Motion Picture News (Jul-Oct 1914)

THE MOTION PICTURE NEWS 65 IJVTEHESTIJVG FILM REVIEWS PRODUCTIONS FROM ALL PROGRAMS GENERAL FILM PROGRAM "The Mysterious Lodger." (,\'itagraph. Thurs., Aug. 28.) — The engrossing story of a man's fight against his fate, which made him the husband of a drunken woman and pointed suspicion at him as her murderer when she accidentally killed herself. ilaurice Costello and Constance Talmadge are cast in the leading parts. "The Terrible Lesson.'' (Biograph. Thurs., Aug. 27.) — A drama of the housemaid that saves her crook husband from committing robbery by substituting false money for the real money in the safe. It would be engrossing in its entirety but for the fact that the main events, the grip of the railroad frog upon the foot of the man, does not convey the illusion of great danger, because it happens on a siding. "Slippery Slim and the Fortune Teller." (Essanay. Thurs., Aug. 27.) — One of the best of the "Slippery Slim" comedies that have been issued. Slippery turns the tables on Pete by telling his fortune in the gypsy's tent, and instilling into him mortal fear of Sophie. Thereupon the field is cleared of rivals, and Slim has matters in his own hands. "The Aggressor." (Lubin. Two reels. Thurs., Aug. 27.) — Full of disappearances and reappearances, seeming deaths and resurrections of the supposed dead, this two-reel drama is too complicated and involved to make a distinct and single impression on the mind of the spectator. The wild and lawless atmosphere of the Northwest pervades the story, and in a way, serves as an excuse for its indirectness and its lack of lucidity. "Who Killed George Graves?" (Selig. Two reels, ilon., Aug. 31.) — This story of a murder with all the circumstantial evidence pointing to an innocent man as the guilty person, is cleverly and convincingly put together until the crucial scene is reached, and then the whole thing breaks down. The real murderer is one of the jurors and without rhyme or reason, he faints away during the trial and gives a deathbed confession of his own guilt. It is quite the right thing for him to do to make the story end pleasantly and within the allotted space, but is not what would have actually happened. "The Lost Cord." (Vitagraph. Wed., Sept. 2.) — Highly entertaining comedy of the fat man who loses the support of his bathing trunks and of the thin man who loses his clothes and has to go home in the fat man's. The pretty girl gives zest to the picture by encouraging the rivals in their practical joking. "By Whose Hand." (Lubin. Two reels. \\'ed., Sept. 2.) — A gripping and dramatic story built around a mysterious murder. Suspense is sustained until the very end when the true murderer is revealed in the person of the butler. The faithful butler had made away with a gambler who was blackmailing the son of his master. "To Be Called For." (Selig. Wed., Sept. 2.) — Tender story of the country girl who has to do without the pretty clothes that she would so much like to have. In this instance she gets a beautiful dress, but just how she gets it had better be left untold, because the telling would destroy the interest in the picture. "As It Is In Life." (Biograph. Reissue. Wed., Sept. 2.) — This title is somewhat misleading, because what happens in this picture is not as it is generally in life. When the time comes for the daughter to marry, it is nonsense for the father to think that he has got to give her up for good. And yet on this hinges the wholepoint of the story. Mary Pickford is the star. Never Too Old." (Lubin. Split reel. Tues., Sept. 1.) — The dashing widow and the matrimonially eager old country loafer make some keen fun when they meet through an advertisement in a paper. The widow gets all that the prospective bridegroom has, and when her husband comes in she turns out to be not a widow, but very much married. On the same reel with "The Green Alarm." "The Green Alarm." (Lubin. Split reel. Tues., Sept. 1.) — A parrott performs the services that the geese did for Rome in the early ages, but not for the head of a great government, but only for the owner of a chicken coop, when two desperate fowl-stealers break in. The alarm does the work and the police arrive on the scene of action in time to perform a gallant rescue of the hens. On the same reel with "Never Too Old." "The Hidden Letters." (Vitagraph. Tues., Sept. 1.) — The letters come to light after the death of the husband's first wife and reveal her infelicity. The girl that has loved him all the time with supreme self-denial does not help him to learn this, although it would at once open the way to their marriage. The husband learns anyway, and he makes the girl his wife. The acting of Norma Talmadge, Julia Swayne Gordon and Antonio Moreno, heightens the intensity of the story. "An Ahsentminded Cupid." (Edison, ilon., Sept. 7.) — An ahsentminded booklover, whose actions send one into roars of laughter, is the means of patching a petty quarrel of two lovers. William Wadsworth, Ed Boulden and Gladys Hulette are the principals. "The Blind Fiddler." (Edison. Tues., Sept. 8.) — A beautiful fairy tale containing a fine moral. The old blind fiddler plays to the fairies in the forest. They will grant any wish he desires. He asks to be able _to see. But after he regains his sight the world is not as pretty as he imagined, and he prefers to go back to darkness. Bigelow Cooper, Margaret McQuade and Viola Dana interpret this story in a charming manner. "The Fuse of Death." (Kalem. Two reels. Wed., Sept. 9.) — Princess Mona Darkfeather plays the leading role in this stirring drama