Motion Picture News (Apr-Jul 1915)

72 MOTION PICTURE NEWS Vol. 11. No. 22. "MAN AND HIS MASTER" (Biograph — Two Heels) REVIEWED BY PETER MILNE CAPITAL versus Labor is by no means a theme uncommon in motion picture dramas. Perhaps its familiarity is one cause of its periodical production by many companies. But at any rate, in "Man and His Master" the Biograph company has produced a story based on Capital versus Labor that should provide a very good half hour's entertainment. SHE REPORTS HER FATHER'S DISAPPEARANCE The construction of the drama results in the picture being most sympathetic. We are given the stony-hearted factory owner, his charitable daughter, who delights in relieving the suffering of the workers, and the factory foreman, champion of his men and also in love with his employer's daughter. Of course the employer is antagonistic toward his employee, thinking him too low in life to marry his daughter. So nothing remains but to have the boss cast in a position by which he can discover for himself the suffering of the poor. He is rendered powerless by a sudden stroke of paralysis and is taken in by an Italian. The foreign family interests him, and when fully recovered he raises everybody's wages and allows his daughter to marry the foreman. Jack Drumier is cast as the father, Louise Vale as his daughter, Franklin Ritchie as the foreman, and Mary Malatesta and Victor Rottman as the Italians. The picture has been produced fairly well, with seemingly an accurate amount of attention paid to detail. The photography is good. "THE INVENTOR'S PERIL" (Lubin — Two Reels) REVIEWED BY IRENE PAGE SOLOMON THIS scenario by Adrian Gil-Spear provides two reels full of interest, excitement and suspense — in a word it is a series of thrills. Two inventors figure in the perils caused by a third inventor, who in a crazy delusion thinks he has been wronged by Marvelli, the great genius of the world. John Alden, the young inventor, meets and consults Marvelli at the house party of Mrs. Baldwin, who is trying to catch John for her daughter Lola. A wireless phone is being perfected. When John retires to his island home while Marvelli works alone in a loft on the Baldwin place, the crazy Michaels has his innings. Stopped in his attempt to murder Marvelli by Lola's accidental entrance, he next almost kills her, but in the end she is saved by John, who thus makes himself the maniac's intended victim. The test of the wireless therefore becomes a matter of life and death. It works in time to bring rescue. Mrs. Baldwin is made happy by John's love for Lola. Marvelli rejoices at the perfection of another invention. Joseph Smiley does some fine directing here, as well as capably acting Marvelli. Lulu Leslie and Jack Standing are wonderfully good in their big scene where Lola shares his peril, and he fastens her outside the window on a wire tied to his waist. Another realistic scene is the crash of the motor car on the rickety bridge and its fall in the waters below, where Michaels drags Lola through a hole cut in the top of the car. John Smiley gives a splendid impersonation of the maniac. Florence Williams acts the scheming mother to the life. "THE EXPLOITS OF ELAINE" (Pathe — Episode Twenty-two) REVIEWED BY CLIFFORD H. PANGBURN ORIGINAL as are the incidents in each episode of this serial, surprises are always to be found in the latest instalments. This one, which is known as "The Opium Smugglers," is no exception, and in addition to the clever work of Craig Kennedy there are some thrills which will have any audience on the edge of their chairs. Wu Fang, beaten in every direction by Kennedy, decides to have a terrible revenge on Elaine. He kidnaps her chauffeur and substitutes one of his own by a simple trick. When she starts for the country she is taken by a back road, and captured by two Chinese of Wu Fang's gang. The criminal's plan is to turn the unfortunate girl over to the captain of an opium smuggling ship which is just on the point of leaving for China. Her fate would thus be worse than anything that Wu Fang could devise at home. The girl is locked up in a cabin and Wu Fang's final instructions are to kill her if there is any chance of her escape. Meantime Kennedy has been searching Chinatown for Wu Fang and, falling in with a friend in the U. S. Secret Service, joins him in running down the opium smugglers. Their warehouse is raided and most of the men captured. Just as the raiders are on their way home in a police launch, Elaine remembers the wireless telephone in her suit case. PURSUING THE OPIUM SMUGGLERS This device is Kennedy's latest invention, and he has told her that with it she can communicate with him anywhere. She succeeds in reaching him by the instrument, and at once the launch is in pursuit, guided by a lantern which Elaine holds from her cabin window. Discovering the pursuers, the captain tries to kill Elaine, but she eludes him and is soon safe in her fiance's arms on the police launch. The regular cast continues its usual excellent work. "THE DIAMOND FROM THE SKY" (North American— Fifth Chapter REVIEWED BY CLIFFORD H. PANGBURN ""THE sudden and mysterious disappearance of the Diamond from A the Sky in the preceding chapter, leads to fast action and strange happenings in this instalment. As was suspected, Luke Lovell was the thief, but seeing himself in danger of capture by the police, who have followed him, he drops the necklace and diamond into a mail box. He then allows himself to be taken before