Show World (October 1909)

October 30, 1909. THE SHOW WORLD 9 IF FILMS RECENTLY RELEASED brink, Pathe, Drama, 2,120 ft. This is a high class film representing I T , Em ) if may 1 be P a little above the heads of I the average audience, but the story , is 4 told swiftly and with every point ' brought out In strong relief. It is in 1 two parts, and is usually presented with a vaudeville act between the halves, which detracts a little from its effective- ness The film story follows closely I the play which was enacted in this I country many times by Charles Warner. ' The opening scene shows Lantier weary of the jealous outburst of Gervaise, and he announces his determination to leave her. There follows the scene in the 1 laundry, where Gervaise and Virginie, I {he rivals for the love of Lantier, meet and engage in a fierce struggle. Then follows the courtship of Coupeau, who wins Gervaise and the wedding follows. The next scene shows the happy couple five years later. Virginie, who has never forgotten or forgiven the beating she re¬ ceived in the laundry at the hands of Gervaise, spying on the happy Pair, de¬ termines to bring about the downfall of toth, and she attempts to kill Coupeau by removing some planks in^the scaffold- Coupeau Jj gglg' drink,* 1 and L with °the assistance of Lantier they trap him and he is soon wholly in the power of intoxicants. On wager, he drinks eight brandies at one tting, and is taken away to a hospital raving and raging maniac. He is re- ' from the hospital with the warn- „.at he must not use liquor in any form, and is told that the smallest glass i will cause instant death. He may, how¬ ever, partake of a very little red wine. Virginie visits the Coupeau home, learns 1 of the warning given Coupeau by the physicians, and determines on a diabolic 1 revenge, She substitutes a bottle of brandy for the red wine in the room. , Coupeau takes this by mistake, and / finally dies after a frightful attack of liliiiffrnnn tremens. The story is well acted by players who are adepts at pan- 1 tomine, and it holds the attention of an audience in a vise-like grasp. Even m i the extravagant scene in which the 1 drunken Coupeau copes with unseen devils, not a titter or brainless guffaw ; was heard at the first run of the film last Friday afternoon. Licensed Subjects BY WILL REED DUNROY This is a comedy, with nothing un¬ usual in the way of Story or action. Aunt Lena, with her awkward young daughter, visits her brother, who has two boys, Max and Moritz, who appear to be on the order of the famous Katzen- jammer Kids. These boys play some very rough jokes on the girl, which are not in the best of taste, and they finally come to grief, and receive their just deserts in the way of sound spankings. The film causes but mild laughter. This is a western subject full of life and action and tells the story of Bud Noble, the foreman of Circle D ranch, near Circle City, Idaho. The opening scenes show the pastimes of the cow¬ boys, who rope steers, ride bucking bronchos and shoot up a Chinaman. Later the hero falls heir to-a for¬ tune and goes to Chicago, where he and his new wife are in society. Bud tires of the inanities of social life and wires for all his friends to come to the city. ™ cowboys are given a taste of high life. They are taken on a yachting trip, where they are seized with seasickness, and they finally go to a theater where “oysee "Bertha the Sewing Machine Girl, and break up the show when the , ne ls to ° severely persecuted by the villain. Finally the boys are all sent home, and on the way back west they have a high old time in the buffet car, and during the melee they throw the negro porter out of the window. The ™ry is full of action of the rough order and is provocative of much laugh- ter and excitement. The large audience Which saw it upon its release Thursday received it with many evidences of in- terest and pleasure. fiIm tel * 3 the story of disaster rnfil <3og |s?i the footsteps of a dipso- manlac. The young husband is addicted His friend brings him home ntoslcated condition many times, naii',, 111 Pitying the young wife, grad- ah I y ? rows t0 l°ve her. He is honor- aoe however, and determines to go away. He has a last interview with the b at' th >s. being witnessed by the is misconstrued, and the dip- S ac „ l 1 ] 0013 himself, leaving a note S.of his determination to eliminate beSf The wIfe ’ feeling that