Cinema News and Property Gazette (1912)

68 FILMS— Supplement to THE CINEMA. November, 1912. accompanies them to the mine. But on the way the car crashes into the gate of a level crossing, and Kepfer is thrown out and injured. Swift retribution thus overtakes the man who was so ready to sacrifice the lives of others, and he is carried into the nearest house. And now the grimness of the tragedy becomes apparent, for the house is the foreman's, and his wife has gone after her husband with the telegram sent by Delmas, the engineer. She rushes from the house to the pit mouth, and finds that the night party has already descended. There, down in the pit, the miners have commenced their work. One of them has commenced work on a fresh layer ; a few blows of the pick, and suddenly a huge torrent of water rushes out of the side and engulfs him. Later the first body to be brought to the surface is the dead foreman. He is carried home and placed on another bed in the same room as the injured Kepfer, a sheet thrown over him concealing all but a white hand which almost touches the floor. The crowd by now has learned of the mineowner's whereabouts, and invading the bereaved woman's cottage demand the key of the bedroom so that they can lynch him. Her own" sorrow, however, has made her sympathetic, and it is only by force that the enraged miners can enter. Amidst the noise Pepfer regains consciousness and staggers to his feet; he hears the curses of the crowd, and then sees the white hand drooping from the other bed. Fearfully he touches it and shudders at its coldness; he then lifts the white cover and sees the features of the . dead foreman. So great is the shock that he throws up his arms .and falls back dead. The miners rush in to find that Kepfer has gone before a higher tribunal, and death has robbed them of their wild justice. GERRARD. Film House. Gerrard Street, W.C. Charles a useless draft, hoping to fool the money-lender. CorkScrew and Charles visit the money-lender's house, and Charle* enters to interview the man and get the documents, while CorkScrew waits outside. The corpulent money-lender opens his safe and gets out the papers. The sight of what is in the safe arouses Charles's greed. The old man, seeing the intention in his face, seeks to protect his property, staggers back, falls against the sharp edge of the safe, and is killed. Horrified, Charles takes the documents, informs Cork-Screw of the incident, and repairs to Wullf's office. There he is paid for his pains, and as he leaves Mr. Kajer returns for his papers. Fearful of being convicted for murder, Charles decides to escape. Cork-Screw disguises him, and hurries with him to the station, but he is just too late for the express. His endeavour to rush past the ticket inspector attracts the attention of detectives at the station, and they follow their man. Black-Anna is that night giving a party at which both Cork-Screw and Charles are present. The detectives gain admission, and at a dramatic moment order the arrest of Charles. Cork-Screw, however, switches off the light, and Charles in the darkness escapes, pursued by the officers. Racing up a staircase he gains the roof, and then in a breathless incident pulls himself across by means of the telephone wires to the house opposite. Hot upon his trail the detectives invade the house, which Charles has reached. He again scrambles out on the roof, and dives from it into the water. They pursue him in a boat, but he gains the shore and dashes along to the swivel bridge. Unfortunately the bridge is swinging open, and there is no way of escape. He turns upon his pursuers, fells them to the ground, and then dives again from the bridge into the water. Once more the detectives take to a boat and pursue their man. He, by this time exhausted, makes for the quay, but the hunters are close upon him, and rather than be taken alive he sinks back into the water. His body is hauled out by the police and laid upon the quay. Suddenlv there is an excited movement amongst the spectators, and Black Anna rushes to the spot to bewail the loss of her lover. "ON THE TRACK OF THE CORK-SCREW GANG."Released November 3rd. Length 2,785 feet. Wullf is a broker entangled in the meshes of the Cork-Screw Gang. The leading spirit of the gang is a handsome young lady known as Black-Anna. Her male confederates are her lover, Handsome Charles and Cork-Screw, a notable criminal. Mr. Kajer deposits some valuable securities with Wullf, who, hard pressed for money to meet the demands of the gang, places them in the hands of a money-lender, obtaining a receipt which must be produced when the securities are redeemed. CorkScrew and Charles are with Black-Anna when Wullf is announced. They hurriedly take their departure. Wullf enters, and after caressing the lady is soon relieved of his cash. Returning home after a night of debauch he faints in the street. As those who assist are carrying him to a tavern he loses the pocket book containing the receipt for the documents. In the tavern Cork-Screw and Charles are discussing plans for evading the police, who are after Charles for a burglary. The barmaid, who has suffered insults at the hands of Charles, informs the police of his whereabouts, but before they arrive Charles has made himself scarce. It is to this tavern that Wullf is carried and restored to consciousness. There he proclaims the loss of the pocket-book. Charles, in his flight from the inn, discovers the book and shows it with pride to Black-Anna. She immediately recognises it, and tells him he must take it back to Wullf. Meanwhile, detectives are on the track of the criminal. One, disguised as a mason, visits Cork-Screw's home with a view to extracting information about Charles. Cork-Screw is too smart for the detective, pulls off his disguise and sneeringly shows him the door. A moment or two after Charles enters to talk over the business of the pocket-book with Cork-Screw. The detective, not t 1 be beaten, has gone upstairs, and commences boring a hole through the floor in order to hear the conversation. It is a capital picture, as we see both the man above and the criminals below. Cork-Screw's quick ear detects the sounds; he goes up to investigate, but the detective, scrambling out of the window and down into the room which Cork-Screw has just left, succeeds in escaping. Wullf, late for his office, learns that Kajer is demanding the return of the documents, and not receiving them during the day intends calling himself for them at night. The broker is desperate. Charles enters with the pocket-book, but this is now of little use to Wullf, as his client may call at aiiv moment, and the money-lender lives some distance away. He offers Charles a handsome sum if he will get the documents within two hours. He has no money to redeem them, so gives HEPWIX, 2, DENMAN SlREET, W. "THE LADY OF SHALOTT."— Released November 7th. Length 800 feet. In the first scene we see the Lady of Shalott, upon whom will descend a mystic curse if she looks down the Road to Camelot, at work at her loom, with the famous mirror hanging by her side, by the aid of which she is able to see all that passes on the road without actually looking down it. All sorts of conditions of people, knights and young girls, pages and monks pass by in a brilliant throng, each crossing themselves in fear as they catch sight of the tower where the mysterious lady dwells. All this time the Lady of Shalott refrains from the temptation of looking towards Camelot. One day, however, she sees in the mirror a reflection of the famous knight Sir Lancelot, as he rides down to Camelot to see his king, a glorious picture with the sun reflected back in dazzling light from his golden armour. In all her lonely life the Lady of Shalott had never seen such a sight as this. On the impulse of the moment she steps across the room holding out her arms to the knight in wistful entreaty, and at that very moment the web from the loom flies out broken across the room, and the mirror is shivered to pieces. She has broken her promise, and the curse has descended. Then slowly descending the stairs she finds a boat moored by the bank, and loosing the rope is carried away by the stream towards Camelot. Dressed all in whites surrounded by lilies, she is carried by the stream past the wondering people. But before the boat bearing its beautiful burden has reached the outskirts of Camelot, the Lady of Shalott has breathed her last, and the mystery of the curse remains a mystery for ever. As the boat slowly floats on towards the town, the knights cross themselves in fear, afraid that she. might be some spirit from the other world, bnt Sir Lancelot alone of them all, though unwitting that he was the cause of the curse descending upon her, feels a strange pity for the girl who had come to Camelot at last, only to die there. "CHURCH AND STAGE."— Released November 7th. Length 775 feet. Lionel Chance, a young fellow of about 23, originally intended to adopt the church as his career, but having a con