The Film Daily (1919)

Sunday, January 5, 1919 •tt)t«ftklE7 Fantastic Plot Places Heavy Burden on Star and Director Alice Joyce in "THE CAPTAIN'S CAPTAIN" Vitagraph. DIRECTOR Tom Terriss AUTHOR James A. Cooper SCENARIO BY Tom Terriss and A. B. Van Powell CAMERAMAN Joe Schelderfer AS A WHOLE Light entertainment that must be accepted in spirit of fantasy or not at all. STORY Adaptation of novel "Captain Abe — Storekeeper," which affords trivial material for the screen. DIRECTION Makes most of possibility for characterization and humorous situations, although opportunities are slight. PHOTOGRAPHY Always clear. LIGHTINGS Well judged to prevent monotony. CAMERA WORK Satisfactory; nothing difficult attempted. Many fine shots through open doors and windows. STAR Good to look at and acts up to the requirements of her role. SUPPORT Arthur Donaldson as the Captain shares honors with the star; good types for Cape Cod villagers. EXTERIORS Beach and water shots contribute largely to atmosphere of story. INTERIORS Acceptable. DETAIL Small points register to give scenes tone of reality. CHARACTER OF STORY Harmless. LENGTH OF PRODUCTION 4251 ft Don't expect your folks to take this seriously and perhaps a fair percentage of them will find it entertaining. It's a fantastic sort of fisherman romance that wanders far from the path of plausibility, but profits by a number of pretty scenes and a healthy atmosphere. Children ought to like it, whatever the attitude of their elders. The novel on which the scenario is based must have depended mainly on characterization of picturesque Cape Code types, for, turned into picture form, the plot is ingenuous in the extreme, so much so in fact that they don't mind kidding it a bit in the sub-titles. This is a wise way to forestall the criticism of an audience when the situations become too extravagant. As a starring vehicle for Alice Joyce the story has limitations for the author evidently intended tne makebelieve sea captain to be the central figure. His is the character around which the plot revolves and the girl presented by Miss Joyce really plays second to this role. Probably your fans won't object, however, for the star is kept on the screen much of the time and she sure does look very pretty. They start off by showing how an independent minded society miss, rather than spend a lonesome summer with her prim aunt, runs away to visit her Uncle Abe who conducts a general store in a fisher village. The uncle proves to be an odd sort of character, henpecked at home and held in derision by the honest-to-goodness fisher folk because he never went to sea. Not having anything to brag about himself, Uncle Abe, played by Arthur Donaldson, is forever narrating the marvelous adventures of his brother, pictured as a dare-devil pirate. Rummaging through the attic, the niece discovers the source of the weird tales in a book of clippings and conceives a plan by which her spineless old uncle may establish himself among the scoffing neighbors. At this point we are asked to believe that Uncle Abe does away with his whiskers and, adopting the makeup of a pirate, successfully impersonates the fictitious brother who blows into the village at the time the "talkative store keeper disappears on a mysterious journey. Having established this premise, which is none too easy to credit, they continue the story along equally fantastic lines. The supposed pirate lords it over the fisher folk and the domineering Eulalie Jensen. Meanwhile there is considerable worriment concerning the whereabouts of Uncle Abe. Then to keep the story going and give material for the final reel, a shipwreck is introduced, accounting for the appearance of a band of Hindus who, absurd as it may sound, attempt to murder Captain Abe, mistaking him for a pirate who stole their precious idol. The romance between Miss Joyce and Maurice Costello is a mild affair that doesn't count much. Of Mutual Interest It has frequently happened that important business has been lost to a motion picture laboratory because its Staff Experts were apparently too busy to give proper consideration to the tentative plans of a prospective patron. The Staff Experts of the Republic Laboratories, acting on the assumption that the business of any one seeking information is always likely to be worth while, are eager to listen attentively to its presentation and to render an opinion and assistance in accordance with their experience with modern laboratory problems in similar cases. Perhaps our Staff Experts can serve you Right Now REPUBLIC LABORATORIES, Inc., 729 Seventh Ave., New York Telephone Bryant 7190