The Moving Picture World (Apr-Jun 1913)

THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 379 Comments on the Films Licensed OTGUK MAX AND THE STAGE DRIVER" (Selig), April le title picks out the two heroes (.William Duncan and Tom Mix) who bravely hold off ;t gang of desperados from robbing the stage. That is all, except the love episode at the end; but there is action all through and the picture held the attention pretty well. It is set in the same country with other recent Selig offerings by this company and the photography is fair. "THE SHERIFF'S WIFE" (Essanay), April 9. — A fair commercial offering made by Arthur Mackley and his usual company. There is nothing new in it and the first half is rather slow. This company is intelligent in acting and the photography is fair. The sheriff's wife hiding in the trunk and springing up at the robbers got a laugh. "THE PURSUIT OF THE SMUGGLERS" (Kalem), April 9.— A melodrama, rather old style; but with good scenes taken, it seems, around the harbor of New York and in Great South Bay. Such pictures are made by forcing a love story into a story of adventure and most of our releases of all makes are of this pattern. The story's best point is its pictures of ships and small wharves. The photography is only fair.' The audience watched the picture. Earlt Fox with Irene Boyle play the romantic leads and Stewart Holmes is the villain. "THE WELL SICK MAN" (Edison), April 9.— A farce by Charles Menges that gave some laughter to a few in the audience. There is nothing new in it and we have heard audiences laugh more heartily at these same things before many times. Laura Sawyer, Charles Sutton, Benjamin Wilson and Jessie McAllister have roles. L, S. Dawley produced it. "OUT OF THE STORM" (Vitagraph), April 9.— The best offering of today's regular releases, but it is not a great picture. Gertrude Lane is the authoress and Wilfred North the producer. The primary statement does not build up to the situation very smoothly. The first scene should have shown that the woman had a sick child and then we should have been told that a storm was brewing, so that we might have understood the woman's being so startled. The lightning scene when the telephone was cut was fine — we didn't know that it had disconnected the house. That subtitle about the little one's photograph was a bit sickly. The man ought to have asked for one that he had noticed. Rosemary Theby, as the woman, is just what was right and Harry Northrup, as the burglar, is also good. "TOO MUCH PARCELS POST" (Patheplay), April 9.— There is newness rather than real freshness in this farce in which a country postman has to lug a stove, eggs, that are called fresh, but hatch before he can deliver them; a baby, a cat and her family, etc., including a goat, dog and dynamite. There was little laughter. The picture seemed distressing rather than funny. Charles Arling deserves credit surely. "FOUND OUT" (Essanay), April 10. — A comedy of embarrassing misunderstandings with Augustus Carney and Eleanor Blanchard in the leading roles, the one, the master of the house; the other, his Swedish cook. Gertrude Scott plays his wife, to whom some officious friends bring a false report that makes her jealous of some unknown "serving girl." John Steppling is the cop on the beat, married to Miss Willis, but flirting with Swedish Eleanor for the sake of goodies in the kitchen. The relationships in the early part of the picture are obscure and this hinders it, but as soon as we get the thread, it becomes an amusing comedy and the audience seemed to enjoy it. Good comedy-acting makes plenty of laughter. The photography is clear. "TOMMY'S ATONEMENT" (Selig), April 10.— A pretty picture full of sweet sentiment and pleasing scenes. The story is not wholly new and is built on the plan of the old-time Sunday school book; that is. it has a good and wholesome mora!. It is good to have pictures like this, if they are not too frequent; for they serve a healthy purpose and are popular with a very large block of . patrons. It was produced by H. Kirkland from J. E. Hungerford's script. C. Johnson is the child; Adrienne Kroell, the mother; H. Lonsdale, the old musician, and a player who takes the role of his wife, not named but noticeable for good acting. Mac. Barnes plays a hard landlord and C. Winterhoff, the boy's father. The photograpny is very good. "CUTEY AND THE CHORUS GIRLS" (Vitagraph), April 10.— A very funny picture, full of laughs, very entertaining; it pleased the audience markedly. It was written by Mrs. Breuil in a playful mood and successfully produced by James Young. Of today's comedies, it is perhaps the best and every one of today's releases is a good offering to the moneypaying public. Wallie Van, as Cutey, lives up to his role and is well assisted by Flora Finch, the most tender-hearted one of the chorus; by Hughie Mack, a good natured comedian whose chortling smile is catching, and Harry Lambert, another of his companions. Leah Baird and Lillian Walker also add much. The Vitagraph tall man is in it. The pnotogr*. phy is very good. "THE MAGIC SHOES" (Lubin), April 10.— A pleasing little offering in comedy vein, giving us the dream of a cobbler that turns out to be only a dream. It was a bit too slight to stage in the best way; yet, if it had been done expensively, it would have been a gem. Clarence Elmer and Jennie Nelson play the leads and it is well photographed. "ANGEL CAKE AND AXEL GREASE" (Lubin), April 10.