Motion Picture News (Jul-Oct 1915)

74 MOTION PICTURE NEWS Vol. 12. No. 1. "UNDER TWO FLAGS" (Biograph — Three Reels) REVIEWED BY GEORGE D. PROCTOR A THREE reel Biograph is something of a rarity, and it is the intention of the producers to make the coming threereelers as distinctive in their precinct as the Biograph onereelers were in their precinct. "Under Two Flags" is a three-reel feature, a feature by virtue of excellence rather than length. The play has been exploited for years so that the title of the story of "Cigarette" possesses considerable commercial value. In addition the story AT THE GRAVE OF CIGARETTE is entirely suitable for screen adaptation. The story itself is really too well known to need rehashing. Louise Vale gives a fine rendering of the dashing Cigarette who falls in love with Bertie Cecil, played by Franklin Ritchie, thinking Bertie to be what he seems, an officer in Algiers. Mr. Kellar plays Berkeley Cecil, the brother. Helen Bray is Lady Guinivere. Other players and their parts are: Lady Gunivere's husband, Jack Drumier; Barone the money lender, Edward Cecil, his son, Victor Rottman; Lord Rockingham, Mr. Garcia; Black Hawk, Herbert Barrington, and an Arab chief, Charles H. Mailes. The story, as told in three reels, admits of no padding. Considerable skill is shown in the construction of the first reel, which lays the ground work of the story without being disconnected. The action of the second and third reels is fast and interesting. Perhaps the finest bit is the sandstorm scene for which the producing company spent two weeks in the desert regions of Lower California, waiting for a storm to come. "TALE OF A NIGHT BEFORE"' (National Film — Four Reels) REVIEWED BY J. C. JESSEN HUNDREDS of members of the Los Angeles film colony were afforded an opportunity of viewing the first subject of the National Film corporation, "The Tale of a Night Before," a comedy in four reels from a scenario by A. W. Coldewey, produced by Bruce Mitchell, when it was privately shown at Tally's Broadway theatre recently, following the regular evening performances. To judge from the applause and laughter there was not a person in the big audience of professional filmers that was not pleasantly entertained. Henry Pike, who has attended an evening business meeting against the wishes of his suspicious wife, waits at a roof garden to receive a check a debtor has promised to bring him. At an adjoining table is a young woman waiting for her brother to come for her, not knowing that he has been arrested for fighting with Pike's debtor concerning a debt. The attempt of a drunken Frenchman to force his attention upon the woman gives Pike an opportunity to be a hero and establishes the two on a speaking acquaintance. They walk to the edge of the roof to see the lights, and while they wait there the guests depart and the garden is closed. As a subtitle states, "along towards morning it rained and rained and rained," and they are drenched. Pike, in leaving the woman, after the janitor comes, carried off her umbrella and she wears his overcoat home. The suspicious wife refuses to believe the story, and Pike invents one, suggested by the Frenchman's card, in which he chases and overcomes the kidnappers of a little girl and returns her to her father, the Frenchman. The wife doubts the story and writes the Frenchman to call. The woman comes for her umbrella and Pike introduces her as the new maid, and quietly advises her to grab the shower stick and beat it. A friend of Pike's calls, and Pike tells him of his experience, and later introduces him to his wife as the Frenchman. The men learning of the note to the Frenchman wait for him and lock him in the bathroom, which brings more trouble, for his wife has found the note and follows him with the children. When the woman appears with the umbrella, the calling friend recognizes his wife, introduces her, she verifies the original story of Pike, and at the end of the story is a happy one. The cast composed of William Parsons as Henry Pike, Constance Johnston as his wife, Russell Powell his friend, and Rena Rogers the woman — all leading parts — are duly entitled to much praise. This is the first appearance of Parsons and Powell on the sceen. They recently left the "legitimate" stage, where they served as comedians and character actors in a number of recent successes. Both tip the scales around the three hundred mark and make a happy-go-lucky pair of pals, with rotund faces that continuously wear contagious smiles. Director Mitchell has produced a picture that will entertain any audience from beginning to end, and introduces a number of features that give this subject unusual individuality. The photography is excellent and the subject contains some exceptional night scenes. The settings are elaborate in every instance. "THE BEAST" (Lubin — Two Reels) REVIEWED BY IRENE PAGE SOLOMON THERE still lurks a beast in all of us, some trait inherited from far away animal ancestors, but most of us manage partly to subdue the brute and give the humanities a chance. In this scenario by Shannon Fife, Joe Tremway is so brutal to every one, especially his delicate wife, that he is dubbed "The Beast" by the villagers. When Will Carson, gentlemanly and THE BEAST BECOMES HUMAN polite, comes to test ores at Silver Ridge, trouble begins to brew. Will, in trying to be kind to Laura Tremway earns The Beast's enmity and conflict is inevitable. Just as May, Will's fiancee, arrives in town on a surprise visit, a big fight is on between the two men ; also some dynamite blasting is scheduled. Naturally the hero wins the fight and saves his sweetheart from the explosion. Tremway recovers his balance and drops his beastly qualities after a long siege of illness, and all ends well.