she has th«i„ ca i* se °f the suicide, renounces ' ov ,e of the friend, and the story SSti to an ? nd w ith the wife kneeling a crucifix. The costumes are ele- tolfl ?. d u the 3tory ls w ell and swiftly It has the merit of commanding me strict attention of an audience. this reel. Mignon, a bareback rider, is loved by the clown. Bonita, a Spanish, girl, also in the circus, loves the clown and attempts to win him away. Mignon retires to her dressing room and lies down to rest, and in her dream she ac¬ cepts one of her many suitors, only to find that he tires of ner and turns his attention to another woman. In the vision she sees herself return broken hearted to the show. She is awakened from her dream by a scream and finds her riv'al standing over her with a drawn dagger and her lover grasping the hand that holds the deadly weapon. The Spanish girl slinks out and the lovers fall into each others’ arms. The story is not clearly told in all points and the distinction between the vision and re¬ ality is not sufficiently marked. There are many picturesque features, however, and the audience appeared attentive throughout the run or the film. A GREAT GAME, Edison, Comedy, 590 ft. This story is of a home team and a visiting team, playing a ball game, with many exciting features. The scenes are shifted from the diamond to the grand¬ stand from time to time, and the fun is caused by the encounters between the two factions looking on at the game. The facial expressions of the auditors are good, and the comedy is well ac¬ centuated. Being a baseball story, the fans in the house were much interested. It is an interesting film. A BROTHER’S WRONG, Kalem, Drama, tuberculosis, and finally in his death throes confesses to his perfidy. The good brother returns and is received with open arms, just after the wicked one expires. The pictures are clear, and the costumes are in the best of taste. The story is told clearly, and the film has the merit of claiming close attention throughout. COSETTE, Vitagraph, Art, 987 ft. A section from Victor Hugo’s master¬ piece “Les Miserables” is here depicted clumsily and in rather bad taste. Not only are the figures out of all propor¬ tion, but the makeup ls bad and the costuming slovenly. Many liberties have been taken with the original story also. The scene is supposed to show the rescue by Jean Valjean, the convict of Cosette, from the clutches of the vile Thenardiers. The scenes show the es¬ cape of Valjean from the galley ship, his appearance at the Thenardeir Inn, his flight through the streets of Paris with the child in his arms, his dilemma in the cul de sac at the convent of the Petit Picus, and his escape over the wall. The convict is also seen in an apocryphal burial in the enclosure of the convent, and his final resuscitation. The player impersonating Valjean is too puny, and there are other faults, but the audiences seem to like the film fairly well. IN THE WATCHES OF THE NIGHT, Biograph, Drama, 996 ft. Clear and vivid exposition of an in¬ teresting subject. Opening scene dis¬ closes home of a workman, with himself, wife and sick child. The man is out of work and the family destitute. The workman goes to home of a rich man to ask for employment, but is told there is none for him. Later he goes to the rich home at night and purloins jewels. His wife recalls him to his better self and he retraces his steps to restore the jewels and is caught. His own friend, the policeman on the corner, ar¬ rests him. He is allowed to return to his home to bid his wife adieu and there determines to end everything in death. The wife covers the eyes of the child, and they all kneel to await the report of the revolver that will end the misery of the cowardly man, when in rushes the rich man, who has, in some myster¬ ious manner, learned the truth, and the film ends with a big laugh when the wife turns and throws her arms about the neck of the surprised policeman, who eo has slipped money into the hands of the the sick child. The story is well told and is well balanced between tragedy and comedy. The audience received with un¬ usually keen attention upon its release Monday afternoon. BRITON AND BOER, Selig, Drama, 1,000 ft. Tale of the Boer war, intermingled with a love story. Boer girl is in love with young, Englishman, superintendent of the De Beers mines. War breaks out and the girl flees with her English lover. Then follows