The Mind Cure

The Mind Cure
Pearl White in The Mind Cure
Directed byPhillips Smalley
StarringPearl White
Chester Barnett
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Film Manufacturing Company
Release date
  • December 15, 1912 (1912-12-15)
Running time
½ reel
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)

The Mind Cure is a 1912 American silent comedy film directed by Phillips Smalley and starring Pearl White and Chester Barnett. Produced by the Crystal Film Company, it was released by the Universal Film Manufacturing Company on December 15, 1912, as one half of a split-reel program with the comedy Oh! That Lemonade. A print of the film is held by the Library of Congress.

Plot

Professor Connor, a hypnotist, is troubled by his daughter Pearl's habit of flirting with several young men. After her admirers begin gathering outside the house, Connor decides to use hypnotism to cure her interest in men. Pearl only pretends to be affected and claims that she now hates the opposite sex, even pulling the hair of Connor's friend Mr. Cusick to make the deception convincing.

Chester, Pearl's favored suitor, subsequently asks Connor to cure his bashfulness. The treatment makes him sufficiently bold to elope with Pearl. They return with their marriage certificate and tell Connor that his hypnotism was responsible, leaving him no alternative but to give the couple his blessing.

Cast

Production and release

Crystal produced The Mind Cure as a half-reel comedy. It was paired on a single reel with Oh! That Lemonade, another Crystal comedy featuring White and Barnett, and the two films were released together on December 15, 1912.

Preservation

A 35 mm print of The Mind Cure is preserved in the Library of Congress collection.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "The Mind Cure; Oh! That Lemonade". The Moving Picture News. December 7, 1912. pp. 28, 30.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Dahlquist, Marina. "Pearl White". Women Film Pioneers Project. Columbia University Libraries. Retrieved September 16, 2026.