Motion Picture News (Jul-Oct 1915)

July 10, 1915. MOTION PICTURE NEWS 73 more, but continually breaks it and finally in desperation that she will not forgive him, he ends his life. Then a few scenes of the Civil war come, with the colonel protecting his home against the northerners, and finally his struggle for existence after war, these phases of the picture being drawn in a half humorous half serious vein. Besides this there is the romance of Nancy's daughter, Laura and Tom Klutchem, a northerner. A cast of even competence supports Mr. Mcintosh. Lily COL. CARTER DIRECTS THE RESCUE OF HIS PROVISIONS Cahill appears as Nancy Carter. Our only criticism of her is that as an old lady her looks betray her actual age. Richard Neal plays well as Gill. Katherine LaSalle and Charles Emerson appear as Laura and Tom, while Henry West as Tom's father and Aaron Emerson as the old colored servant complete the cast. Photographically the picture is erratic. Some scenes are well done, others seem light struck. "EBB TIDE" (Selig — Three Reels) REVIEWED BY T. S. MEAD IN this Selig Diamond special, scheduled for July 8, the story of the love developed in the hearts of the four characters is compared to the rise and ebb of a tide. This allegorical treatment is carefully carried out with the introduction of beautiful seacoast scenery. The interpretation of the principal roles are in the hands of THE RESCUE such able players as Kathlyn Williams, Harry Lonsdale, Wheeler Oakman and Martha Boucher. Estelle Velaine is the daughter of an ambitious society leader, and out of deference to her family's wishes, she becomes engaged to Jerome Esmond, the matrimonial catch of the season. After her engagement has been announced, she visits an art gallery one day and is strangely attracted by a young man while they are both admiring a beautiful marine painting. Some time later her girlhood friend, Helena Forbes, invites Estelle and her fiance, Jerome Esmond, to a house party at their summer home on the shore. Here it develops that the stranger seen in the art gallery is Allen Forbes, Helena's husband. The mutual attraction of the husband and the engaged girl grows upon acquaintanceship, and strangely enough a similar attraction springs up between Helena Forbes and Jerome Esmond. The tide of love rises in both of these cases until at its height it threatens to wreck the lives of the two couple. In a dramatic situation the temptation is resisted and the four people drift on safely, though unhappily, as the tide begins to ebb. "HAMLET" (Knickerbocker — Three Reels) REVIEWED BY PETER MILNE <<T TAMLET," considered by many students of the Shakespearian 1 1 drama to be the crowning achievement of all the great writer's works, has here been presented as a screen play. To dissect or discourse upon the dramatic construction of William Shakespeare's tragedy is in the present case impossible and unnecessary. Not the play, but the picture's the thing in this instance. The screen version of Shakespeare's immortal work was blessed with a star who has been called the ideal Hamlet. Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson is the man, and by his complete and finished THE BURIAL OF OPHELIA performance he well upholds this sweeping statement. Gertrude Elliott is seen as Ophelia, while the rest of the cast is composed of the same personages that supported Forbes-Robertson at the Drury Lane theatre, London. In every scene the entire cast is most efficient. The setting of the play as well is commendable in practically all instances, the palace scenes and the ghost walking scene being as realistic as one could ask for. And in photography the picture is good. The introduction of the ghost of Hamlet's father is verywell done by double exposure. For all the masterpiece on which the picture is based, for all the excellent acting, the commendable setting and photography,. "Hamlet" as presented by Knickerbocker hardly does justice to itsname. The play was filmed in England over a length of fifty-six hundred feet. Here it is three reels. Approximately half of it has been eliminated. And there's the rub. To one familiar with the written and the spoken play, the shearing of the minor incidents, leaving only the important scenes, the action of the releasing company in condensing it will not be easilycomprehended. If there are any not familiar with the play, the picture will present a series of vague although tense episodes. Then too, for the titles, the quotations from "Hamlet" could have been more deftly used and placed. "Hamlet" linked with the name of Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson is a huge advertising asset, but we cannot help thinking how much more wonderful the picture could have been made to appear.