The Mad Hermit

The Mad Hermit
A surviving film still
Produced by	Thanhouser Company
Release date	August 9, 1910 (1910-08-09)
Country	United States
Language	Silent film English inter-titles

The Mad Hermit is a 1910 American silent short drama film produced by the Thanhouser Company. The story focuses on Harry Willard, who becomes a hermit after his wife and daughter leave him. He spends a quarter of a century in isolation, but he stumbles across a runaway carriage and the woman tosses her baby to him. He runs into the wilderness and prepares to kill it, but he stays his hand when he sees the baby's locket. The parents survive the carriage crash and seek out the hermit, and it is revealed that the baby's mother is the daughter of Harry Willard. Created by a staff of twenty, it was the first film to be produced by the Thanhouser Company. The film was released in August 9, 1910, after the success of the company was ensured, and met with positive reception by critics. The film is presumed lost.

Though the film is presumed lost, a synopsis survives in The Moving Picture World from August 13, 1910. It states: "The story centers on Harry Willard, a plodding farmer. A city gentleman promises Harry's frivolous wife a life of ease and luxury - and it is the old, old story. She takes her tiny daughter, Agnes, with her, and leaves a note announcing the fact for Harry. The young farmer, who loves his wife and child with an all-consuming love, loses his reason as he reads the announcement of his betrayal. Although without the bare means for his subsistence, he searches for days for his loved ones. Eventually the strain, mental and physical, tells on him - he comes out of it all a maniac. His wrath takes the form of an aversion to all mankind. He wants to forget the world that has treated him so ill - he decides to become a hermit and betakes himself to a desolate cave, where he spends the years execrating humanity. A quarter century goes by. Rarely in that time does he venture on beaten paths for fear that he may meet a hated human, but one day he forgets his resolve long enough to cross a carriage drive. He hears the clatter of hooves and sights a horse tearing toward him with a swaying carriage and screaming occupants - runaway! As the carriage passes by him, a woman flings a bundle to him; he catches it and finds it a pink and white bit of humanity. Dazed he runs into the wilderness with a baby and makes for his cave. Arrived at the cave the maniac resolves to even his score with society by taking the babe's life. But his eyes light on the baby's locket and his hand is stayed. For the locket bears a picture of the child of the wife who betrayed him!"