Moving Picture Weekly (1915-1920)

THE MOVING PICTURE WEEKLY 31 Mary Fuller in "The Uttle White Violet" VICTOR reel d Flovv( O many a girl at the ase of eighteen the life of the cloister, tranquilly shielded from the buffets of the world us it is. has a powerful appeal. Especially is this true if the young woman is of a religious bent of miud. A child's and especially a girl's early years, if moulded into religious channels, leave a lasting impression all through life. In "The Little White Violet" this point is brought out. Violet (played by Mary Puller) has been educated by the nuns and shielded from the rough buffeting of the world. To her life holds forth a limitless prospect of —-—===: peace and quiet and contentment. Nothing would seem more natural to her than to spend the rest of her life in performing little religious duties, in mending altar cloths and embroidering in silk and gold the vestments of the ministers of her church and in spending long hours in contemplation of the spiritual. But the call of the world came to A'iolet over the convent walls. It came during the hot, sultry days of midsummer when the deep red leaves of the roses in the convent garden dropped their petals in the rich loam after having delighted the nuns with their overpowering fragrance. The call came without Violet realizing it. The very leaves on the tree branches which rustled outside her convent to whisper of life in the outside, and, although she had announced her intention of becoming a nun, Violet sometimes wondered whether she had fulfilled her destiny in life, whether she could best serve her Maker by living out her life in contemplation of the symbolic mysteries of the Church when Love and Life beckoned to her from beyond the vine-entwined convent walls. Mary Fuller was confronted with a difficult role when first .<he ui dertook the delineation of the little white-robed novitiate in the first of the Flower Wreath Series of charming photoplays by Olga Printzlau Clark. But she has handled her part with a charm and an understanding which could offend no one. The story of "The Little White Violet" is an appealing one: Phillip Randeil, a wealthy young Southerner, in search of health, travels in a coach to a little woodlawn resort, called Ardmore Inn. There he is cared for by old Tom Babcock and his lame wife, Rosa. The daughter, Sarah, is to be married the next day. In the garden of a near-by convent, Viola, a beautiful girl of seventeen, meets the Mother Superior, who reminds her that RELEASED JULY 5 ICTOR star featured in two drama, the first of the ,er Wreath Series of charming photoplays by Olga PrintZ' lau Clark. Produced by Lucius G Henderson. Violet .Vary Fuller Phillip I'cdro De Cordoba Mother Su/jcrior Lijdia Knott Old Tom Charles Ogle ber eighteenth birthday is approaching, when she is to take the Holy Veil. Viola apparently is well pleased with the prospect of becoming a nun. On the wedding day of Sarah, the innkeeper's daughter, Viola gathers a large basket of roses for the bride. The village guests have assembled at the inn and Phillip, at the request of old Rosa, acts as best man. After the ceremony Viola gives the roses to Sarah. She becomes self-conscious under Phillip's admiring gaze. Going to church alone one evening, Violet starts as she sees the figure of Phillip rise up before her. There in the moonlight they meet. Phillip confesses his love and impulsively kisses Viola with tender passion. The girl, alarmed at his passionate pleading, tells him she cannot be false to her vows, and seeks i-efuge in the convent. Some days later Phillip is thrown from his horse in a hunting party and is seriously injured. Viola witnesses his fall. For a month he lie ill at the inn, while Viola looks eagerly forward to his recovery. A week before Viola is to take the veil, Phillip comes out of his delirium, and longs to see her again. He finds a pencil and pad on the table near his bed, and writes her a note in which he asks her to become his wife if God grants his recovery. On reflection it occurs to him that it would be wrong to make her break her vows, and he is about to destroy the note, when he faints from undue exertion in his feeble condition. Old Tom, nowever. finds the note, and hands it to Viola, who, after reading it, rushes from the convent garden to the consternation of all the nuns. Viola enters the sick-room and kneels at Phillip's bedside. When Phillip opens his eyes and sees Viola, he masters his desire to clasp her in his arms, and asks her forgiveness, telling her he knows that she intends to be true to her vows. Surprised at Phillip's apparent change of attitude, she staggers to the door of the convent, where the Mothtr Superior catches the fainting girl in her arms. Phillip, on discovering that the note he wrote to Viola has disappeared, learns from Tom that it had been delivered to her. Presently he finds the crumpled note at the foot of his bed, and realizes that Viola had come to consent to give herself to him instead of the Church. The shock causes him to have a relapse. After his recovery he goes to the convent. Looking over the hedge he sees Viola, draped in black. With a cry of grief Viola lowers her head and passes on, lost to him forever. Charming scenes from "The Little White Violet," featuring Mary Fuller.