The Film Daily (1918)

Sunday, September 15, 1918 DAILY Ancient and Obvious Story Given Ordinary Production Hedda Nova and J. Frank Glendon in "BY THE WORLD FORGOT" Vitagraph DIRECTOR David Smith AUTHOR Cyrus Townsend Brady SCENARIO BY F. R. Buckley AS A WHOLE Hackneyed material that fails to convince lifted somewhat by players and at= mosphere. STORY Our old friend "shipwrecked hero who meets native maid in the South Seas." For= mula No. 32. DIRECTION Provided acceptable atmosphere but failed to keep old plot from being obvious and allowed several bad jumps in story. PHOTOGRAPHY Varied considerably; some shots good, others very hazy. LIGHTINGS Some bits effective but frequently flat, and at times too contrasty. CAMERA WORK Satisfactory STARS He satisfactory although beard looked ar= tificial; she very pretty and appealing as na= tive maiden. SUPPORT Generally satisfactory; well selected types on ship. EXTERIORS Gave acceptable atmosphere; rather good coast bits. INTERIORS Satisfactory, not unusual DETAIL Convenient CHARACTER OF STORY Nothing objectionable but failed to impress as more than routine offering. LENGTH OF PRODUCTION 4,006 feet IT LOOKS very much as though Vitagraph had been in a bad way for a story so they reached up in the old pigeon hole and dug out this relic of former days, wherein hero is Shanghaied on the day of his wedding, escapes and is washed up somewhere in the South Sens where he meets a native maiden and falls in love. Following this familiar opening they have the bride who was Lefl "waiting ;it the church" conveniently happen on the island, having arrived via a subtitle, and hero decides that he loves his little chicken In the grass skirt better than the girl he was supposed to many and we leave them in the clutch, while his former sweetheart finds happiness with the rival who had caused hero to be Shanghaied in the first reel. I don't have to tell you that tin's is very old stuff and has gone through the "movie" mill many times in the past, and I am certain that discriminating audiences will not consider it entertainment, although the don'tcare gang is liable to sit through it without complaining. We had frequent abrupt jumps in the story, which would have made (his hard to follow had it not been for the fact that this story has seen so much service that most folks will recognize it and dope the finish out accordingly two or three reels in advance. They failed to plant the fact clearly at the beginning of this that hero was a woman-hater, and really didn't want to marry the girl, nor do they explain clearly how hero had been Shanghaied. At one point they gave us a flash of the bride-to-be reclining on a couch after the most approved "movie" vampire methods, although she hadn't ruined any lives anywhere in the film, nor was there any reason to believe that she was supposed to be stealing Theda's stuff. The ship atmosphere was rather well handled and we had some very good types, although in the scene where a terrific storm was shown blowing the sails they cut to the lower deck which disclosed a very calm ocean. I want to thank Director Smith for not having hero washed ashore with a clean shaven face, however, as has so frequently happened in the past, with shipwrecked heroes, but his beard in the later action could have been applied more carefully. Things happened very obligingly all the way, with the players jumping from America to the South Seas and back again with startling rapidity. The plot became very much unconvincing at the finish where they had Miss Nova ready to jump into the ocean, but let her wait poised on one foot until they could devise a scheme of signaling to her that hero loved her. which made her decide to come off her perch. Those who appeared were Edward Alexander. Patricia Palmer, R. S. Bradbury. George Kunkel and Otto Lederer.