Motion Picture News (Jan - Mar 1914)

40 THE MOTION PICTURE NEWS "BENEATH THE CZAR" (Blach6 Features) REVIEWED BY E. KENDALL GILLETT THIS production was written, staged and directed entirely by Madame I.lache in her studios at Fort Lee, N. J. It shows throughout its length the ingenuity of this clever master of the screen. From start to finish the action is intensely interesting, and the care and thought given to the details is phenomenal. The remarkable part of the film is the ability which Madame Blache has shown in the portrayal of Russian life, action and intrigue. There is never a slip nor would one imagine that he was anywhere bul within the confines of the Russian empire. ANNA SEES HER FATHER TORTURED The whole story is one which will appeal to the American audience wherever it is shown. The plot is a simple one, devoted to the present Russian struggle for freedom. The story revolves about Anna Pavlowa, a young woman who is forced to enter the Russian Secret Service on the threat that if she did not do so her father, an active Nihilist, would be put to death. Before her own eyes he is tortured in the prison, and to stop these inhuman tortures, she falls in with the plan to root out the Nihilist organization. To further their designs, the Secret Service authorities introduce her into the home of Prince Cyril, who is suspected of being in sympathy with the Revolutionists. She unwillingly does her task, which is made very easy by Prince Cyril's admiration for her personally and his sympathy with her father's plight. He introduces her into his circle of Radicals, but it is not long before her interest and general aces arouses suspicion. She traces them to their meetingplace, which she enters without their knowledge. After the meeting breaks up, and the conspirators leave in a spirit of unrest, she emerges from her hiding-place in a well, and guided by an image of her father suffering in his prison, she purloins evidence for the Government. In the meantime, Prince ( 'vril. guided by traces she had left, follows her to her home .ni«l persuades her to return the incriminating papers. The Government officials arrive and are told that she had been unsuccessful in her attempt to aid them. Her servant, who i spying "ii her, betrays Prince Cyril's visit. They bind her and leave her in charge of two soldiers, while the others in haste gallop off after the Prince. In the meantime one of the soldier-, who is secretly in league with the Revolutionists, aids her in making an escape. Prince Cyril, alter .1 very sensational chase, is captured and imprisoned. With the aid of this soldier she is able later on to meet a Governorgeneral who, completely disarmed by her innocent charms, falls a victim to her scheme to liberate her father and the Prince. She succeeds in this plan and by vigilance and careful planning tbe\ make their escape to America after blowing up their former abode with bombs planted by the Russi 11 ldi< ' "MAGDA, A MODERN MADAME X" (Wilkar Films) REVIEWED BY LESLEY MASON THE hero-worship which every Spanish man and woman pays to its bull-fighters, the ' toreadores," is one ot the mainsprings of the action in "Magda." A Castilian marchioness deserts her home and baby son to become the sweetheart of a toreador, is abandoned by him, sinks lower and lower, until she is arrested as the would-be slayer of the dissolute ruffian with whom she had finally come to live. There is a slight reminiscence of the original "Madame X," in that it is the son who, without realizing it, defends his mother on trial for her life, and obtains her acquittal She dies in his arms, and the father, until then relentless, forgives his erring wife in death. In the details of the action's unfolding, however, the two plays are radically different. The play opens on a high level of sensation with a bull-fight in full career. The experiences of the lovesick woman after she leaves her home are depicted in a series of beautiful scenes, and scenes commendable for their photographic merits. The ruffian to whom the final tribulations of the marchioness are due makes a thrilling escape by leaping from a bridge to the roof of a passing express train to evade the police. The picture, as a whole, is a series of exciting incidents, knit together dramatically only at the beginning and at the end. But it will undoubtedly be a favorite for those who like foreign settings and the impassioned style of acting peculiar to the Spanish and Italian actors. "MEPHISTOPHELIA" (Features Ideal) REVIEWED BY EDWIN LAWRENCE THIS is a high-class production. The settings are rich and the coloring delightful. Mephistophelia is Lad> Kelton when she appears in society, but her underworld life is well hidden. Her father had been a bandit, in spite of a life of comforts, and the daughter is prompted by heredin to a secret career of crime. As Mephistophelia, she robs the rich to give to the poor A CRITICAL MOMENT FOR MEPHISTOPHELIA She has decided to give up this dangerous pastime, when a friend enlists her aid against a loan shark. She enters this man's house and secures some incriminating papers, which in a note she says he may have back, in consideration of a ransom for which she will call that night Me plants an ambush for her, but she uses him for a shield and cleverly escapes with the money, and still in possession of the papers. She barters the papers for a draft which he holds against her friend, and is thus identified as the mysterious Mephistophelia, and the loan shark calls the police. She drowns Ins denunciations with declarations that he is a traitor. and he is dragged away. In the excitement. Mephistophelia • apes, and again the police are baffled.