The Film Daily (1918)

Wednesday, October 2, 1918 Bill Hart Takes a Crack At the Kaiser in Well Done Spy Film William Hart in -THE BORDER WIRELESS" Hart=Ince — Artcraft SUPERVISED BY Thos. H. Ince DIRECTOR William S. Hart AUTHOR Howard E. Morton SCENARIO BY C. Gardner Sullivan CAMERAMAN Joe August ART DIRECTOR Thomas A. Brierley ART TITLES BY Irvin J. Martin AS A WHOLE Familiar situations made effective by star and wonderfully realistic atmosphere and settings. STORY Elementary situations made effective by star and wonderfully realistic atmosphere and settings. DIRECTION Played a little more to action than characterization with romance developed nicely and good, tense dramatic action at climax. PHOTOGRAPHY Very fine LIGHTINGS Generally very good; few opportu= nities offered for effects. CAMERA WORK Very good. Some scenes could have been helped by more speed. STAR Virile and sincere in fighting Hero role SUPPORT Miss Hawley pretty and appealing; James Mason gave human characterization and Charles Arling very good as spy; others bal= anced nicely. EXTERIORS Excellent throughout; street excep= tionally well done and convincing. INTERIORS Very fine; detail and construction of wireless station interior commendable piece of work. DETAIL Very well handled CHARACTER OF STORY Combines Hart pinch and timely appeal. LENGTH OF PRODUCTION 4,353 feet WHILE this has the elementary basic idea of the reformed bandit winning the "'gel" and comingin for a hero finish by busting up a German spy gang on the border, it has all the Hart elements and has been given a careful, well-handled production, with the patriotic punches effectively brought in and worked up to a tense, dramatic climax that carries a timely appeal. They start this out with Bill eluding his pursuers and saving the Shero in distress and then after Bill has decided to locate in Yellow Dog because of the "gel," war is declared and willun Charlie Arling is shown up in his true colors by his pro-German utterances, whereupon Bill forces him to kiss the flag. Bill rides' to a nearby fort to enlist and in the meantime willun, realizing that Bill may interfere with his plans, produces 'evidence that he is wanted for murder ami yets the sheriff on his trail. Bill escapes and learns that willun's mine is a secret wireless station and that information regarding the sailing of General Pershing and staff to France is being relayed to Berlin. Bill and Shero Wanda Hawley who is a telegrapher, gain entrance to the station, Bill holding off the operator while Shero sends a message to the fort. The spy gang busts in and Bill succeeds in holding them off while Shero destroys the wireless apparatus and we have the familiar "cavalry to the rescue" finish with Bill in khaki and on his way to Berlin with Shero watching from the side-lines. I want to comment particularly on the sets in this, which showed unusual care and painstaking detail and must have involved considerable labor and expense. We had a few good comedy touches in this, particularly the scenes where Bill, after watching aeroplane manoeuvres at the fort, says he will enlist, "providin' he can ride a horse." The romance bits were also good audience stuff, with Bill in his usual role of the bashful but sincere Romeo. The "Kamerad" title appeared somewhat forced and out of place to me, as it is hardly convincing as the truce cry of a spy gang in this country who speak American. This opened up with Bill as a fugitive and they gave us a rather good suspense twist by not disclosing what Bill was wanted for until the finish, when he was cleared of the charge. The scenes where the cavalry comes to the rescue and where Bill lands a wallop on Leo Willis' jaw would have been helped materially if the cameraman had cranked slower. Have your operator watch for these and speed them up a bit. Others in the cast were E. von Ritzen, Berthold Sprotts and Marcia Manon. Hammer Fact That this Is New And Use Guts of Star In Khaki The Box Office Analysis for the Exhibitor They'll like it and you know what Bill Hart will do at the little old ready cash window so about all that's necessary is to let your customers know that this is Bill's latest and when you are showing it. The spymeller plot would mean more at the box office if we hadn't had so many recently that were poorly done and have undoubtedly soured the G. P. somewhat on spy films as a result but Bill Hart's sincerity makes the patriotic twists in this inspiring and should serve to offset some of the bad ones you may have played. If you've been using the same stock cuts of Bill in his w. k. bad man outfit for your newspaper ads, I would advise getting some new cuts made for advertis ing this attraction, showing him in the uniform of the U. S. cavalry. This will not only serve to establish the fact that the star appears in a new role in this but will help distinguish it from older Hart films which may be playing in your neighborhood. You could get up some effective lobby cards on this by having cut out flashes emanate from the lettering backed with tissue paper and illuminated from the back by a strong light equipped with a "Skedoodle" (flash) socket. You might head on ad: "Bill Hart is six foot, one and quick on the trigger. Come in and see what he does to the Kaiser's gang in 'The Border Wireless,' his latest production."