The Film Daily (1918)

Sunday, July 14, 1918 jM^ DAILY 21 Production Lacking Artistry Handicaps Star Who Gets It Over Elsie Ferguson in "THE DANGER MARK' Artcraft DIRECTOR Hugh Ford AUTHOR Robert W. Chambers SCENARIO BY Charles Maigne CAMERAMAN William Marshall AS A WHOLE Beautiful capable star handi capped by poor lighting and direction but manages to make few dramatic moments big enough to get this over. STORY Slender as to situations but pro= vides good characterization of girl fighting liquor taint for star. DIRECTION Failed to make it artistic and burdened action with unnecessary flashes — really handicapped rather than helped general result. PHOTOGRAPHY Some good straight stuff but little artistry with many bits of bad light= ing on star. LIGHTINGS .Generally too uniform, frequently showed star to disadvantage. CAMERA WORK Double exposures very good i but composition and artistry lacking. STAR Held attention despite handicaps and made more dramatic moments quite effective EXTERIORS Acceptable INTERIORS Lacked distinction DETAIL Acceptable. Marriage certificate wrong CHARACTER OF STORY Nothing to offend LENGTH OF PRODUCTION About 4,800 feet MISS FERGUSON is certainly handicapped in this. The story provides nothing except a characterization for her. the action net work which carries the theme being decidedly ordinary with the exception of one twist whereby she tones the willim to marry the wronged "gel" instead of herself. The chief weakness of this production is the fad thai we do not get the distinctive artistic atmosphere which we have come to expect in Class A productions such ;is this is supposed to be. Frequently the lighting is decidedly ordinary and on many occasions, particularly in some close-ups, Miss Ferguson is shown to decided disadvantage. There can lie no question about Miss Ferguson's beauty and she has been photographed many times to show that beauty properly so that there can be no alibi for having given her the worst of it here. This starts rather slowly in explaining the situation of two children who are left a very large estate with guardians appointed who are supposed to protect them from the dangers of great wealth and particularly from the taint of the taste for alcohol which had caused the ruination of many ancestors. Eventually we got around to the point where we found that Miss Ferguson was possessed of this taste for liquor and the rest of the film was devoted to her fight to overcome this. Mahlon Hamilton was the hero and he tried to help Elsie with her struggles. Crauford Kent was the willun who slipped her the wine and wanted to marry her and Gertrude McCoy was the sickly, sad, disappointed in love, wronged "gel" who had been given the worst of it by Kent. Miss Ferguson agreed to marry Kent and eloped with him to secure the license but when he came to the minister she produced Miss McCoy and forced him to marry Miss McCoy for whom she had secured the license. It was noticeable however that the marriage certificate afterwards produced stated that both parties lived in New York: the marriage was supposed to be performed in the South — so far as I know it can't be done. The hero thinking that Elsie had eloped with Kent was naturally a bit peeved but he had an obliging accident which kept him stalled on the road until he saw Miss McCoy and Miss Kent come by, so that then he quickly returned and did the clutch with the star. Others in the cast were Maud Turner Gordon, Edward Burns and W. T. Carlston. Ma Mway* Product! in ?ix reels — produced fc^i ERT LE oiivT Vill he released by Universal Film Mfo Co. until Aucgii^t. Future plans* oP their release will be announced later — ;mm>a.