Distilled Spirits's primary photo
  • Distilled Spirits (1915)
  • Short | Short, Comedy
Distilled Spirits (1915)
Short | Short, Comedy
McQuarrie cannot resist the craving for drink and under its compulsion steals the last coins from his poverty-stricken home, leaving his wife and little child to get along as best they may. At his corner hangout McQuarrie invests his money...See moreMcQuarrie cannot resist the craving for drink and under its compulsion steals the last coins from his poverty-stricken home, leaving his wife and little child to get along as best they may. At his corner hangout McQuarrie invests his money in a bottle of spirits, and is soon completely under its influence. He then crawls into a barrel and falls asleep. In his delirium McQuarrie sees the devil sitting astride the barrel mocking him. Suddenly the barrel is sealed up and with McQuarrie inside, rolls violently down a mountainside, spins madly around on the brink of a precipice and finally plunges over and is smashed to pieces on the rocks below. McQuarrie is then seized by soldiers and carried before their General. The bottle is found in McQuarrie's pockets and as a drunkard he is sentenced to death. The soldiers ram him into a huge cannon and touch off a fuse. McQuarrie is presumably blown to pieces, but actually lands in a boiling cauldron in which some savage islanders are cooking their food. They, too. discover the bottle and sentence the inebriate to wander alone on the desert island until destroyed by giants. Gideon, the king of giants, captures him and finding the bottle crushes McQuarrie into a bag, and, swinging it around and round his head, hurls him back to the land from whence he came. The unhappy creature lands in the midst of a band of bandits, who liberate him from the bag. But they too find the fatal flask of whiskey and sentence him to death. After a frantic pursuit McQuarrie eludes the bandits, only to see the double of himself sitting under a tree. This vision so unnerves him that he starts to gulp whiskey from his flask. The devil again appears to mock him, and in a rage the hunted drunkard hurls a boulder at the devil, who vanishes, and in his place appears the bandits. A thrilling chase, in which a running fire of guns is kept up, ensues, McQuarrie finally escaping by a miraculous leap across a river. Seeking a place to hide he discovers the shattered barrel in which he originally started his wild journey. He crawls in between the barrel hoops and the barrel assembles, piece by piece, about him. When complete, the barrel retraces its course up the precipice, over the rough rock beds and up the mountainside, stopping in its original spot in the farm yard, where the ends drop out and McQuarrie is awakened by the old chicken which had been nesting in the barrel. Delighted to find that his horrors were only imaginary, he rushes home to his wife and baby, promising never to touch liquor again. Written by Moving Picture World synopsis See less
Read more: Plot summary
Producer
David Horsley
See all filmmakers & crew (2)
Trending

Become a member to see MOVIEmeter and news information about Distilled Spirits.
Status
Edit Released
Updated Jan 14, 1915
Release date
Jan 14, 1915 (United States)

Contacts

+ Add

Become a member to see contact information for Distilled Spirits.

Cast

 + Add Cast
0 cast members

Contribute to this section by adding a cast member

Add cast
There was an issue loading this tab.
There was an issue loading this tab.
There was an issue loading this tab.
There was an issue loading this tab.
There was an issue loading this tab.
There was an issue loading this tab.
There was an issue loading this tab.
There was an issue loading this tab.

MOVIEmeter

Members only

Become a member to access additional data

Ratings Breakdown

+ Add external reviews