Moving Picture News (Jul-Oct 1913)

THE MOVING PICTURE NEWS 29 Manuf aclvrcrs* Synopses of Films EDISON HIS MOTHEE-IN-LAWS VISIT (July 9). — Mrs. Brandon is such a prim, particular person that you would never believe she had been so unconventional as to give up school teaching to get married. She is one of those very unwise people who think that it is unnecessary to be attractive and charming after the honeymoon. It is a delightful thing to see a young wife taking an interest in her home, but Mrs. Brandon rather overdoes it. She takes so much interest in her home that she forgets to take enough interest in her husband. When Brandon comes into the house wearing his wet rubbers, Mrs. Brandon scolds him, not because she is anxious about his health, but because she doesn't want her carpets to be spoiled. When he lights a cigar, it is her curtains rather than his throat that she is worried about, and she will not let him play ragtime music because it gives her a headache and not on account of any consideration for his aesthetic welfare. Brandon is a good-natured, easy-going chap, but his wife's exactions gradually wear on his disposition. He falls into the habit of going to the club in the evening with his friend Bill. Mrs. Brandon, unable to appreciate her husband's dissatisfaction with his home, is deeply aggrieved and sends for her mother. Owing to their sudden marriage, Brandon has never met his mother-in-law, and her prospective arrival seems to him to be the last straw. However, Mrs. Nowall is not at all like the characteristic mother-in-law of contemporary fiction. She is a charming woman with a great deal of experience and tact. Discovering immediately the source of the discord in the Brandon household, she gives her daughter good advice, with the result that the husband is surprised to find a tashionably dressed young woman awaiting his return from business, in place of the severe-looking person he is accustomed to expect. Instead of being treated coldly, Bill is greeted with enthusiasm and asked to stay to dinner, and afterwards Mrs. Brandon lights the men's cigarettes with her own hands. And Brandon no longer wants to go to the club. KINEMACOLOR PEARLS OF THE MADONNA.— This is a stirring story of the early days of California when the missions flourished, and yearly pilgrimages were made by the sick to the shrine o' the Madonna to be healed. A pilgrimage is on its way across the desert. Among those going to the shrine are Jaquita, a young girl, and a rich woman, who is crippled and who has vowed to give the wonderful pearls about her neck to the Madonna, should she be healed. Jaquita covets these pearls. At the shrine the miracle takes place, and the lame woman walks. The pearls are hung aljout the neck of the statue. Jaquita tries to steal them but is not successful. At home the girl thinks of nothing but the pearls and vows to marry the man who gets them for her. Horrified, all but one of her lovers leave her. Jose, however, struggles with his love for the girl and his religion. Love conquers, and he starts across the desert to the shrine. He gets the pearls. Later the theft is discovered, and the guilty pair are stoned out into the desert. Out on the desert the desperate pair determine to commit suicide, but in the sky a vision of the Madonna appears, they kneel in prayer and journey to the shrine, replacing the pearls on the neck of the statue. So they repent. Jaquita as a nun praying at the shrine, and Jose as a monk working in the gardens of the cloister make a very beautiful finish to a notable picture. MIXED SIGNALS, — A quaint comedy of the sea, fairly filled with sunshine and sea breezes. Old Captain Bill bids his sailors good-bye to spend his old age in a little cottage on the shore. With him go his daughter. Matey, and an old seafaring friend called Bunty. Soon the Captain tires of the land and buys a sailboat, engaging the former owner as "crew." Of course the "crew"and the daughter fall in love, but the old man does not see it. Among the Captain's treasures in his trunk is a set of the International Signal Code flags, which he tries to teach to Jack. Especially does he_ try to impress two very important flags which, if flown together, mean "Am attacked, need help," but Jack is too deep in lovemaking to heed. The young people elope and return to confess, but the old man orders them both out. Jack gets a position as a lighthouse keeper, and there takes his bride. On opening her trunks Matey finds she has the signal flags instead of clothes. Months pass, the old Captain grows more and more lonely, but is too stubborn to give in. In the lighthouse joy reigns. Happy Jack writes a letter to his mother, saying, "Watch the signals; one a girl, two a boy." Soon Jack rushes to the trunk, grabs two flags without looking, and hoists them. The old Captain sees these signals, and blows the bugle for help. All the village responds, and with all sorts and conditions of weapons, the fisher folk pile into boats and start to the rescue. All rush into the lighthouse demanding to meet the enemy. Jack motions for silence, leaves the room, placing the "enemy" in the grandfather's arms. The old man's heart is touched, and when he is led into the other room and sees his little Matey, all is forgiven. RELIANCE A RURAL ROMANCE (July 7).