The Film Daily (1918)

Sunday, December 1, 1918 ##t DAILY 11 Foreign Serial With Strong Man Lacks Weird Mystery Stunts. May Get By Maciste in "THE LIBERATOR" Harry Raver Dist. — Continued Story in 12 Episodes PRODUCED BY Giovani Pastrone DIRECTOR Giovani Pastrone AUTHOR Agnes Fletcher Bain AS A WHOLE Lacked weird mystery and thrilly stunts of American serials, being produced with typical foreign technique. STORY Rather ordinary dramatic plot spread through many episodes without compelling sus= pense or properly sustaining interest. DIRECTION Gave too many long scenes without breaking footage by closeups or cut=backs, with uniform lighting and foreign gestures marring general effect. PHOTOGRAPHY ...Generally clean cut but frequently lacking in artistic distinction. LIGHTINGS Some splendid but generally too uni= form. CAMERA WORK Shot too much footage of full set STAR Strong man stunts interesting and funny at times but grew somewhat monotonous. SUPPORT Comedy detective rather unfunny; women pretty but others rather negative. EXTERIORS Not particularly artistic but quite satisfactory. INTERIORS Always impressed as sets because of lighting. DETAIL Satisfactory CHARACTER OF STORY Nothing to offend LENGTH OF PROD.. .Two reel episodes. Six viewed IT IS possible that the personality of Maciste, the strong man who does stunts of picking up individuals and handling them as if they were toys, may interest sufficiently when handed out in two-reel doses to justify the presentation of this as a serial. Unfortunately this suffers from the well known foreign technique which tends towards the presentation of long scenes played in full set, without breaking up the action with closeups, medium shots and flash-backs, which help to give the characterizations a more interesting intimacy, also speed the action of the situations. Time after time we had rather annoying, unnecessary footage in scones that did not help particularly in advancing the story or developing a character. The general atmosphere was good but not truly artistic because most of the lighting was entirely too uniform, with the result that the interiors never ceased to be anything but sets. Most of the foreign producers are unable to gain that illusion which is now secured by our better American directors, that the action on the screen is really transpiring in homes, offices or genuine interiors rather than upon a stage in a studio. There is a noticeable lack of the accepted serial merits considered from the American point of view, in that we have no mysterious iron mitt, shielding shadow, slippery Suzy or other uncanny personage stepping in at unexpected moments, and the episodes are not ended in the hair-raising sensational fashion that has become the vogue in successful serials produced in America. An attempt has been made to tell a 'more or less dramatic story which has no truly startling situations, and frankly, the 12 reels which I saw could have easily been condensed into a five-reel feature or even less, if only the story value was to be considered. The first three episodes were rather tame except for an occasional strong man stunt by Maciste, where he picked up one or more humans and threw them about nonchalantly. In the fourth episode they reached the trap door, the secret passage, collapsing floor stage, with Maciste and the comedy-nut detective having a strenuous time trying to secure the "poipers" from the willun's mysterious chateau. This fourth episode was more like what Americans will expect in a serial. In the fifth and sixth, however, they went back to the drama, the 5th being quite ordinary, and the 6th centering about a small European circus without any exceptional stunts being registered. Looking at this six episodes at a time, it became quite tiresome, but I can believe that it will be quite acceptable dished out two reels at a time, even though the endings lack suspense, interest-compelling sensations. Maciste is certainly an unusual personage and his presence may offset all of the foreign technique and the shortcomings of the story. ($\ NEW dTCMEdP Or KATUR.EJP WITH BI mi BARM JOklE A.MD MER. OWM COMPA.MY eoMiMoc* " TWO GUM BEffV , rcleakj «A1A om A dFUBBEM NORMA' DinCCVEO B^V HOWAftD HICfltMA