Quicksand Fans

Saved from the Quicksand (1909): This Gaumont melodrama takes a number of incredible and bizarre plot turns within its 12-minute running time. Dressed in a revealing (by 1909 standards) bathing costume, the heroine tries to scurry to safety when the tide comes in. Alas, she gets her feet stuck in a pond of quicksand -- and as if this wasn't peril enough, the waters are rising all around her. The girl is rescued by a party of hooded monks, who offer her shelter in their monastery. The film ends as the girl, falling asleep in front of a religious mural, dreams that she meets the Madonna and the Christ Child.

According to studio publicity, one of the actors in this film narrowly escaped death for real during the quicksand rescue scene.