Suspense.

A woman is alone in a house in the country. Her maid quits and leaves, putting the key under the mat by the door. The woman and her baby remain. A tramp comes, finds the key and gets in. She telephones her husband and tells him. He leaves his office; he has no car, takes somebody else's, and the police follow. The film shows three things at once: the woman in the house, the man on the stairs and the husband on the road. Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley direct; Weber also plays the woman. The film dates from 1913 and is short. What it is best known for is the split screen; three images are shown in one frame in a triangle, a technique unusual in early cinema. The camera angle looking up the stairs also counted as new in those years and was much used in later thrillers. Lois Weber was among the most prolific directors of the silent era and one of the best paid names of the period. The narrative is set up in very little time; the film runs under ten minutes and no scene is wasted. A shot using a mirror and the wing mirror view in the car chase stand out technically. Its value now is both in the history of the genre and in the early position of women directors. Who it is for: anyone curious about silent cinema and the history of film technique. Who it is not for: it is very short, the acting is in the exaggerated manner of the period, and the narrative is simple.