numerous scenes full of the battle field. Cronje and other of the Boer leaders are introduced. The father, who escapes the carnage, seeks out his daughter, determined to kill her for her treachery to the Boer cause, but is in¬ tercepted by the young husband. Final¬ ly the father is received into the home of his daughter, and the story ends happily with the grandfather dandling his grandson on his knee. The story is not well presented at all times, the thread of the plot being lost numerous times in the rush of the action. The audience that viewed it upon its release Monday did not'seem to be so much im¬ pressed as puzzled over the story. THE TWO MR. WHITES, Vitagraph, comedy, 543 feet. This is a comedy subject, well pre¬ sented in clear pictures and in fairly good taste and without the rough buf¬ foonery that often mars motion pic¬ tures. John White, a jolly fellow, hale, hearty and full of life, is invited to visit a certain friend at a country vil¬ lage. Jonathan White, a severe tem¬ perance advocate, is invited to address a temperance meeting in the same town. When the two arrive in the town a case of mistaken identity throws the tem¬ perance man jn with the convivial crowd and the jolly fellow in with the prim and sedate temperance workers. The temperance man is taken to the home of the convivial man and is there in¬ troduced to a drinking party, which so shocks him that he finally jumps through a window to escape the sight of all the intoxicants and their effects. The other man is escorted down the street by a silk-hatted committee of temperance workers, who are frightfully shocked when he invites them all into a saloon to have a drink. The compli¬ cations are finally straightened out. The ' audience, viewing it upon its first pre¬ sentation Tuesday, found it amusing and saluted the film with several hearty laughs. THE LIE, Edison, dramatic, 1,000 feet. A story of the Franco-Prussian war, with two men in love with the same girl. One of them goes away to war knowing that he is loved in turn, while his comrade learns at the last moment that the other man is his successful rival. Away at war, the one who is fa¬ vored is shot and seriously wounded, and he entrusts a letter to his sweet¬ heart to his comrade, who is supposed to deliver it, but at the last moment he brings in a false report that his com¬ rade is dead. The girl loses her rea¬ son, and the visions of her deluded mind as portrayed are effectively pictured and adequately portrayed. Finally the young woman throws herself over a cliff, thinking that she sees her lover before her. Her brother, who has found the real note from the wounded soldier, fol¬ lows, and is in time to save the de¬ mented girl from death, and the return of the lover brings the story to a happy close. The photography of this film is good and the story is well told, although it is rather extravagantly pictured at times. The audience, viewing it Tues¬ day afternoon, gave it close attention. HE FELL IN DOTE WITH HIS WIPE, Vitagraph, comedy, 435 feet. Here we have a subject that is not entirely new, but is presented in a graphic and interesting manner. The honeymoon is over, and the young hus¬ band is inclined to be neglectful. The young wife pouts at first and then de¬ cides to bring the husband to his senses. She connives with three of her male friends, and they consent to make vio¬ lent love to her, with the result that the husband comes to his senses in a hurry and discovers that he has a gem of a wife. The story is not new or unusual, but it causes some little laugh¬ ter, and is fairly entertaining. THE GAMBLER, Pathe, dramatic, 699 feet. The infatuation for gambling is here shown with the poverty and want of the gambler’s wife and child. The wife pawns her jewelry in order to keep from starvation, and the husband returning after losses at the gaming Jl, takes* the 'pittance she has re“ ceived from the pawnbroker and goes back to the gambling house. In des¬ pair, the wife turns on the gas, and with her child in her arms awaits death. Successful at last, the man returns to find the wife and child unconscious, and, believing them dead, he has a few tragic moments, and when they finally revive, he swears he will never gamble again, and tears a pack of cards with his teeth in a true French style. The story is well and forcefully told, the photographic features are clear and good, and the story presents