Educational film magazine; (January-December 1920)

REVIEWS OF FILMS Edited by GLADYS BOLLMAN "CONFESSION" to the depths of the woods. He learns from his mother, ON a tempestuous night, when the elements seem to who comes in search of him, that Creighton was his sister's ~et the scene for the darkest passions, Father husband, and his conscience, which is already beginning Bartlett receives in his study a woodsman, Joseph j^ trouble him. makes him still more uneasy. Dumont. Dumonl asks to be confessed, and says .j.^^^^^ during a visit from Father Bartlett. overpowers that he has just killed Jimmie Creighton, whom he believes j^._^^ ^^^^j ._^ j^j^ clerical garb escapes to Canada. Father Bartlett sets out to bring him back, and also to Dumont di*- ^'"^ Dumont and try to make him keep his promise given in the confessional. to have betrayed his sister. Father Bartlett hears his story, and absolves him after his promise to make reparation for his crime, should the guilt appears into the storm. fall on another. Father Bartlett is anxious about the absence of his brother Tom, a hot-headed youth who is somewhat too fond of remaining at the tavern. At last Tom returns, dishevelled and trembling. and tells his brother that he had a quarrel with Creigh- ton, and that in the struggle Creighton lost his life, though not at his (Tom's I hands. Father Bartlett is aghast at the situation he foresees. His fears are realized. The murde disco vered; Tom is sus- pected ; when Dumont is questioned, he tells of seeing Creighton fall dead while fighting with Tom; Tom is arrested. Father Bart- lett may not violate the sa- credness o f the confes- sional, and his stern and appealing glances at the guiltv man are of no avail. Action follows rapidly. Tom is imprisoned. His mother, his REX BEACH AUTHOR OF -THE S1L\ KR HORDE" sweetheart, who is Creighlon's sister, and, of course, his brother, are the only ones who believe in his innocence, though there is a general feeling that if the conversation of Dumont and Father Bartlett could be known, more of 'the truth would be revealed. Tom is rebellious and almost mad with the injustice of his position. He presses Father Bartlett to reveal what Dumont said to him in confession, but neither in Tom's cell nor in the courtroom does Father Bartlett do so. Tom is convicted. Dumont, after testifying against Tom, escapes and goes K From this point on, the story becomes rather con- fused and rather tiresome, although there are many high points in the action, and with cutting the remain- der of the story would be equal to the first part. The results are that Tom is returned under the hand of the law, and is about to be hanged. Father Bartlett at last finds Dumont, nurses him in a fever, and after many adventures gets him to a United States official, to whom his dying words and a letter of confession prove his guilt. Tom is saved. This is a most remarka- ble drama. In i m a g i nation and in execu- tion the scenes chosen are mem o r a b 1 e ones; distinc- tive, too, is p h otography. The camera man is not merely a photographer, but a genuine master of the complex technique which is photog- raphy's claim to a place among the arts. The particularly effective use of the close-up and the remarkable lighting effects strengthen the dramatice appeal. The use of contrast and climax is effective. Henry Walthall gives a most finished and imaginative performance of a rather meager part and is convincing so far as the film editors have given him space to be. It is a pity that we cannot see more of the man's human struggle, as well as the priest's remorseless faithfulness. A necessary bit of editing is the removal of the gallows scene, for non-theatrical use, at any rate. The dragging last third of the film should be reduced at least by half, in order that the splendid tenseness of the first part be main-