Moving Picture World (Sep 1917)

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September 8, 1917 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 152.* keeper of West, who in a struggle with his employer kills him. Robert Thornby directs the picture. The story is well hooked up. A battered dime figures much in the tale, and every time it enters it makes more sure the conviction of the murderer. The moment of Winter's uncovering is dramatic. Maizie, hiding from the police, has taken shelter in the church, subsisting on the food left In haste by the members of the ^ uilil when they learned of the death of West. She parts Scene from "Little Miss Optimist" (Paramount). the curtains in front of the pulpit, sees Winter shifting the battered dime he has taken from the body, lifting from the plate a good one for it. She denounces the murderer, upsetting the services. A policeman takes Winter away, the organist lover declares himself, and all is well. "His Wedding Night" A Two-Part Paramount-Arbuckle Comedy with Fatty as a Soda Clerk in a Country Drug Store. Reviewed by Arthur W. Courtney. IK FATTY ARBUCKLE'S latest two-reel comedy, "His Wedding Night", ice cream is laid on thick. This picture is full of laughable bits. Some are just pictured jokes, as ■when one stops eating watermelon to pick seeds out of his ears. Put these scenes are funny nevertheless, even when the materm] is old. Fatty is a soda clerk in a country drug store. After juggling an egg and milk he strains it through a comb and brushes off the foam with a hair brush. The India rubber egg is a good bit. He provides beer for a customer with a wink; also an individual bar-rail, a cuspidor and a sprinkling of sawdust. Two sissies appear in this picture. One sprays himself with sample perfume and is provided with a bathtub and towels and a stream from a siphon. Fatty substitutes chloroform for the perfume. This gets him one girl. But another is invulnerable — she even drinks it. A negress comes in for powder and is asked whether she wants face, gun or bug. She says she is not a bug, so she gets charcoal. In the gasoline episode a Ford is charged twenty-six cents a gallon, and when a Rolls-Royce comes up Fatty turns over the ticket and charges a dollar. The chauffeur does not object. He peels a bill off a big wad. Fatty gives him change from a still bigger wad, then sprinkles the road with gasolene. Fatty overcomes a rival suitor, who then plans to kidnap the bride. Instead of the bride he gets the sissy who delivered thf, bridal gown and who has put it on to show how it hangs. This, comedy will get a laugh out of everyone. "The Lady of the Photograph" Shirley Mason Attractive in Five-Part Comedy Drama for^ K-E-S-E Produced by the Edison Company. Reviewed by Margaret I. MacDonald. THE Lady of the Photograph" is founded on a story of which a great deal might have been made. The production in five parts, which was made at the Edison studios, with Shirley Mason in the leading role, is not first class in quality, and there is a feeling that the comedy situations, which In themselves are good, do not "get over". Shirley Mason is charming in the role of a young American heiress who while visiting in England meets her fate when she falls into a pond in quest of a water lily. Raymond McKee as Ferdy Latimer, a disinherited Englishmen, is quite the type, and Royal Byron as John Brown, who made millions in soap, plays exceptionally well. Others of the cast, William Calhoun, Jane Harvey, Dudley Hill and Gerald Pring. do good work In the supporting cast As the story runs Marjorie Van Dam, visiting in England, falls accidentally into a lily pond on the Latimer estate and Is rescued by Ferdy, the disinherited member of the family. The mutual attraction between the two is discouraged by the girl's parents, who are looking for wealth and social position in a match for their daughter. Ferdy starts out for America to make good, but failing to make the progress expected he attempts suicide In the river and is rescued by John Brown soap millionaire, who in return for his services requests Ferdy to help him to win the girl he loves, who turns out to be Ferdy's sweetheart. In disguise he undertakes the mission and finally attempts suicide again. The end of the matter is that Ferdy comes into his own through the death of another relative and is accepted by Marjorle's parents and the socially ambitious John Brown marries his stenographer. "The Little Samaritan" Five-Part Erbograph Comedy-Drama on Art Dramas Program Featuring Marian Swayne — An Excellent Story of Church Life in a Small Town — Written by a Clergyman. Reviewed by Arthur W. Courtney. THE five-part Erbograph comedy-drama "The Little Samaritan", released on the Art Dramas program, is an Interesting story of church life in a small town. The story was written by the Reverend Clarence J. Harris. The director, Joseph Levering, sometimes forgets he is dealing with church people. The church board has women on It. One of the men Is proprietor of a cigar store. The heroine, who is all that a < hurch member should be, scrubs the dog on Sunday afternoon. The young minister comes to town in a cutaway coat that he wears to church on Sunday. He enters the main door, leaves his walking stick and gloves In the pulpit and puts on his hat before he leaves the body of the church. He puts on a high clerical vest on Monday. Marian Swayne is Lindy, a Polly Anna orphan living with her grandmother, a fine old character type. She is warned to avoid Jim. His mother runs the choir and keeps Llndy from joining. Lindy's best friend is the old skinflint deacon's wife. The new minister comes to town and puts up at Lindy's house. Lindy's dream Is produced in a highly artistic manner, and, thank good ncss, it does not run through the remaining four reels. Lindy gets Noah, an old negro, another fine character type, the job of sexton. The deacon comes to Lindy's grandmother for the interest. She is five dollars shy. The next day Lindy pays. The minister and the deacon discover that the collection money has been stolen. Noah and Lindy each think the other is guilty, so both confess. But neither is guilty. The solution concludes an entertaining story. "The Defeat of the City" The First Four-Part O. Henrv Story on the General Film Program, a Simple Tale Glorifying Country Life — J. Frank Glendon and Agnes Eyre in the Leading Parts. nevlowpd by Arthur W. Courtney. THE first four-reel O. Henry story, "The Defeat of the City", is not different from the two-reel stories we have had. It Is simply an O. Henry story done in four reel* ir.stead of two. The adaptation was done by Will Courtney Thomas R. Mills was the director. J. Frank Glendon has the leading part. He is a country boy who comes to the city, makes good as a lawyer, becomes a "prominent clubman", and marries one of the four hundred. Agnes Eyre is the bride. She plays golf well in the first reel. The story is not dramatic. It is a simple narrative with two mild O. Henry surprises. The first comes in the third reel. The wife finds a letter addressed to her husband in a book In the library. She goes at once to his office. It looks as if there would be a scene. But the letter is from his mother. He has never told his wife that his mother lives on a farm. The satire la not especially well done. What the husband says and what the wife says when they decide to visit the farm are stiff subtitles. The second surprise is at the end. After the husband has spent the day cutting capers on the old farm he is sure his wife is) displeased. He nerves himself for her opinion. She says: "J thought I married a gentleman, but — I find I married a man." Those who like a simple tale glorifying country life to the discomfiture of all dwellers in cities will be pleased with this subjet. This is a Broadway Star Feature on the General Film program. "The Silent Witness" Authors Film Seven-Part Production Is Strong in the Final Two Thousand Feet. Reviewed by George Blalsdell. THERE Is a dramatic olosiner in "The Silent Witness", adapted from the play by Otto Hauerbach. the seven-part picture produced by Harry Lambart for the Authors' Film Company, and beincr released by M. H. Hoffman. Tnc. The part of the picture that stands out is in the final two thousand feet Two reels at least might be eliminated with profit from the remainder. The whole subject does not impress on the side of direction. Gertrude McCoy plays Helen Hastings, one of the leadinpr roles — in her case an emotional one — that of a mother who. through a supposed death in a fire, is debarred from beine a