The Moving Picture Weekly (1916-1917)

■THE MOVING PICTURE WEEKLY 19 An Unexpected Punch in "The Charmer." ^ERY frequently the unexpected puts a "punch" into a photoplay that was never intended bv the director to be there and very frequently these accidental "flashes" are the hit of the production. An instance in point happened when Jack Conway was directing Ella Hall in th6 Bluebird Photoplay, "The Charmer." Miss Hall used a trained monkey as the pet of the little orphan she interprets in the screen story. The monkey was "rehearsed'' in his part for a scene in which the "monk" was in mischief. ■ Covered with flour and dough from his rummagings in the kitchen, the monkey was supposed to be discovered at his pranks by the little orphan. He was trained to jump do^'ii from a table, thence onto a chair and in one leap disappear throueh an open window, passing over a sink containing a panful of dishes the little girl had been reluctant to wash. Cameras were set to catch the monkey in his kitchen gymnastics, and another machine was placed in the yard, outside of the window, the two machine being charged with photographing the little chimp on his completed voyage from mischief to the open air. When the moment came to begin actual operations the monkey made the leap from "take-off," but instead of jumping to the chair he made a wild leap into the pan of dishes, and Scene from the Bluebird Photoplay, "The Charmer." then proceeded through the open window. Entirely uninvited a cat ambled onto the scene in the dooryard and when the monkey joyously vaulted through the window he landed squarely on the cat. The camera out-ofdoor was grinding away and photographed a scene of unexpected and unrehearsed animation. Making dual leaps six feet in the air, cat and monkey "mixed it up" in rough-and-tumble scrimmage for half a moment — and then the monkey tore for the tall timber. The fight when developed in the film, proved to be one of the most spontaneous "hits" imaginable. The incident could never have been pre-arranged, for animal training and camera-work could never be so deliberately blended. It's a real fight, for the brief lapse of time necessary for the cat to consume in making the monkey quit his fur-pulling and skeedaddle. ' STRAIGHT SHOOTING ' A Whale of a Western Drama \YITHOUT the shadow of a doubt, Harry Carey in -"Straight Shooting'' is the most exciting Butterfly picture yet produced. To those who enjoy Westerns it will make a particular appeal, for there never was a Western yet which had anything on "Straight Shooting." It will also be Scene from the wonderful Western Butterfly Drama. Harry Cwrey in "Straight Shooting." well for those who do not profess to enjoy Westerns to stay away from this picture, or they certainly will be converted to this type of photoplay, which just at present is having a wonderful revival in popular esteem. Jack Ford produced "Straight Shooting" from a story by George Hively, and he did it "with a wonderful amount of zest and abandon. The riding in this picture is perfectly marvelous, and the locations selected are wonderfully adapted to show it off to the best advantage. There are more thrills per foot, more daring feats of riding, falling from galloping horses, leaps and stunts, than any picture of , equal length which it has been our pleasure to see. And with it all there is wonderful comedy relief and a beautiful love story which is so delicately interwoven as to produce a picture of wonderfully balanced material, and will leave one with having been satisfied in every sense. Beautiful little Molly Malone supports Harry Carey, and her bewitching beauty was never exhibited with more telling effect than in the role of the little settler girl who Paulreveres the neighborhood to forestall the raid of the cattlemen.