The Film Daily (1918)

Saturday, July 13, 1918 TsJi^A DAILY Production Lacking Artistry Handicaps Star Who Gets It Over Elsie Ferguson in "THE DANGER MARK" Artcraft •DIRECTOR Hugh Ford AUTHOR Robert W. Chambers SCENARIO BY Charles Maigne CAMERAMAN William Marshall AS A WHOLE Beautiful capable star handU capped by poor lighting and direction but manages to make few dramatic moments big enough to get this over. STORY Slender as to situations but provides good characterization of girl fighting liquor taint for star. DIRECTION Failed to make it artistic and burdened action with unnecessary flashes — really handicapped rather than helped general result.__ .~~* ■«— whm ihii.,.,1^..,.,. ., PHOTOGRAPHY Some good straight stuff but little artistry with many bits of bad lighting on star. LIGHTINGS Generally too uniform, frequently showed star to disadvantage. CAMERAWORK. . ,.,.,>.: Double exposures very good __-' but composition and artistry lacking. STAR Held attention despite handicaps and made more dramatic moments quite effective EXTERIORS Acceptable INTERIORS Lacked distinction DETAIL Acceptable. Marriage certificate wrong CHARACTER OF STORY Nothing to offend LENGTH OF PRODUCTION About 4,800 feet M the ISS FERGUSON is certainly handicapped in this. The story provides nothing except a characterization for her. the action net work which carries theme being decidedly ordinary with the exception of one twist whereby she forces the willun to marry the wronged "gel" in stead Of herself. The chief weakness of this production is the faci that get the distinctive artistic atmosphere which we have come to expect in Class A productions such as is supposed to be. Frequently the lighting is de< Idedly ordinary and on ninny occasions, particularly in Miss Ferguson is shown to decided dis■ '■• 1 can be no question about Miss Ferguson's beauty and she has been photographed many times id show thai beauty properly so that there can be no alibi for having given her the worst of it here. This starts rather slowly in explaining the situation of two children who are left a very Large estate with trdians appointed who are supposed to protect them im the dangers of great wealth and particularly from the taint of the taste for alcohol which had caused the ruination of many ancestors. Eventually we got around to the point where we found that Miss Ferguson was possessed of this taste for liquor and the rest of the film was devoted to her fight to overcome this. Mahlon Hamilton was the hero and he tried to help Elsie with her struggles. Crauford Kent was the willun who slipped her the wine and wanted to marry her and Gertrude McCoy was the sickly, sad, disappointed in love, wronged "gel" who had been given the worst of it by Kent. Miss Ferguson agreed to marry Kent and eloped with him to secure the license but when he came to the minister she produced Miss McCoy and forced him to marry 1 Miss McCoy for whom she had secured the license. It was noticeable however that the marriage certificate afterwards produced stated that both parties lived in New York : the marriage was supposed to be performed in the South — so far as I know it can't be done. The hero thinking that Elsie had eloped with Kent was naturally a bit peeved but he had an obliging accident which kept him stalled on the road until he saw Miss McCoy and Miss Kent come by. so that then he quickly returned and did the clutch with the star. Others in the cast were Maud Turner Gordon, Edward Burns and W. T. Carlston. Star Will Carry This For You But Don't Promise Too Much The Box Office Analysis for the Exhibitor Elsie Ferguson has been coming high rapidly by virtue of some excellent work in the films and it seems a pity that the opportunity provided her for a big characterization in a Robert W. Chamber's story that she was not given proper support in the way of atmosphere and treatment which could have put this over as a real big film. This is not so bad but what you can get it over but you should play safe and be sure that your fans do not expect too much. Center entirely upon Miss Ferguson and the fact it is a Robert W. Chambers story of a beautiful girl cursed by m taste fm liquor inherited along with the great fortune. This is far from being as good as some of the previous Ferguson films have been and so be careful that you do not make any such rash promises because in doing so you would only kill the possibility of being able to do real business when you do have a Ferguson production that you can rave about. In some of the more important dramatic moments, Miss Ferguson does some very effective emotional work and so you can say that she has a very dramatic and rather difficult role to assume in portraying this unfortunate victim of heredity. As an advertising angle you might use: "Would you feel grateful for a great fortune if you also inherited with it a ruinous love of alcohol. See Elsie Ferguson in Robert W. Chambers great success 'The Danger Mark' ".