The Ocean Waif is a 1916 film by Hollywood's first female director, Alice Guy (sometimes also credited by her married name, Alice Guy-Blache).
Millie Jessop, the ocean waif, is a young woman (actress Doris Kenyon was 19) living in the seaside shack of one Hy Jessop, who apparently found her when she washed up on the beach from a shipwreck as an infant. (How a baby survived a shipwreck is a question left unanswered.) At least 15 years or so as her guardian has not caused Hy to have any paternal feelings towards her; instead he treats her cruelly and regards her as a live-in slave. One day a raging Hy starts to beat on Millie. Handicapped neighbor boy Sem, who likes Millie, intervenes, and Millie escapes. She makes her way through the woods to an empty but strangely well-maintained mansion, where she takes shelter.
Meanwhile, novelist Ronald Roberts is looking for a secluded place to stay while he starts working on his latest book. His valet, Hawkins, finds him the perfect quiet place to write: an empty house close to the seashore. Ronald rents the place, despite tales from the villagers that it's haunted by the ghost of a young woman. Sure enough, when Ronald and Hawkins arrive, they find that there's another presence in the house.
One of only three feature films by Hollywood's first female director, Alice Guy, to survive—although it isn't a feature anymore. Large chunks of the film are missing; the surviving print is only 34 minutes long. The film as now available has title cards added during 21st century restoration to fill in the gaps in the story.
Tropes:
- Chekhov's Gun: Chekhov's hunting rifle and Chekhov's caliber. A scene shows Ronald and Sem both purchasing .22 caliber ammo for their rifles. Sem later shoots Hy to death. When Ronald is found at the scene with his .22 rifle, which has just been fired (he was hunting in the vicinity), Ronald is charged with murder.
- Doorstop Baby: Somehow, infant Millie washed up on the beach and was taken in by abusive ogre Hy.
- Eek, a Mouse!!: Millie jumps under the covers of a bed in terror after seeing mice leaving a mouse hole in the mansion.
- Meet Cute: Ronald moves in to the mansion that Millie is occupying. He finally finds her hiding under a bedsheet.
- Off-into-the-Distance Ending: A title card that says "A voyage of discovery" shows newlyweds Millie and Ronald sailing away on their honeymoon.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The entire resolution to Ronald's murder trial is missing from the surviving footage. Apparently Sem showed up in court, confessed to the murder, was chased by police with bloodhounds, and wound up jumping off a cliff to his death. All of this is told with a single title card.
- Ominous Owl: Millie is spooked by an owl in the attic of the empty mansion. (This effect is undercut due to being represented by a still only, this portion of the footage being lost.)
- Romantic False Lead: Ronald's fiancee Ruth, who hasn't even appeared onscreen yet when Millie shows up and makes it obvious that she's a goner. When Ruth arrives she's a haughty snob who soon dumps Ronald, likely to his relief.
- Unkempt Beauty: The incredibly gorgeous Doris Kenyon has a single smudge on her cheek to show that Millie is a trod-upon, abused stepchild. She still has long, cascading wavy hair, too.
- Video Credits: At the beginning of the film. This was a very common trope in the silent era and through the early talkie era.
- Would Hit a Girl: Hy Jessop beats and abuses his ward.
