The Film Daily (1918)

Monday, August 19, 1918 DAILY Pleasing Players in Unique Story With Unusual Twists Anna Q. Nilsson and Franklyn Farnum in "IN JUDGMENT OF" Metro DIRECTOR Will S. Davis AUTHOR George D. Baker SCENARIO BY George D. Baker CAMERAMAN W. C. Thompson AS A WHOLE Rather unique story foundation made interesting by treatment and pleasing cast. STORY Has odd twists and keeps you guessing DIRECTION Maintained excellent suspense and developed situations effectively. Provided many good touches. PHOTOGRAPHY Varied from fine to fair LIGHTINGS Some good; others too uniform. Rather harsh on faces at times. CAMERA WORK Very good; obtained effective angles. STARS She beautiful and has some eyes; he has had his hair trimmed and is very satisfactory in serious role. SUPPORT Herbert Standing excellent; others fit= ted in nicely. EXTERIORS. .. .Some beautiful shots; generally very good. INTERIORS Adequate DETAIL Very good; handling of check incident was very well done. CHARACTER OF STORY Nothing to offend LENGTH OF PRODUCTION About 5,000 feet WE HAVE some great twists in this and Director Davis has developed his story in a way that keeps you guessing as to just how the thing is going to turn out with the result that this is interestall the way and registers as real entertainment. At the start of this they establish, by a series of minor incidents, the peculiar ability of Shero Anna Nilsson tn guess what anyone is thinking about. Then they bring on Hero Franklyn Farnum, who meets Shero accidentally and he becomes at once interested when she tells him his name by her peculiar mind-reading faculty. As the romance ripens, she, guessing that he wants to propose, accepts him before he asks her, but he refuses because although money and education has been mysteriously provided for him, he has never been able to determine its source, or learn who his parents were. It develops that Herbert Standing:, a staunch friend of Shero's father, is Hero's father, although to disclose the fact would ruin him politically as he had since married, and his wife knew nothing of his son or previous marriage. Not being able to provide for his son in his will. Standing deposits fifty "thou" in the bank to Hero's credit, which transaction is observed by willun. When willim later attempts to blackmail Standing, a struggle ensues, in which willun is killed and circumstantial evidence causes Hero's an-est for the murder. Then we have the old situation of Standing being the judge on the case when his son's -trial is called. During the trial. Shero's peculiar influence causes the father to confess after the jury has convicted the son. This is made effective by frequent close-ups and visions of Shero's eyes, which haunt the father wherever he looks. When the facts are brought to light through the father's confession, an alibi is established and Standing is acquitted after which we have the usual clutch of Hero and Shero. Although Franklyn Farnum registers his ear to ear grin on several occasions in this, his part calls for more serious acting than we have seen him do for some time and he gets away with it commendably. I want to thank him particularly for having finally had his hair trimmed. If the influence of a change in bosses brought this about, they are to be congratulated. Miss Nilsson was very pleasing all through the offering and is sure easy to observe although she was not particularly well lighted in some of her scenes and faulty make-up around her neck and shoulders in some of her close-ups registered to me what looked very much like freckles. Herbert Standing was excellent as Hero's father, Frank Brownlee made a crook bit effective and others who appeared were: Lydia Knott. Harry S. Northrup, Edward Alexander. Spottiswoode Aitkin and Katherine Griffith. Has Good Advertising Possibilities and Will Please Generally The Box Office Analvsis for the Exhibitor Any gang is going to like this. It's interesting, keeps you guessing, has ;i pleasing cast and has been intelligently handled. I doubt very much if the name of Miss Nilsson lias a real bos office value beyond that of the average program star, although we have had some very pleasing work from lor recently and unless the Universal productions in which Franklyn Farnum has appeared during the past year or more have been played in your community, you may find that he is a comparative stranger to your fans this being his first Metro production. I would hill this as "The story of a miracle wrought by a wonderful pair of eyes and a winning smile," which sounds interesting and could be tied up in your lobby display and newspaper ads with two oval cuts, one of Miss Nilsson's eyes and the other of Frank Parnum's smile. Yen might create interest with catchlines like these: "Do you believe it is possible to read one's mind? See Tn Judgment Of." "How wovdd you like to have a wife who could unerringly tell you what you were thinking of? In Tn Judgment Of,' the heroine was possessed of such a remarkable mind that she accepted the hero before he proposed to her. knowing that he was about to do so." Because this offering has twists which will greatly lessen the entertainment value of the production if seen backwards, I would make an effort to establish the starting times in the minds of my patrons and urge the importance of being seated at the beginning of the performance.