The Rural Third Degree (1913)

• 82%
• 1913
• Comedy
• Mack Sennett
• Fred Mace
• Dot Farley
• Nick Cogley

Si marries a guileless country maid, and receives among his wedding presents a bottle of liquor. The bride samples it in Si's absence, and being unaccustomed to drink, is overcome and falls on the table in a stupor. Si discovers her just as a party of neighbors are coming to congratulate the young couple and hides her in the yard, laying her on a bench. An inquisitive visitor finds her and reports to the constables that Si has killed his wife, and he is apprehended. The rustic sleuths emulate the stories they have heard of famous detectives, and put Si through the third degree, bringing about screaming situations. As a last resort they blindfold Si and bring in the "body" of the dead woman. In a melodramatic scene the bandage is removed from Si's eyes, and at that moment the "corpse" comes to life.