Motion Picture Magazine (Aug 1914-Jan 1915)

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What's What-and Why By TARLETON WINCHESTER R ecently at an informal dinner given by himself and his associates to newspaper men at a downtown hotel, Mr. J. Stuart Blackton said that his concern was making a sincere effort to produce the best pictures possible. After a visit to the Vitagraph Theater the next night I came to the conclusion that his goal was not so many miles away. In "Two "Women," Anita Stuart has a part exactly suited to her beauty and talent. She plays delightfully, and Earle Williams, as the city chap who meets and falls in love with the little girl of the hills, handles the role with his accustomed abilitv. "The Little Angel of Canyon Creek" was fine, and I watched the remarkable work of little Gertrude Short more closely and with more real enjoyment than I ever have that of a child actress. She is indeed a find. I dont know when I have laughed at a one-reel comedy as I did at "A Professional Scapegoat." The idea is a clever one and the acting great. Speaking of comedy, "Tilly's Punctured Romance," with Marie Dressier, Charles Chaplin and Mabel Normand, is six reels of killing incidents, bordering, it is true, on the slapstick, but with an unusually discernible plot holding them together. To my mind, Marguerite Clark in "Wildflower" comes very close to beating Mary Pickford at her own game. Surely her play is more pleasing than "Behind the Scenes. ' ' Both are good, but I honestly think that the decision should go to the former. With Jack Barrymore in "The Man from Mexico"; Edward Abeles in ' ' Ready Money ' ' ; Charles Richman in "The Man from Home," and Myrtle Stedman in "Hypocrites," Paramount has a strong array. The lastnamed play, written by and produced under the direction of Lois Weber, is so searchingly, ruthlessly true that it will probably be hard to find a theater owner with the courage to book it. Tom Moore and Marguerite Courtot appear together in Kalem 's ' ' The Girl and the Explorer," a delightful romantic comedy, in which they have equally delightful parts. «Makato Inokuchi, a Japanese, who plays the explorer 's valet, shows himself to be an actor of real ability. It is a pity that the author of the scenario requires a wedding over the telephone. It is probably permissible, in view of the light touch with which the story is treated, but to me it' weakens it. Universal comes to bat three times this month, and it can hardly be denied that "The Witch Girl," otherwise known as Mary Fuller; "The Brand of His Tribe," important because of its remarkable night photography and the unique poster drawn for it by Lambert Guenther, and "The Opened Shutters," from the novel of Clara Louise Burnham, constitute three hits. The "Big U" seems to be raising its average. Surely there has been room for improvement in many ways in the past. The film version of Elinor Glyn's novel, "Three Weeks," is chiefly worthy of mention because it is so strangely, even unexpectedly, free from the aggravated sex appeal of its progenitor. And that reminds me of Lubin's "The Beloved Adventurer" series of complete stories from the able pen of Emmett Campbell Hall, in which Arthur Johnson and Lottie Briscoe are making such a hit. For good taste as regards plot, acting and setting, they have not yet been equaled. There is no problem here. Just a clever, sincere, amusing, and at times exciting portrayal of conditions in the aristocracies of England and America — for in truth we have our noblemen and noblewomen as other nations have. The late star of "The Dummy," Ernest Truex, appears in a four-part mystery play called "The Quest of the Sacred Gem." It was filmed at the American Pathe studio, and the Continued on page 170) 122