The Bioscope (May-June 1912)

Supplement to The Bioscope, May 9, 1912. iii. FILMS—-WEEK BY WEEK. Pathe. A Mother and Sons of 1776.—The elder son of a widow woman is wounded in a skirmish with the English not very far from his home. He staggers to it, and dies in his mother’s arms. He is buried in the garden, and over the mound, Charles, the younger brother, swears to avenge his death. The boy takes a gun, and, slipping out into the woods, searches for the English camp. He sights it from a sli tht rocky eminence, and picks off half a dozen of the soldiers. The remainder of the regiment fire in the direction from which the shots proceed, and Charles is wounded. He rolls down the eminence and falls at the feet of his mother. He dies just as the English soldiers, having tracked him, enter the little homestead. The mother is roughly ordered to fetch drink. In the cellar, she prepares a supreme revenge by pounding a poisonous herb into the jug. On her handing the beer to the soldiers she Js ordered to taste it first. Without flinching, she drinks from the glass offered her, and the soldiers, reassured quaff in their turn from the fata] draught. (Released May 15th. Length 857 ft.) s The Great Prayer of the Arabs in Southern Algeria.— Amongst the Mohammedans, after the beyran or feast which follows the fast of the Ramadhan, extraordinary public manifestations and long prayers are made. Here in Southern Algeria we find the Arabs assembling in vast numbers on a slight hill from the great prayer, and the spectacle is impressive and unforgettable. (Released May 15th. Length 346 ft.) From Love to Hatred Turned.—Anne-Marie is an ignorant shrimper girl—amused with a trifle, and flattered by the love-making of Quartermaster Yves le Gall, home on leave in the little Breton village. When we next see her she is the deserted mother pleading to the man, on his return home, to take her baby in his arms and make her tight again with the world. Le Gall is about to contract a marriage that suits both his fancy and his pocket, and Anne-Marie’s sobs are wearisome to him. Anne-Marie is watching her one-time lover playing blindman’s buff on the cliffs with the girl he is to marry. When the lovers slip into a bathing machine in their play, the mad hatred in her tempts her to lock the door on them, and to send the little cabin hurtling over the cliffs down to destruction. (Released May 15th. Length 790 ft.) The Mercenary.—Captain Ozzardo, a mercenary, travelling with a small body of men to Francis II., King of France, is thrown from his horse near the castle of the Marquis de Tosti. Relief is afforded him by the vassals of the Marquis, by whom shelter and hospitality are offered to the captain and his men. The captain accepts the hospitality, and repays it by abducting his host’s daughter. He carries her away to a gloomy castle. A quarrel breaks out between him and his lieutenant, and the latter hurries back to the Tosti castle. Here he claims aid, and, with the Marquis, returns to play the part of rescner and restore the girl to her lover and parents. (Released May 15th. Length 940 ft.) How Jim Won His Valentia.—Jim is called upon by his parents to marry a girl of their choosing. He, thaving already settled upon another. hurries off to weep in her arms. Jim’s father calls, evidently to help his son out of his entanglement. Jim conceals himself during the interview. The father, on the doorstep, encounters his Google Digitized by wife, who has come to withdraw her son from the unknown lady’s clutches. Her husband retreats unseen, and has to throw himself upon the mercy of his son’s sweetheart, who conceals him in one of the drawers of a huge press. There is a third call, that of a rejected suitor. The mother is at once pushed into a second drawer of the press by the girl. Jim issues from his place of concealment, and takes refuge in the third and last drawer. He is discovered by the rejected suitor, but is able to retaliate by forcing that gentleman to take his place in the drawer, while he pushes notes through the cracks of the drawers to his parents, to tell them that they shall only be let out on condition that he is allowed to marry the girl. Needless to say, the necessary consent is duly given. (Released May 15th. Length 757 ft.) . All Through the Guinea-pigs.—Jane and Hodge exchange their baskets without being aware of the fact, the former’s being full of vegetables and the latter’s full of guinea-pigs. Jane is horrified to find, instead of cauliflowers and cabbages, a host of squirming guinea-pigs and white rats, which scamper all over her kitchen. She is gazing in horrified surprise at the little animals when Hodge comes to rectify his mistake. When Jane’s master and mistress return, they find the house in great, disorder, and Jane and Hodge endeavouring to catch the little vermin. Mr. Clasey draws out a revolver, and, with this weapon pointed full at his head, Hodge is made to restore everything to its place in double quick time. Having finished his task, he, in company with Jane and his guineapigs, is made to beat a hasty retreat. (Released May 15th. Length 478 ft.) Life’s Martyrs.—Robert Leskell has engaged himself to an theiress, Mary Margrande. Mary loves Robert tenderly, almost maternally. Her fiance is in love with a girl named Elsa, who works in a milliner’s shop. He enjoys to the full the moments he spends with Elsa, who passionately loves in return. Mary finds a note dropped by Ronert. It is one to him from Elsa. She taxes her fiance witn his unfaithfulness, and he can only bow his head in acquiescence of the truth. He goes his way, whilst Mary drags herself away wearily, to decide that a convent must henceforth shelter her. Robert receives news that Elsa is suffering from a chill, which has developed badly, and has been taken away to a hospital. He obevs her request to go and see her, and is shocked at the change wrought in her in so short a time. The sister by the bedside is Mary. it is now her duty to care and tend the girl who has stolen Robert’s love from her. Mary writes to him, pointing out that it is his duty to marry Elsa and make her last moments happy ones. Robert agrees, and the marriage is consummated. Elsa barely lives to go through the ceremony. After her death, Robert flings himself into his studies. to forget the sadness of his past months. The careless handling of a delicate experiment results in the loss of his evesight. He is tended in the same hospital as that to which Elsa was taken, and Sister Marv is his nurse. Once he tries to end his life, but his guardian angel stretches out a hand in time to save him. Marv strengthens him with her soft. healing words, and in the last scene it is the grev, colourless woman, nersonifving consolation, who dominates the picture. (Released May 18th. Length 1.828 ft.) The Javanese Servant.—In this film we have the story of a servant who arrays herself in the pink kimono of her mistress) A manservant, her own lover, coming in, mistakes her for his mistress. and vrostrates himself on the floor. The girl is delighted with the success of her apnearance. The man makes as if to clasp the girl, and at this moment the lover of the mistress of the two servants enters. The silken kimono also leads him into error, and Original from NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY