Cinema News and Property Gazette (1913)

76 .S upplement to THE CINE M A . January 15, 1913. PATHE FRERES CINEMA, LTD. 84, Wardour Stkii r, W , and 31-33, Charinu Cross Road, W C. 1 'hones 3037 Central. 3239 Gerrard. Releasing— S.C.A.G.L, AMERICAN KINEMA, THANHOUSER, BRITANNIA, COMICA, THALIE, IMPERIUM, and PATHE Films. "THE GLORY OF WIFFLES." Wiffles, courting a tall and sylph-like damsel, incurs the anger of an impertinent little gentleman desirous of wooing the lady himself. The quarrel ends in cards being exchanged, and our hero finds that in a few days' time he has a duel to fight, in addition to the more serious business of love-making. Wiffles is by no means brave, but he is vainglorious, so that a long recital of how he is to figure in the coming fight excites his sweetheart's unqualified admiration. As the day draws nearer, Wiffles' courage oozes painfully away, and his sleep is nightly troubled with uncanny dreams. He sees himself fighting not only his opponent, but himself ; and the effect of Wiffles in bed, with upturned nose and open mouth, watching himself in ghostly duplicate, is funny in the extreme. It must be seen to be appreciated. On the morning of the fateful day he is wakened at an early hour, and breakfast proves a depressing function. A little later his opponent calls, and in unconcealed terror Wiffles flies through the various apartments of his flat. The other man follows, and at length succeeds in by this strange trait in Desire's character, for one summer's afternoon his laughing request for a flower worn in her bosom is followed, on her refusal, by horse-play, which presently develops into a struggle — he eagerly stretching out his hand for the blossom, she shielding it with her own. The struggle becomes a little heated, and Desire, suddenly carried away by a violent access of passion, grasps the girl brutally, and, forcing her backwards on to a rough bench, presses his fingers round her firm, white throat. Francine's half-smothered cry brings her uncle to the scene, and Desire is torn apart from her, to stand ashamed and unable to explain his outburst. He is forgiven, however, and goes home to ask his mother for the all-important consent to the marriage. Desire's mother is a woman bearing a load of sorrow. Her husband, the grandson of an alcoholic, is a monomaniac, whose crime is strangulation. It is evident that Desire's occasional fits of anger come from the hereditary taint, which, passing through generation after generation, is now near elimination, probably through the mating of his ancestors with worthy women, such as his pushing a card with a full apology upon it into Wiffles' hand. The latter accepts it doubtfully, then, as he grasps the full import of the words, his pose alters, and with pride written large upon his features he bows the other man out, and goes, covered in glory, to recount to his sweetheart the full and true tale of his bravery in the duel ! "THE HEREDITARY TAINT." {S.C.A.G.L.) The scene of the play is a little French village nestling in the hills. It is the home of Desire Martel, a strong young peasant, who courts Francine Moreau, the niece of a man of some little means in the village. Francine is a well set-up girl, healthy and vital. She looks intended to be the mother of splendid children, and her ambitions are simple and true. By natural instinct she sees in Desire a mate who will be true and faithful to her, and when along the country roads he begs her to promise to be his wife, she gives the required promise gladly, if a little shyly. To D6sir6 Francine, with her glossy, wavy black hair and her fresh complexion, is the one desire of his life, and he pours out his devotion to her in blundering words, for he is no great thinker. He is a strange mixture of roughness and gentleness, subject at times to fits of violent anger, which pass quickly and of which Francine is not yet aware. She is destined, however, to be suddenly startled mother. Martel, the elder, has already been arrested for the strangulation of three people, and almost at the very moment her son comes to ask for her consent to his marriage, Jeanne Martel is reading an account in the paper of her husband's sequestration in the madhouse. Knowing, therefore, what she does, the woman, simple, uneducated peasant though she is, feels that it would be wrong for her son to marry, and although her heart aches for him, she steadfastly refuses to give her consent. Desire, thrown into one of his fits of anger by her opposition, gives vent to violent words and dashes a jug to pieces on the stone floor of the cottage. Francine, looking through the window at the scene, is horrified, and turns away thoughtful and anxious. That some evening Jeanne receives a clumsily written note from her husband to the effect that he has escaped, and that he is coming to her for money so that he may have revenge. He comes at night, haggard, starved, and mad. Food he eats wolfishly, but he remains submissive to Jeanne, and when she hears sounds he is ready to obey her orders to leave the house. He asks, however, for the money, and Jeanne, hoping to satisfy him, empties her pocket. The madman, however, has his thoughts fixed on the little store which every French peasant keeps in some old bureau or cupboard. He demands it with an ugly snarl. Jeanne, alone in the cottage, but brave for the sake of her son, who should have the money later, refuses it and protects the