Heinze’s Resurrection (1913)

• 75%
• 1913
• Comedy
• Mack Sennett
• Ford Sterling
• Fred Mace
• Laura Oakley

Heinze is lazy, and his wife is disgusted with him. His friend, Pat, secretly admires Mrs. Heinze, and one day tells her to make Heinze help her with her work. Heinze refuses to assist her and is doused with a pail of water. Angered, he leaves the house and meets Pat, to whom he tells his troubles Pat advises him to play off dead, to see if his wife loves him. Accordingly, they go down the street where second-hand coffins are for sale, and purchase one and take it home. Pat lays out Heinze in the coffin, and then goes in and tells Mrs. Heinze her husband is dead. She weeps, but her tears quickly dry when Pat sympathetically kisses her. Pat carries the scheme through, and persuades Heinze to submit. Pat nails the coffin down, and orders an immediate funeral. The hearse and carriages come around and the mourners follow the coffin. By this time Heinze is beginning to see that the joke is getting serious, and flashes are shown of his efforts to free himself. Heinze is placed in the hearse, and the pallbearers walk solemnly at the side. Pat rides with the widow, and manages to alleviate her sorrow. The funeral procession does not move quickly enough to suit Pat, so he gets up on the seat of the hearse and plies the whip to the horses, and they leap forward at a gallop, with the carriages endeavoring to keep up. The pallbearers grab the traces and fly along. Sharp comers are turned at break-neck speed, and finally the hearse tumbles over a cliff, and the coffin drops out. The horrified mourners rush down, and the infuriated Heinze emerges from the broken coffin. Seizing an axe left by some woodchoppers, he chases the crowd, who rush pell-mell for home. Pat has a narrow escape from the wrath of Heinze, but Mrs. Heinze saves his life and soothes her angry husband.