The Film Daily (1919)

Sunday, May 11, 1919 tM^ AILY Artificial Story Has Plenty of Plot Complications But Little Characterization June Elvidge in "The Social Pirate" World DIRECTOR Dell Henderson | AUTHOR E. Forst CAMERAMAN Philip Hatkin AS A WHOLE Melodrama containing plenty of action; generally well presented by the plaj ers. STORY Artificial in substance, but is strung together with some expertness. DIRECTION Doesn't bother much about registering characters, but succeeds in putting the plot across. PHOTOGRAPHY Varies; most of it passable LIGHTINGS Usually good, although none of the effects are out of the ordinary. CAMERA WORK Conventional STAR Does the best she can with a character not calculated to arouse much sympathy. SUPPORT Allan Edwards, George MacQuarrie and Ned Sparks among others in a competent cast. EXTERIORS Nothing exceptional required INTERIORS Studio sets that answer the purpose DETAIL Doesn't call for particular comment CHARACTER OF STORY Crook meller without objectionable features. LENGTH OF PRODUCTION 4,920 feet ALTHOUGH it possesses little life-likeness, either in the story or the characters concerned, "The Social Pirate" probably will get by as passable entertainment with audiences that remain content with the ildstyle photoplay, in which more attention is paid ising a complicated plot than to transcribing actualities on the screen. The shortcomings in this production are in what has been left undone rather than in errors committed. The plot is followed through in sufficient detail, but those ■concerned have not succeeded in making the people figuring in the action appear like real human beings. From first to last they seem to be merely doing the bidding of the director. This being so, it is only (natural that the sympathy aroused for even the prinicipal of the characters, June Elvidge as a girl sus pected of various wrong-doings for which she is not responsible, is slight. Had more attention been paid to giving the illusion of reality to the story provided by E. Forst, "The Social Pirate" might have become a much more interesting film and one providing a really suitable character for Miss Elvidge, who always plays with sincerity and realizes chances for appeal whenever they present themselves. As it stands, she can hardly do more than give a conventional portrayal of the South American girl who comes to New York and gets into a lot of trouble. Like so many oppressed heroines, she is unable to find employment until an opportunity is given her to appear as a performer in a cabaret where she fails to get over with the crowd because her act lacks pep. When the place is raided, the proprietor tries to place the blame on June, who is summoned to court the following morning. Things might have come out all right for the girl had not chance caused her to find a valuable bracelet, which she proposes to advertise in the newspapers, but as it happens^things have a way of just happening in this story — she is taken ill and the doctor called to attend her writes a prescription on the back of the sheet of paper on which June had written her advertisement of the lost bracelet. Still pursued by ill-fortune, the detective that raided the cabaret, has been engaged to trace the missing bracelet, which the girl inadvertently takes out of her handbag during the course of the courtroom proceedings. Her explanation that she had already prepared announcement for her find is not accepted by either the detective or the judge and she is sent to serve a term in a reformatory. After her release, June, back in a boarding house room, is playing on a violin when the son of the wealthy woman who had lost the bracelet chances to pass' by the house, and is so impressed by her musical talent that he engages her to appear at a musicale to be given by his mother. Of course, this starts a romance between the two, but to keep up the complications and add to the girl's tribulations, they introduce a trio of crooks who go to the country home planning to make a rich haul with June as their tool. Without following in detail the action during these reels, it may be said that things are kept moving with sufficient animation until the final sequences bringing about the exoneration of the heroine. Included in the cast are Laura Burt, Lillian Lawrence, Winifred Leighton and May Hopkins. (Slide it Through as a Routine Program Production. Folks Won't Kick Box Office Analysis for the Exhibitor There's nothing in this picture to cause particular enthusiasm, so if it happens to be on your list I would ^handle it in a routine way without promising your patrons that you are giving them something extraordinary, because the chances are that most of them won't ;ree with you after they have seen the film. As a program release, however, "The Social Pirate" may fill the bill for one day's showing, especially if (you are playing to a crowd that likes crook melodramas with the trimmings of social life as it is conceiyed in fa motion picture studio. Scenes dealing with wealthy society possess the kind of atmosphere that is always pleasing to women that enjoy seeing a crowd of smartly dressed folk in a ballroom. Whatever a story may lack, you may always count upon June Elvidge to make the most of the character placed at her disposal, so I think that you are safe in figuring that she has created a worth-while following among your fans. Certainly she is the best bet in the exploitation of this production, and I would give her name and pictures a generous display. "The Social Pirate" is a conventional title, but probably an effective one from an advertising angle, although Miss Elvidge, as seen here, is not in reality a pirate of any kind, rather a girl who is the victim of unfortunate circumstances. Unless I am mistaken, a series of pictures were released several years ago under the name of "The Social Pirates," but probably not many fans recall the earlier films, so there is little danger of confusion.