a whole¬ some moral. It is a good subject, well handled. THE DOST HANDBAG, Edison, com¬ edy, 400 feet. Comedy of a broad but effective na¬ ture is displayed in this film. A mid¬ dle-aged couple buy seats for the thea¬ ter, and the tickets are put in the woman’s handbag. In looking through the bag for something the tickets are accidentally dropped on the floor, and are left laying there as they start for the theater. The handbag is dropped from an elevated station, and falls onto a moving van. The man gives chase, and after numerous adventures he final¬ ly gets it back and brings it home, only to discover that the tickets are not in it after all. When the man finally finds them on the floor he collapses. The film was received with much laughter by a large audience Wednes¬ day afternoon of this week. MAUD MULLER, Essanay, dramatic, 985 feet. Whittier’s poem forms the basis of this subject Although some liberties have been taken with the original story, they are of such a nature that they make it more interesting and more ef- fective as a silent drama. The poem is familiar to every one, and the film follows the lines fairly well until near the end, where a scene in a saloon where Maud’s husband is seen in a drunken brawl where he kills a man and a scene in court, where the judge 3 i t3 trial of Maud’s husband are shown, and these add to the storv if not to the artistic quality. The scenes of the piece are well selected, and the cos- ™. ns ™ ore than ordinarily pictur¬ ed ti, a ? tor y bolds the attention, ana the film is of a rather high class. G 220 T ?eet: UI! 3VUX - U1 ’> PatIl3 > comedy, f ;TVo° r ^o^L tr i^ S eaT lt a h na hU sH^ do C all 0 snrf<f axes and kni ves, and of unusual antics; with the gSE 23? l a l% h vX! s t film is an effective filler in a program. 1 PRIZE PIGHT PICTURES CAUSE MUCH COMMENT. Pi!m of Johnson-Ketchel Bout Offered In Burlesque Houses Where They Attract Considerable Attention. sporting*mefi ^ Z '“ft fl l ht orltios ani jlck ve Johnson 0f the battle between Francisco, Oct. 16 of this year was seen for the first time this week in ChiclIS ThT^ 10 ^ 0 burlesque houses^ S every o ? ™J ei U. ly depicted by the camera At faces i h %e e r X y P T S «Sct° f an t d he no fl t Sh ^ during the running of the film is a fosfbyTh V e e m e a n chi 0 n f e. the ^ gladiatora BiHy 10 Jordan 6 i^Len “n^the’“rtn'Tin several characteristic attitudes and he introduces several prominent men in Wnius P °Br?t? Zu £ d ' £ he pc"css of month iP’ w „ h a cigar in his SJ’ * s easily recognized. Jack Welch, the referee, is shown in con¬ versation with the fighters, the announe- seconds. Ketchel is the and* i fl ®h 1 - ter to be seen on th e screen a i d S, hls corner are George Cole, Jim¬ mie Reagan, Terry Kellar and Phil Frease. The prominent figures to be seen in the negro’s corner “are George noso e ho a foro^; nk Kenny ’ Both fightefs pose before the camera, after being in¬ troduced to the huge tfrowd near the ringside. The pictures will prove both an at¬ traction and a money maker and they wiil go a long way towards convincing the followers of the ring that Johnson is a better fighter than they had im¬ agined. Taking the fight as the camera has caught them round by round, John¬ son is a clever boxer, a crafty ring gen¬ eral and is able to stand a lot of pun¬ ishment, as Ketchel landed some hard blows on the head and body. Ketchel seemed a pygmy compared with Johnson’s heighth and build and during various clinches, the black swings Ketchel clear off the floor. Ketchell makes some awful wild swings, but in various clashes with Johnson brings the crowd to its feet by his fight¬ ing. The twelfth round is decidedly in¬ teresting, not because it is the last, but as it looks as though the white had practically clinched the mill, when John¬ son, recuperating after being knocked down, comes back quickly and scores a knockout. The finish is vividly shown in the pictures. The closing scenes after the battle were also shown. Among the prominent sporting men seen in the pictures are Charlie Cleav¬ er, Frank Barbee and John Clarke; of the theatrical agents there are, Archie Levy, Sid Grauman, Bob Burns and Zeke Abrams and other conspicuous fig¬ ures are Dave Schwartz and Ernest Morton. In fact many of the sporting fraternity and fight reviewers are easily discerned in the pictures. The film is 3,200 feet long and ls in three reels.—M. M. V.