is episode 63 from a total of 119 weekly one reel films produced by Kalem. Helen's cleverness exposes a band of counterfeiters who later succeed in turning the tables on the railroad detectives and tying the two men to the cowcatcher of a train which they then start off down the grade. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2010.

The Adventures of Kathlyn

Feature version of the thirteen episode serial, Adventures of Kathlyn, released three years earlier.

The Adventures of Kathlyn

The serial detailed the experiences of Kathlyn Hare, the pretty daughter of an explorer. Kathlyn resided in a mythical India, fighting off unwanted advances from a handsome native, Umballah, when not battling an endless array of ferocious jungle fauna.

A Boy at the Throttle

Climbing into a cab of a freight engine, Bobbie Layson, the son of a station pulls the throttle open. The alarm goes out and Helen, stationed at Lone Point, is ordered to derail the runaway and thus prevent it from running head-on into the approaching passenger train. Fearing for his son's life, Layson phones Helen

Crossed Wires

Crossed telephone wires enable Helen to overhear a plot between Joe and Bill, escaped convicts, to join a number of Chinese who are being smuggled into the country in a freight train.

The Tramp Telegrapher

Beaten by Dun and Corson, Trent is hurled unconscious to the tracks. Helen, who witnesses the attack, drags Trent from the rails just in time to save him from death beneath the wheels of an oncoming train. When the tramp revives, he accompanies his rescuer back to the station.

The Switchman's Story

Number 68 in the Hazards of Helen series.

The Peril of the Rails

Apparent carelessness causes Conductor Lawton and his train crew to be laid off for thirty days. A gang of car thieves, pursued by police, jump aboard a freight, and after a stiff combat, succeed in throwing the crew off the speeding train to the ground.

The Broken Wire

When the Limited is forced to stop because of an obstruction on the tracks, the passengers alight for a stroll. In the excitement of boarding again one of the passengers loses a handbag containing her jewels and money. Two crooks aboard the train hear of this and at Helen's station they alight.

When Seconds Count

#61 in the Hazards of Helen series

At the Risk of Her Life

Tony, a half-breed Mexican is kicked from pillar to post, but he grasps a chance for revenge on society when he peers through the station window and sees Helen, the operator at Lone Point, opening the express company bag containing a valuable shipment to a local rancher.

The Girl on the Bridge

Communicating with his pals outside, Daly informs them as to the date upon which he is to be taken from the jail to State's prison. Kling, the head of the gang, arranges to hold up the train carrying Daly and effect the man's rescue.

The Girl and the Special

Disguised as baggage man, Burgess and Whelan board the train to which is coupled the special carrying Nina Mallotte and her theatrical troupe. The thieves plan to steal the actress' gems.

The Girl Who Dared

The smugglers seem in a fair way to escape on a stolen engine when Helen, unhitching a team from a nearby wagon, races down the road towards the railroad bridge from which a rope is hanging directly over the track. Standing astride the two speeding horses Helen leaps to the rope, and swaying in mid-air makes a perilous drop to the stolen engine as it dashes past.

The Guardian's Dilemma

Prof. Jaquin Delano joins a circus to study practical zoology. Old man Cummings is the guardian of Anita, a beautiful girl. Cummings rages because the circus tents are pitched too near his palatial home. Anita visits the menagerie tent, sees Jaquin and is impressed with his kind treatment of the wild beasts.

The Perilous Swing

Helen is enjoying a ride on her horse, "Hazard," after her day's work, when news comes that "Red" Purdy and his aides are escaping after making a big haul. When the automobile in which they are escaping breaks down they take to a handcar. Helen pursues them down the track while the Sheriff and his posse set out to head them off on a short cut.

Tapped Wires

After binding Helen to prevent her from stopping the express train to have it await an armed guard, crooks board the train, disable the messenger and dynamite the safe. Helen later takes a short cut in an auto and overtakes the train, but the crooks leap from the speeding train into her car before she can warn the engineer and train crew.

Three Bags of Silver

The chance-shot fired by the villainous but keen-sighted Umballah, makes a bone-bruise upon the fair arm of Kathlyn.

Danger Ahead!

Sterling and Ella steal a jewelry salesman's sample bag and make their getaway by boarding a passenger train. Word is flashed ahead to Helen, who in turn notifies Bowring, a railroad detective. The train is flagged.

The Wrong Train Order

In this episode everything goes wrong. Helen ends up on the rear observation deck of a runaway express train with the door to the inside closed, with the air-brake of the engine damaged, the engine itself full of steam and inaccessible, and the train speeding ahead on the wrong track.