The Film Daily (1918)

Wednesday, September 4, 1918 Sli^ DAILY Artistic Crook Play With Heart Interest Wallop. Is Pleasing Bert Lytell in "BOSTON BLAGKIE'S LITTLE PAL" Metro MANAGER OF PRODUCTIONS George D. Baker DIRECTOR E. Mason Hopper AUTHOR Jack Boyle SCENARIO BY A. S. LeVino CAMERAMAN Robert Kurrle AS A WHOLE Intelligently handled crook stuff with real heart=interest wallop and many pleasing touches and comedy bits. STORY Little kiddle causes crook to go straight and crook, in turn, brings together kiddie's estranged parents. DIRECTION Kept this snappy and made plot de= velopment logical. Injected many excellent touches, provided a classy atmosphere and sev= eral good bits of suspense. PHOTOGRAPHY Very fine LIGHTINGS A few bits too harsh on faces, but generally very artistic with some effects exce1= lent. CAMERA WORK Excellent angles and compo= sition; showed intelligence all the way. STAR Clean cut; has a natural, easy way about him that registers. SUPPORT All did excellent work and folks will love little Joey Jacobs as "little pal." EXTERIORS Very good INTERIORS Very fine; looked substantial and real DETAIL Many excellent touches CHARACTER OF STORY Clean and human; will win any audience. LENGTH OF PRODUCTION 4157 feet THIS registered with me as one of the most enjoyable offerings I have seen recently. We've had an epidemic of crook plays lately from various producers and some of them have been good, but it seems to me that this has a little the edge on most of them, because in addition to having the mystery-suspense stuff nicely developed, Director "Mase" Hopper has dressed up many familiar situations effectively by planting little individual incidents and some delightful romantic touches and has given us a real heart-interest wallop in the scenes between Bert and little Joey Jacobs. We have Bert in this as a gentleman crook and while he is doing a "job" in a mansion, little Joey -Jacobs comes down the stairs and discovers him, and they soon become very, very much attached to each other. At a risk of being caught, Bert takes the little fellow upstairs again and amuses him until he falls asleep. Just as he is about to resume work at the safe, he gets a warning signal from his sweetheart, who is stationed outside, and conceals himself just as Joey's mother and her lover enter. Bert learns from the conversation that she is planning to take advantage of her husband's absence to elope with this man, and when she opens the safe and gives the lover her jewels to keep until they meet later, Bert slips out of the window and posing as the husband, whom the willun-lover has never seen, pulls a bluff and demands the jewels, which are promptly turned over. Returning to his sweetheart and relating his experience, Bert tells her to return to the house and take good care of little Joey, and then we see him sending two telegrams, one addressed to the husband from the wife, asking him to return and one to the wife from willun, telling her that he is through with her. They pull a unique finish by fading out on Bert looking at the jewels and wondering whether or not to return them, after which they give us a title saying: "If you were "Blackie," how would you decide? We'll let you be the playwright and finish the play according to your choice." We had many very clever touches all through the offering. The scene where Joey came down the stairs was made unusually effective by panning down with a close-up of Joey's feet. This gave an effective mystery touch, because Joey wore pajamas and you weren't quite sure just who the intruder was. Director Hopper gave us many excellent bits of suspense and surprise twists and the scenes between Bert and little Joey were about as pleasingly done as anything I have seen. I hardly recognized littler Joey with the straight hair-trim. He has improved wonderfully since his Keystone days and is going to win the hearts of everyone in this. We had some incidental business with the servants in the kitchen while Bert was working on the safe which gave good comedy relief and also kept you on your toes for fear they would hear Bert. It was handled very effectively. Rhea Mitchell was very pleasing as Bert's girl; Rosemary Theby was good as the wife, although the tears in her close-up looked suspiciously like glycerine; John Burton, as the butler, made a minor part register and Howard Davies and Frank Whitson rounded out the excellent cast. Human and Entertaining With Delightful Touches. Go To It Strong The Box Office Analysis for the Exhibitor If you can't keep folks interested and attending your theatre regularly with pictures like these, then you'd better take inventory, do a little specialized canning and find out what's the matter. This is ENTERTAINMENT and if you can't do business when you've got real entertainment to offer then there's something between the lobby and the screen that needs looking after. Beri Lytell has hardly been starred in enough pictures to make his name mean much as yet, but he has a sincerity and clean-cut appearance that is bound to make him a favorite, and I am sure his name will pull a little if you plant his photos prominently in your lobby and ads and mention the titles of his recent pictures. Little Joey Jacobs is going to make a big hit in this, and your folks will want to see more of him. As he is Bos ton Blackie's "little pal" in this and has considerable to do, you are justified in mentioning him rather prominently. I think kiddie stuff goes big with most folks when it is logically brought in like we get it here. Miss Mitchell is very pleasing, and should be quite well known from previous films in which she has appeared. She is a very good looking "gel" and her photos in the lobby should help. I think this is a much better than average title and in advertising this I would emphasize the mystery-suspense element and the romantic thread and heart-interest wallop, making it plain that this is light and clean, with plenty of comedy relief, and has been artistically produced. Don't tell 'em the story or tip the surprise finish.