The Film Daily (1918)

Sunday, November 17, 1918 -dm DAILY 23 Mechanical "Movie" Plot Helped by Atmosphere But Misses Evelvn Nesbit in "THE WOMAN WHO GAVE" Standard=Fox DIRECTOR . Kenean Buel AUTHOR Izola Forrester and Mann Page CAMERAMAN Joe Ruttenberg AS A WHOLE. . . .Ordinary, mechanical movie meller; players and atmosphere lifted it but couldn't save it. STORY. . . .After unhappy marriage, wife endures hus= band's brutality for six years and then decides to leave him. DIRECTION Provided very good atmosphere and handled some incidents effectively but didn't make "movie" plot interesting or convincing. PHOTOGRAPHY Generally very fine LIGHTINGS Very fine; many effective bits CAMERA WORK Very good STAR Registered now and then but generally took happenings very quietly. SUPPORT Very good EXTERIORS Very good; many effective shots INTERIORS. . . .Generally very fine; studio detail good DETAIL Painfully convenient CHARACTER OF STORY BIa=a=a LENGTH OF PRODUCTION About 5,600 feet FROM a standpoint of artistry in settings, lightings and general production values this has been very well handled, but if there ever was a "movie" scenario this is it. The story, in the first place, is neither pleasant, interesting or new and the way they let things happen all through the six reels is certainly obliging. This opened up with some interesting and well handled scenes in Irving Cumming's studio where Shero Evelyn was posing. Then they gave this a false note at the start by having Evelyn being lured to the apartments of willuu Eugene Ormonde, who starts to get ruff. Previous action registered the fact that she loathes him and yet when he calls in a minister to marry them, Evelyn goes through without a murmur. Six years later we find her with a son, played by her own son, Russell Thaw, and willun-hubby returns, having been away to war. After several wife beating incidents to get over the willuny of willun, they sail for America, Irv and his brother conveniently following later. At a stag affair in willun's apartments, willun brings his wife down to dance for his friends and brutally beats her when she refuses. Irv's brother conveniently happens to be at the banquet where he witnesses Shero's humiliation. The arrival of the two factions in New York simultaneously was obliging enough but when willun decides to move to the Adirondacks, they have Irv and his brother also getting the same idea at the same time, which brings them together again in the mountains. At the lodge, willun takes a black-jack to Evelyn again and she knocks him down with a lamp, running away with her son. The lodge burns and as no trace of Evelyn is found, willun is arrested for murder, being released on $10,000 bail. Shero is conveniently found on Irv's doorstep the next morning and, learning from his brother that he has gone blind, goes to the city to hock her jewels to pay for an operation on his eyes. Willun conveniently happens in at the same hockshop and has Shero's maid shadowed to Irv's lodge. Willun arrives on the scene and beats up Irv (which was quite some scuffle, as hump-backed Irv lost most of his hump in the battle) and then they had him find Shero near the edge of the cliff, where he threatened to throw Russell off the edge if she didn't go with him. But Irv's brother conveniently happened to be hunting at the time, and shoots willun, who falls to his death be-low. As Savoy and Brennan say in the Follies, "That isn't the half of it. dearie." But it's enough to give you an idea of how they let things happen in this. We had a few attempts at comedy in this which missed completely because they didn't belong. The closeups of the old birds registering "youth" upon seeing a wiggle dancer at the stag party were repulsive and should be cut. Robert Walker, as Irv's brother, completed the cast. SSSIE BAiq^SCALE eicases