— Nancy Hall, the village belle and Jack Fisher, a farm hand, are sweethearts. Ernest Ashe, Jack's employer, a wealthy grower, chances upon them and is taken with Nancy's beautj;. Ashe pays court secretly to Nancy, until Jack, stumbling upon them, learns the truth. They quarrel, and Jack is discharged. Infuriated, Ashe continues his work of cellecting rents. Old Tom Moore is in arrears in rent and trembles at his approach. Spying his tenant's horse, Ashe insists upon its surrender for debt. Moore has to submit, and tries in vain to subdue his grandson, Teddy, who is heartbroken at the loss. Next day Jack goes to collect his wages from Ashe. Directed by his fellow workers, he meets Ashe coming out on Beauty, Moore's horse. They settle their account. Two bright eyes are watching them for Teddy is trying to enter the stable. Looking after Jack in vile temper, Ashe returns to the road, where Beauty has wandered to the field to graze. This provokes him to brutality. As Teddy sees him lash his pet he is seized with blind fury and, picking up a rock, he hurls it at Ashe, who falls. Horrified at his act, Teddy dashes across the fields and to the railroad crossing, where he crawls inside a freight car, crying himself to sleep. Five minutes after directing Jack to Ashe, the farm hands find .Ashe unconscious. Jack is suspected. Mean while Jack meets Nancy and is reproaching her when he is interrupted by the law for the murder of Ashe. Protesting inocence, he is dragged to jail, while Nancy flies to the Ashe home. Ashe regains consciousness and sees Nancjf enter his chamber. Fearing death and believing her the cause, he denounces her, the crushed, shrinking plaything of the day. Nancy is turned out of doors. She realizes her folly. Teddy, in the meantime, is carried off in a westbound train. He is found and cared for by trainmen, who finally return him to his home, where he is snatched to his grandad's breast and sobs out his tale. Nancy happens in to console the old man, hears also, and, grabbing Teddy, dashes off to the jail, where all may learn of Jack's innocence. Nancy then turns away sorrowfully, but is followed by Jack, and all is forgiven. ASHES (Two Reels) (July 12),— Aii old man, alone in his mansion, decides to give a dinner to the memories of the girls he loved and lost. He has the table decked with garlands and at each place he puts a bouquet of the flowers most representative of the girl who would occupy that place if she herself were there instead of his memory of her. There is a bunch of violets at the first plate. As he stoops over the fragrant blossoms, he lives again the first romance of his life when he met and fell in love with pretty Betty, a country lass. This was in the first days of his youth, and her refusal of him almost broke his heart. Seeing her in the arms of his more fortunate rival, he left the village, and there the memory of the violets ends. There is a bunch of lilies of the valley at the ne.xt plate. They bring back a girl just as white and cold as the flower. She was a society belle, and he met her when he first visited the big city. She said she loved him, and he believed her. But when a richer man proposed, she cast him aside for wealth. Her wedding was the talk of the town, but the boy did not wait for it. He never saw her again. Orchids at the next plate, their purple depths held sweet memories of a bewitching face, the face of the lovely Countess, whose most ardent admirer he was when he first went up to Washington, a young attache in the diplomatic service. She pretended that she loved him and he was very happy. But into the midst of his joy came the shock of discovering that his sweet Countess was a foreign spy, who intended to use him to gain information she could not get any other way. He left Washington at once to forget her. Red roses! What memories their perfume held! That night in Paris when he first met the dark-eved Spanish dancer Carmencita. How he loved her, and how she loved him until her lover, the Count, challenged him to a duel on her account. Then Carmencita realizes that it was not the American to whom her heart was given, after all. She rushed to the duelling ground to prevent bloodshed, but wholly for the Count's sake. Returning to America, an older, wiser man, he finds his ideal in the charming daughter of some old friends. Realizing that he is very rich, this girl's parents insist upon her accepting him. But he discovers in time that her heart is ^iven to his secretary, and for her sake he gives her up. The sweet peas at this last plate are, perhaps, the dearest flowers of all to him. As he rises to toast these ladies of his past the stem of his wine glass snaps and he falls across the table, dead. An overturned candle sets fire to the draperies and before many minutes each flower is reduced to a small heap of ashes. 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