The Film Daily (1919)

Sunday, January 5, 1919 Tfcfr«ftfer Star's Vivaciousness Puts Over Amusing But Unreal Plot Bessie Barriscale in "ALL OF A SUDDEN NORMA." B. B. Features— Rob.-Cole Co. DIRECTOR Howard Hickman AUTHOR Thomas Edgelow SCENARIO BY Jack Cunningham CAMERAMAN L. Guy Wilky AS A WHOLE Star's vivaciousness and classy atmosphere put over amusing but unimpressive plot. STORY Much too obliging comedy-drama that's purely humbug; with everything working out in made-to order fashion for shero. DIRECTION Made most of material provided and certainly developed star's characterization to good advantage, but slumped in treatment of last dramatic sequence. PHOTOGRAPHY Certainly great. LIGHTINGS Varied from fine to fair. CAMERAWORK Generally very good; secured some fine angles. STAR Vivacious and pleasing in well-suited role. SUPPORT .. Dowling very good; others satisfactory. EXTERIORS Indeed beautiful generally. INTERIORS Very richly furnished rooms. DETAIL Few slips in sleep-walking sequence. CHARACTER OF STORY Inoffensive. LENGTH OF PROD About 4800 tt. It wouldn't be a bit surprising to learn that some authors go up in an aeroplane for ideas, because they sure do have some flights of fancy. How anyone could sit down and concoct this sort of stuff and expect us to bel'eve it is beyond me. Fortunately, however Bessie Barriscale is the particular personality to put this over, and this fact, combined with Mr. Hickman's good directorial ability, results in a production not so much the worse for the ludicrous plot. This thing is meant to be a comedy drama. It opens up with drammer that has a capital D. plunging right into the suicide of Bessie Barriscale's father who's dying request is that she avenge his death caused by t^e swindler who ruined him. From here on we get light frothy comedy right through to the last sequences, when shero happens to come in contact with her father's destroyer. Here was presented a situation which truly called for drammer, and the chance for vengeance was placed in shero's hand, but just because the young man she loved entered upon the scene and addressed the willun as uncle, shero meekly bows out of it and surrenders to the occasion. That was not all. They had the willun admiring her for her spunk and offering to replace with her part of the money he had robbed of her father. Shero seemed to have completely forgotten the graveness of the injury done her father as well as herself since her sense of pride alone should have justified some sort of a battle before such unconditional surrender. At the beginning, Miss Barriscale finds herself penniless at her father's death and the author provides her with some wild ideas for making money. She accepts an invitation to a week-end houseparty and has her boob admirer accompany her as her husband. A duke who is a guest at the place, is engaged to the hostess" daughter, and exhibits some family diamonds to the bunch. Norma suspects that these are paste and while he's asleep that night enters his room and takes the jewels. Upon examining them and finding her suspicions to be correct, she returns to put them back when the duke discovers her. She pretends that she's been walking in her sleep, but the duke has reason to believe otherwise. Later she wins a wager of ten thousand dollars from the Duke that the diamonds are not real. He also engages her, because of her adeptnes? at sleepwalking, to restore to him some valuable papers from the hands of a blackmailer, and Bessie delivers the goods. There has been a good-looking chap in the offing whom shero met at the house party and it is he who wins shero and gets the clutch instead of our faith fut admirer, whom we were led to believe all along would be rewarded in the end. Ordinarily, people who have wild ideas find it another proposition when it comes to working out, these crazy notions, but no so in the fillums — it's an author's license to turn everything out in very obliging madeto-order fashion, whether wild or mild. Others in the cast were Albert Colby, R. Henry Grey» Frank Leigh, and Melbourne McDowell. (a"*X new *eme* or katuhe** with ME1 II BAJVIMCAIi AMD HEA OWM COMPA COMIMG^ RELEAJEJT tf ^U OP A JFUDDEM MOM > wim^im i^.w^i?w™