Motion Picture News (Jul-Oct 1915)

July 17, 1915. MOTION PICTURE NEWS 93 .;i::.ll!iiLi!i,!iiili;iiJ2i:,,i:[ilil!l:l .': iilij InjiiLlii.:! Looking Ahead With The Producers Alice Brady Plays Role of Circe in Knickerbocker 3 Part Drama Released July 21 THE beautiful, winsome Alice Brady, a favorite Broadway star and one who has proven by the quality of her work that she is worthy of the enviable name she has won, appears in the next release of Knickerbocker Star Features, a three-part drama, "The Cup of Chance," written expressly for her by the Rev. Clarence J. Harris, a story wrongdoing, the girl so raised that the wrong looked right to her. Hope's sale to a whiteslaver, which results in immediate retribution to the slaver, leads to her accepting a position in an opera, "Circe," while the tragic death of her mother gives her a chance in life for which she is utterly unfitted. SCENE FROM "THE CUP OF CHANCE" WITH ALICE ERADY (Knickerbocker Features) which represents an entirely new line of work by this author. Miss Brady has added new lustre to an already brilliant career as she interprets with such remarkable skill the life of a girl who has never had a chance in life. Her role as Hope is one of great difficulty which involves an interplay of all kinds of emotion from simple, innocent childlikeness to the extreme of waywardness. During the filming of this drama, Miss Brady won the esteem and good will of all connected with the studio. She was called there a "jolly good fellow," and she was rightly named, for she made everyone happy as she worked, from the little child in the drama and visiting children to fellow artists and director. In the range of emotion which Miss Brady is obliged to interpret in "The Cup of Chance," we see her a young girl whose home influence has always been the worst, a home in which motherhood was unknown, and where liberty and license reigned. Here we see innocence in the environment of In the role of Circe, Miss Brady interprets the enchanting spirit of Circe from Homer's "Odyssey." Interpreted by Matthew Arnold and others, Circe is looked upon as a goddess of sensuality, and according to Homer, she gathered admiring men about her, only to turn them into swine at her pleasure. Until the arrival of Ulysses, she plays well her part. While acting the part of Circe in the opera, Hope, impersonated by Miss Brady, lives the part off the stage. At last, however, Hope pays the price for her folly, collapses and flees from society and the stage, only to meet and marry a rich bachelor. Here she meets her first great chance in life, but is unable to grasp it, and the marriage ends in tragedy. The story is not a preachment. However, it has for its basic principle the fact that on account of the degraded motherhood in many instances, children are reared with false standards of morality, degrading ideals and weakened constitutions, all of which must end in wreckage of character. More than this, untrue motherhood not only blasts the destiny of the child — it has far-reaching influence in the lives of others, for no one falls by himself. Miss Brady has outdone herself in ker work; she holds one to the last flash of the picture and handles the delicate subject with great genius and skill. "The Cup of Chance" will prove a strong attraction on the General Film program, and Miss Brady will prove in this offering that she is in the front ranks of filmdom, equal to the best, surpassed by few. The film is released July 21. BASEBALL PICTURE FOR WORLD FILM TO CONTAIN SURPRISES Ring Lardner, the Chicago sporting editor, recently became famous by the "Saturday Evening Post" route. He wrote a series of articles, describing the baseball and other adventures of a mythical young fellow who made Gus his confident. Bugs and Gus are the excuse for the making of the series of pictures to be released by the World Film corporation, in which all the great people of American baseball are seen, their very own selves, Roger Bresnahan, Honus Wagner, Schulte, Garry Herimann, and others. There is a love interest. Bugs makes up to a pretty girl, but she prefers a husky ballplayer. When Bugs, who has a wealthy parent, tries to play ball, the effects are comic in the extreme. He gets drunk at a dinner at which the baseball magnates are present. He has a dog, whose antipathy to umpires is ferocious. There are real baseball scenes, with real players plus the comedy element, and the quaintness of Ring Lardner's stories is absolutely rendered on the screen. The World Film anticipates that these intensely funny comedy films will go big anywhere and everywhere. COQUILLE, NEW ORLEANS COMPANY, TO PICTURIZE NOVELS The Coquille Film company, producers in Xew Orleans of the Nola brand of films, recently announced a new policy. From now on the company will picturize popular novels. The settings in most instances will be natural surroundings in and around New Orleans. The concern will experience no trouble in finding such settings, for the city abounds in historical, interesting and quaint places. The company is producing comedies, but from this date hence, it is announced, it will go heavy on big feature productions. A number of advantageous changes in the staff have been made. W. C. Stillson, former police reporter for several dailies, and their cameraman for a year, has been named technical director. As such will have charge of the laboratory work.