Gwendolyn's father is the leader of a gang of cheese smugglers. Customs agent Hans Schmidt is told that he must arrest the smugglers or he will lose his job. When he attempts to do so, he is captured by the smugglers, who take him to their lair and try to kill him with an overdose of limburger cheese. Gwendolyn saves his life by administering an emetic and helps him to escape. The police plan to arrest the smugglers, but Hans, remembering his debth to Gwendolyn, runs ahead to warn them. Just as the police descend on them, news arrives that Congress has placed cheese on the no-tariff list, so smuggling is no longer a crime. The smugglers are released, and Hans and Gwendolyn are free to marry.[1]
Oliver Hardy as Dad, her father (billed as Babe Hardy)
James Levering as an Amorous Fisherman
William H. Hopkins as a Letter Carrier (billed as Bill Hopkins)
John Edwards as a Negro
Production and reception
Another publicity still from the film
The Smuggler's Daughter was written by Epes W. Sargent, directed by Jerold T. Hevener, and produced by Arthur Hotaling, the general supervisor of the Jacksonville, Florida unit of the Lubin Manufacturing Company of Philadelphia.[2] It was released by the General Film Company on October 17, 1914.[1][3] The film was one of a group of short comedies made by the Lubin company in 1914 and early 1915 that include the earliest screen appearances of Oliver Hardy.[2]
The film received favorable reviews in the trade papers. Moving Picture World described it as "a boisterous burlesque on a marine melodrama, written by E. W. Sargent, and directed by J. T. Hevener. This picture is quite humorous in conception and besides contains all the serious elements of a melodrama — produced in a burlesque manner. The valuable import that is being smuggled is 'Limburger cheese'. There is much strenuous work done by the actors, and great care has been taken in the selections of the scenes to bring out the points."[4] The critic for The Bioscope praised Hardy's performance in particular: "The Lubin fat man [is] very funny as the chief of a desperate gang which participates in a riotously funny fight."[2]
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