— A well worked-up comedy with the standard ranch setting. It might have been even more amusing, if the title had not let the "cat out of the bag" before the right moment. The two on this reel make a very fair offering. George Reehm and Frances DeMoyer play the leads with Walter Stull as the villain, Robert Burns, the objecting father and a large cast including Indians, cowboys, etc. The photography is very fair. "AN UNCLE TOM'S CABIN TROUPE" (Biograph), April 10.— A dandy comedy offering. There is a touch of pathos in the Uncle Tom even as given in this farcical setting and the laughter that springs again and still again is unforced ar-d natural, yet compelling. The audience liked the offering, no doubt of it. Grace Lewis is Little Eva. A large number of the best Biograph players supported the picture and by personal flashes of comical characters made it very laughable. The photography is clear enough. "A LESSON TO MASHERS" (Biograph), April 10.— Another laundry farce that pleased a good deal. It is well acted, clearly conducted and photographed and gives satisfactory entertainment. There was much laughter. "GOD IS LOVE" (Patheplay), April 10. — A picture made after one of Tolstoy's stories and a very effective offering. It reaches a higher plane than any picture that we have seen for a long while and, in many of its scenes, is truly great. We have never seen an ascension scene that really got over: they all seem mechanical. The reason is that they all are carried up through the roof, whereas the figures ought to disappear as soon as we see them beginning to rise. We ought not to see the tail ends of robes; they are too material. Another thing would have made this picture more effective. It would have been better, if the cobbler had gone back to his hammering tor a couple of strokes after greeting each of his visitors that came to him in place of Christ. Coming as they do, one after the other, makes the picture constrained. The acting, on the whole is excellent. But that starving woman was very well nourished — there are thin players in the business. The photography is very good. It is a fine, a very desirable offering, one that ought not to be missed. The producer deserves great credit. "THE TOLL OF FEAR" (Lubin), April 10.— We have already reviewed this picture at length, before release, on page 28, issue of April 5th, 1913. It is a two-reel special offering and it certainly compels our admiration for Romaine Fielding, author, producer and cast — he plays a double role, a sheriff and brother, two characters who look alike, but are different. It is a tragic picture of fear. People of strong imagination are apt, if they have Celtic or Gothic blood, to exploit the morbid in their art (both Poe and Hawthorne did) and because this realm of unrestrained emotions offers the easiest way to affect cruder minds, to bring them in touch with that strange sense of the infinite that we northern races have developed before all people. The upspring of Gothic arches is ours and also the plummet line into the shadows. With the latter belongs this offering. It is two reels of unrelieved horror. There were people in the audience who thought it was "great and wonderful"; but some thought it was "too terrible," and one man, we noticed turning away from it, refused to give us his opinion. It affected us unpleasantly. "THE KENTISH COAST" (Eclipse), April 9.— A short trip to several of the seaside resorts on the English south coast. It includes a fine picture of the chalk cliffs of Dover, that give the sobriquet of Albion to England. It is a very interesting offering. "MAKING BIRCH BROOMS" (Eclipse), April 9.— On the same reel, is this little topical that is much better entertainment than the usual offering of this kind; for it was taken by the hut of as fine a specimen of English peasant as one could find. The old man makes brooms so fast and so cleverly that he was applauded heartily by the audience. The photography is perfect. "AN UP-TO-DATE AVIATOR" (Eclipse), April 9.— A vaudeville sketch played by a clown and with trick photography. It offers nothing new and made very little laughter. "THE CAPTURE OF A WILD CAT" (Edison), April 11.— Shows the capturing of a wild cat that had been pillaging a hen roost. Two men and a dog make a spirited chase and capture. But, considering the picture as entertainment, we are in doubt of its value. Some in the audience liked it; some didn't. The trouble is that the cat puts up a good fight and the odds against it are too great. The photography is clear enough to show what happens. "RU*LE THYSELF" (Edison), April 11. — This little comedy made a good deal of laughter and its author, Frank Hart, deserves credit for hitting the mark several times in real comedy. C. J. Williams produced it with Herbert Prior in the leading role, as a man who is trying to control a bad temper. Edwin O'Connor, as an Irishman who shows him how to light a cigar in the wind, added a good deal. Mrs. C. J. Williams plays the man's wife and Arthur Housman, her brother. Richard Ridgely makes good fun in the scene in the man's office. "THE LITTLE MOTHER" (Essanay), April 11.— A picture of sentiment with good comedy breaking through it; at times it falls into sentimentality. The little mother is Ruth Stonehouse, a girl of the tenements