"Perils of Pauline" -- cliff-hanger or not?

[Joel S. Berson]

If W. Brewer was viewing a film on Youtube (doh!
-- referring to moi), then it certainly was
mangled and chapters combined.  The "20 Original
Chapters" blog writes (I can't tell whether these
are his words or Blackhawk's):

"Now, the next complicating factor concerning
"The Perils" is that all of the surviving
material is in 28mm format, the early
non-theatrical standard that was introduced by
Pathé in France during the early teens. But this
is only the beginning. The original serial was
released in twenty chapters. The chapters that
Blackhawk has released total nine. But for
non-theatrical release in 28mm format, Pathé
revised the arrangement of the chapters so that
the story from as many as three of the original
chapters was combined into a single chapter in
the 28mm release. We have never seen any
literature, nor have any of our good collector
friends ever written us, to indicate that there
were more than our nine chapters in Pathé's 28mm release."

(W. Brewer's YouTube view may mean that chapter
six was "arranged" to appear early.)

I think I'll ignore the YouTube evidence.  But
that still leaves me puzzled by Anthony Slide's description.

Joel

At 2/19/2014 08:16 PM, W Brewer wrote:

>JB: <<Did you mean to imply that episode *one* contained a (or "the")
>runaway balloon/cliff ledge incident?>>
>      The Gospel According to Youtube. As I have learned from earlier
>discussion, the PoP films have been mangled up pretty good. The one I have
>looked at is:
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVPQa-10030
><<Episode One / Trial by Fire>> (not <chapter>) 29 mins. Hicks extorts
>Koerner, who plots to kidnap P, who is set adrift in a balloon 15:23,
>climbs down from same onto a cliff-side 16:58 (only time she is hanging is
>from this balloon tether), boyfriend Harry helps P off cliff-side, snatched
>by villain to house, house burns 25:10, Harry again rescues P, safe (???)
>at home, while Hicks & Koerner lurk (<<We'll get her next chapter!>>).
>I zipped through another Chapter 1 PoP video, which was a mangled mess of
>above.
>JB: << the balloon/cliff incident in chapter six>>
><<Episode Six / The Shattered Plane>> 15:38. P wants to take a ride in an
>aeroplane, which is sabotaged, but Harry causes P to miss her maiden
>flight, as Hicks & Koerner skulk nearby, <<We'll get her next time!>>
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU49o8UO2Rg&list=PLjlbvTo5YBLbV32a9sefkihTBj1NCgLNT
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org