Cinema News and Property Gazette (1912)

VI. FILMS.— Supplement to THE CINEMA. July, lgi-2. and when the little one has been restored to its grateful parents, he and the girl naturally fall into conversation as they stroll along side by side, the whole affair forming an informal but at the same time easy and natural introduction. She confides to him that her name is Elsie, and accepts his offer to have tea with him, and whilst they are seated at one of the tables, a lady and gentleman come in, and, recognising Charles, call him over to their table to speak to them, it being clear at the same time by Elsie's manner that she does not wish them to recognise her. After promising to call on them, Charles returns to Elsie, and the two go on for a walk, parting in the park at sunset with a promise to see each other again. The next day Charles calls on the Bruce Wallers, according to his promise, and to his utter amazement, the door is opened to him by Elsie in the garb of a parlour-maid ; the girl with whom he has fallen in love is a servant. Whilst Elsie is handing round the tea, Charles manages to slip a note into her hand, and when she is out in the hall and reads it, she finds that it is to say that her station in life makes no difference to him, and that he loves her just the same. She is in the act of pressing the letter to her lips when Charles comes into the hall, and in a moment, the two are in each other's arms. But unfortunately a minute later they are discovered bv Mrs. Bruce Waller, and Elsie is sent to her room, OLD LOVE LETTERS (Vitagfaph). whilst Charles is ordered to leave the house at once. Matters having come to such a pass, Elsie is forced to reveal her identity to her employers, and, producing her credentials, confounds the Bruce Wallers, by proving to them that she is their niece, whom they, have not seen since she was a baby, and that, being a great heiress, in order that she might find a man who would love her for herself alone, she has been masquerading as a servant under their roof. Thus is a happy ending very simply brought about. "THE PASSING OF THE OLD FOUR-WHEELER."— Released June 27th. Length 875 feet. An old cabman who owns a horse and an old four-wheeled cab is finding life a hard struggle. The natural preference of the public for the faster travelling taxis makes it very difficult for him to get fares, and at the time we first make his acquaintance his home is threatened by the brokers for rent, while his sick daughter is slowly pining away for want of proper food and nourishment. He sets off for his day's work with a heavy heart, and upon his return finds to his dismay that his takings are lower than ever, as everybody seems to have wanted taxis rather than his leisurely conveyance. He finds that the doctor has called in his absence, and left a note to the effect that good food and wine are absolutely imperative for his daughter's recovery, The poor old man is broken-hearted, knowing that he has no money for such things, as it is as much as he can do to keep a roof over their heads. On the following day he gets a good fare, a gentleman who is in a hurry to be driven back to his house. On reaching home that night he is amazed to find a purse with £5 in it lying at the bottom of his cab, and in it a card which shows that it belongs to this same gentleman. Determined to keep it, he takes it home in great delight to his daughter, but she pleads with him to restore it to the owner, saying that stolen money will bring no blessing with it. After a lot of reluctance, he gives way and returns it to the owner, saying in the note which he sends with it that though he returns the money, it has been a hard struggle owing to the fact that his daughter is dying for the want of proper food. However, the old man's honesty meets its due reward, for the gentleman, struck by his conduct in the face of so great a temptation, not only returns him all the money, but offers him the post.of head coachman in his establishment. And in the end we see the old man driving up his master's smart brougham, whilst his daughter, now fully restored to health, runs out to open the lodge gates to let them through. A change for the better, indeed, and one which enables the old man to remember without regret that the days of the old four-wheeled "growler " are numbered. "TWO BROTHERS AND A SPY."— Released July 18th. Length 850 feet. The two brothers, of the name of Fenton, are men of a very different stamp. Whilst the one, Dick, is a lieutenant in a smart cavalry regiment, engaged to the daughter of his colonel, and a man who has in every way a most promising career in front of him : the other is utterly worthless, a confirmed drunkard and gambler and a disgrace to his family. One evening Lieutenant Fenton is at his Colonel's house talking to his fiancee and her father, when a dispatch comes from headquarters instructing the Colonel to send a trustworthy officer to fetch some plans of a new machine gun. Lieutenant Fenton, being at hand at the moment, is thereupon dispatched on this important errand. Meanwhile, the other brother has that day staked and lost his last sovereign at cards, and seeing no hope for the future, leaves the card table, determined on suicide. Just as he is holding a revolver to his head, a foreign spy, by name Weiner, who has been watching the scene, steps out, and staying his hand, offers him a large sum of money on condition that he will steal the plans of the patent gun from the Colonel's house. Not knowing where to turn for money to pay his gambling debts, and pressed on every side, the unhappy man consents to the infamous proposition, and accepting the spy's money, sets off upon his task. Meanwhile Lieutenant Fenton has returned, his mission safely accomplished, and having given the plans to his Colonel, departs from the house. As it happens, just at the moment that the Colonel is placing the plans in the safe, his servant enters and informs him that somebody is waiting to see him in another room. He therefore follows his servaat, leaving, in a moment of forgetfulness, the safe door open behind him. Meanwhile John, having effected an entry into the room through thejjverandah window, and discovering an unexpected piece of good fortune, in the open safe, soon picks out the papers he requires, and prepares to make his escape, but all unknown he has been seen on the verandah by his brother, Dick, who, seeing a strange man entering the Colonel's room, has followed him back again, although quite ignorant that it is his own brother; and as the thief turns to make his escape, he finds himself confronted, and the two brothers stand face to face. Tearing the plans from the brother's hand, the Lieutenant, at first, is on the point of having him arrested, but finally, for the sake of the family name, he agrees to keep silent, and, sternly ordering him to depart watches the wretched man slink from the room. Dick is then about to return the plans to the safe, when the Colonel suddenly enters before he has time to do so, and seeing him standing there with the plans in his hands and the safe door open, instantly sus pec^s him of tampering with them, Fenton, for the sake of his brother, refuses to explain or say anything whatever, and even the pleading of his fiancee failing to move him, his Colonel orders him under arrest. A court-martial is held on Dick, and he, still keeping silent for the sake of his brother, is about to b