The Film Daily (1918)

Sunday, July 14, 1918 >AILY u Mechanical Handling of Old Material Misses Fire and Handicaps Star f*eggy Pearce in "A GOOD LOSER" Triangle DIRECTOR Dick Donaldson AUTHOR John W. Short SCENARIO BY George Elwood Jenks CAMERAMAN Gus Peterson AS A WHOLE Very ordinary meller that just slides along mechanically without ever getting anywhere or arousing interest. STORY An unconvincing series of "jest happened" incidents that barely hang together DIRECTION Just shot the scenes according to script and made no attempt to develop characterizations in a way that would provide a half-way reason for things happening as they did. PHOTOGRAPHY Very ordinary; never approached the artistic. LIGHTINGS Too uniform and failed to light star to advantage. CAMERA WORK Not effective STAR. . . , Handicapped by direction and poorly lighted. SUPPORT Arthur Millett pleasing; others satisfactory. INTERIORS Acceptable; nothing more EXTERIORS A few good shots but generally very ordinary. DETAIL * Painfully convenient CHARACTER OF STORY. . . .Inoffensive but never gets anywhere. LENGTH OF PRODUCTION About 4,500 feet THIS is just a re-hash of a series of convenient situations that we have had time and time again from the same producer. The same stage coach comes down the same western street "set", the cameraman was in the same spot, the coach stops in front of the same saloon and the same gang of cowboy extras gather around to give the passengers the once-over. Arthur Millet, the cow-camp doctor, gets a message from a dying pal asking him to care for his only darter after his death and when Doc arrives and finds that the darter is much more of a lady than he figured, he up and marries her and takes her back to the western camp. At the camp, a man whom the doctor had befriended, happens to be Shero's old sweetheart and he, bein' a "good loser" and a true friend, says nothing to Doc about their previous romance. Then we have the willun who convinces Shero that her husband is neglecting her and he proposes that they elope. Shero's former sweetheart gets wind of the scheme and follows the pair and there is a shootin' scrape in which willun is snuffed off and Shero's former sweetheart is fatally wounded. Shero takes him back to her home and here, jest to be different, the director had Shero ride the horse while the wounded un, supposed to be nearly dead from loss of blood, was made to walk along side of the horse with one arm draped over the saddle horn to keep him from falling over. This will certainly get laughs because it reminds you of the picture post cards of a horse seated in a buggy with his master between the traces furnishing the motive power. Doc, missing his wife, suspects the stranger whom he had befriended and after picking up dead willun and returning, finds Shero bending over the stranger, who is dying, his last words being, "Whatever the cost, 'Doctor Jim' was worth it." Doc knows then that he had wrongly suspected the stranger and we finish withe the clutch. There was absolutely no attempt here to make the situations hold water. After we had been shown that Peggy cared enough for Arthur Millett t# marry him he had barely been in camp with his bride a day when willun Dick Rosson comes in the parlor during Doc's temporary absence and after playing his fiddle for a few minutes, grabs Peggy's hand and suggests that they elope. And Peggy, without batting an eye, agrees to meet him at an appointed place the next day. .Peggy Pearce, as the Shero, is easy to look at ana shows possibilities as a star, but she was so severely handicapped by the mechanical handling of events and the impossible story, in addition to being poorly lighted, that she is \itterly unable to show anything in this. Others who appeared were Pete Morrison. Graham Pette. and Lee Hill.