The Jealous Villain is the main antagonist in the 1913 silent comedy short film Barney Oldfield's Race For A Life.
He was portrayed by the late Ford Sterling.
Biography[]
The Jealous Villain is first shown to be in love with "The Girl" (Mabel Normand) and he tries to woo her even though she already has a boyfriend/fiancé/husband "The Boy" (Mack Sennett), so she hits him to knock him over and humiliate him.
In an act of revenge, he has his two henchmen (portrayed by Hank Mann and Al St. John) kidnap The Girl and tie her to the train tracks, in hopes of the train running her over and killing her. When "The Boy" tries calling out for her to try and find her, she isn't able to respond, so he keeps looking.
The Jealous Villain and his henchmen then use a push cart to go down the tracks. The Jealous Villain moves the front of the train all by himself in order to attract the attention of the conductors, killing two of them. For an unknown reason, The Jealous Villain assaults one of his own henchmen and leaves him on the ground dazed with the dead conductors and leaves with his other henchmen.
When his henchmen wakes up, he betrays his former boss and tells two train-yard workers what The Jealous Villain plans to do, then tells the boyfriend/fiancé/husband of The Girl what's going on. As The Boy runs for help, he finds Barney Oldfield's race car and meets Barney Oldfield himself (portraying himself), telling him that they have to save The Girl and he agrees since his car is fast enough to beat the train.
The Henchman also tells five policemen what he saw and they also chase The Jealous Villain with the push cart he abandoned. When he sees Barney Oldfield catching up to them, he tries shooting them and even tries throwing a bomb at them, though he misses.
Barney Oldfield and The Boy rescue The Girl just before the train hits all three of them. Out of anger, The Jealous Villain strangles his remaining henchmen to death and when the policemen finally arrive to try and arrest him, he shoots and kills all of them. Having nothing else to live for, he tries shooting himself, but fails when he's out of ammo. He then strangles himself to death with his bare hands, crushing his own windpipe.
Victims[]
- Two train conductors - Beaten to death by Ford Sterling and his two henchmen.
- Al St. John - Strangled to death by Ford Sterling.
- Five Police Officers - Shot by Ford Sterling.
- Total - 8
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Ford Sterling's portrayal of the Jealous Villain is the earliest known example of a damsel in distress being tied to the train tracks by a mustached twirling villain. This portrayal would go on to inspire countless parodies of his performance, one of the most notable being Snidely Whiplash, the rival of Dudley Do-Right.