All on Account of a Transfer (1913) Online

This amusing short comedy is creative and nicely paced. Director C. Jay Williams had a nice touch for the one-reel comedies of this kind that were common to the era. His style is not flashy, but the stories can be pretty creative, and he has a very good sense of timing in his story-telling.

The story follows a German immigrant who cannot speak English, and who as a result gets into all kinds of difficulties just trying to get across town by streetcar. Herr Müller's predicament is treated as an amusing situation full of comic possibilities, but at the same time the good-natured but helpless German is portrayed sympathetically, and there is something of an implicit suggestion that viewers ought to be sensitive to anyone with similar problems whom they might happen to meet.

The Henry Otto scenario is pretty clever in getting a lot out of the possibilities without ever seeming forced or labored. The cast (which includes Williams's wife) does a very nice job in remaining lively throughout the story without ever exaggerating too much. The story features some light but funny turns, and it is enjoyable to watch.

A pleasant, laughable comedy of a German's predicament due to the fact that he can't speak English. An Irish conductor gives him a crosstown transfer and then tells him to follow a woman who also has one. There's a little time left before it expires, and the woman does, or tries to do, some shopping. It is another good picture to the credit of Producer C.J. Williams, and was written by Henry W. Otto. Frank A. Lions gives a touch of thoroughly German good nature to the leading character. Mrs. C.J. Williams is the indignant woman, and the car conductor is Edward O'Connor, a good type. - The Moving Picture World, March 15, 1913

. . . typed up Feb. 3, 1913 from a script dated Jan. 21, 1913, copyrighted Feb. 14, 1913, and released as a finished film Feb. 26, 1913, entitled ALL ON ACCOUNT OF A TRANSFER, with a running time of 11 minutes, 4.67 seconds, shines much brighter than the average Edison product. Perhaps foreshadowing that America would side with France, Italy, and England against Germany and the Balkan states in WWI a few years later, even random little old ladies are beating the German tourist with umbrellas by the end of this plea for tolerance on the part of the Edison people. This short is chock full of period trivia. For instance, when the German follows the lady who has an hour to kill on her streetcar transfer into the lingerie department, we learn that the list price for panties in 1913 was $5.95, and when they went on sale for $1.69 a pair, an enormous crowd of women would converge on the bargain counter (even in the absence of a blue light!).