of W estern life. The trader who tried to steal land belonging to Indians on which gold has been discovered meets a just fate when the Indian girl in revenge lights a fuse that leads to a barrel of powder and the house is blown up. The trader has been left inside in a drunken stupor. "A Mother's Atonement." (Kalem. Tues., Sept. 8.) — The overwhelming desire of a mother to have her daughter marry wealth causes this tragedy of modern life. The daughter is obdurate and marries the poor man she loves, and misery and poverty follow quickly. The mother is obdurate and refuses help. Years afterward the granddaughter comes into the hard-hearted mother's life as a manicurist and age has now brought softening. She relents and receives her with open arms. "Ham the Lineman.'' (Kalem. Fri., Sept. 11.) — Diverting and amusing is this burlesque of a jealous husband's suspicions of the foolish-looking lineman who comes to repair the telephone. It is up to Ruth Roland, who plays the wife, to pacify the irate husband and show him the error of his ways, but she doesn't get the chance until the house has been turned topsy-turvy by the efforts of husband and police to capture the suspected offender. "Getting Andy's Goat." (Edison. Wed., Sept. 9.) — Andy buys an obstreperous goat and at once gets into trouble. But it happens that the goat is the cause of the finding of a valuable package that it was thought he had eaten, and thereafter Andy and his mother and the goat parade in their affluence, the pride of the neighborhood. The reward was considerable, it must be remembered. "The Better Man." (Lubin. Fri., Aug. 28.) — Two brothers love the same woman, and the less deserving wins her, while the other has to go to jail through an unfortunate accident. In the end he proves that he is the better man, but goes' back to prison, and the brother promises to be a kinder husband. A drama that combines strength of presentation with a sound moral. "A Low Financier." (Selig. Split reel. Fri., Aug. 28.) — He is the sort of financier that demands payment in advance and then refuses to carry out his part of the contract. But no one can much blame him for running off, because what he agreed to do is to submit to the dissecting table. On the same reel with "Breaking Into Jail." "Breaking Into Jail." (Selig. Split reel. Fri., Aug. 28.) — The breaking into jail is not for the purpose of a jail delivery, but to seek material for stories. Jim aspired to be a writer and thought that this would be a good way to see life at first hand. It is a very funny comedy. On the same reel with "A Low Financier." . "Such a Hunter." (Vitagraph. Fri., Aug. 28.) — John Bunny is in a new role, a reawakened Baron Munchausen. He talks mightily about his prowess as a hunter and the big game that he has bagged, but when a tame bear shows up, he runs like a scared rabbit and the bear simply eats out of the hand of his unboasting rival. "Spending It Quick." (Biograph. Split reel. Sat., Aug. 29.) — Automobiles are fast things in more ways than one, and one helps to relieve the father's pocket of its superfluous weight of coin in rapid-fire order. The automobile jumps a precipice and then he has no money at all. On the same reel with "Baseball, a Grand Old Game." "Baseball, a Grand Old Game." (Biograph. Split reel. Sat., Aug. 29.) — The many opportunities which the national game has afforded for burlesque, especially of the dyed-in-thewool baseball crank, are taken advantage of in thiE picture. It is shown with "Spending It G"ick." . "Broncho Billy's Indian Romance." (Essanay. Sat., Aug. 29.) — Tender love story of the Indian maiden viho loves and loses. Broncho Billy is the idealized object of her affections, but his girl comes back to him when she learns that he is sick, and then there is no place for the little Indian. "The Harbor of Love." (Selig. Sat., Aug. 29.) — Obvious story of the girl who refuses a man and then finds out too late ttiat she really loves him. The man has then found his real heart's desire in a little fisher maiden. "Josie's Coney Island Nightmare." (Vitagraph. Two reels. Sat., Aug. 29.) — ^Uproariously funny farce that details the laughable adventures of Josie and Hank on their first visit to the Island by the Sea. Josie dreams a dream of most undreamt things, and when she and Hank wake up, the tide has enveloped the seat of their slumbers. "The Counterfeiter's Daughter." (Biograph. Mon., Aug. 31.) — A thrilling drama of the crook who reforms on account of his innocent-minded and unsuspecting daughter. The love interest is interwoven with the more serious events by the introduction of a handsome young detective who wins the heart of the girl. "The Wrong Flat." (Vitagraph. Mon., Aug. 31.) — A comedy that just escapes being risque and is none the less enjoyable on that account; the fact is, the peril that confronts a wife when she starts to take a bath in an apartment that is not hers and the lawful tenant's husband comes in and makes himself perfectly at liberty and at home, is thoroughly delightful. UNIVERSAL PROGRAM "The Bachelors' Housekeeper." (Crjstal. Split reel. Tues., Sept. 8.) — On the same reel with "Was He a Hero?" The three bachelors all fall in love with their housekeeper, and then she introduces them to her husband. Rather an old idea. "Was He a Hero?" (Crystal. Split reel. Tues., Sept. 8.) — On the same reel with "The Bachelors' Housekeeper." Dick, to gain permission for his marriage, places smoke bombs in his intended's house and then rescues her and her parents, thus gaining their good will. A conventional story containing little humor.