Motography (Jul-Dec 1914)

mi.ik 14, llM4 MOTOGRAPHY 659 Selig's Story of Restored Youth Reviewed by Neil G. Caward Till'" mysticism of Egypt, the hustle and bustle of today; the hopes and ambitions of old age, the aspirations ami expectations of youth, ar< mbined in Selig's two-reel feature. "If 1 Were in," which is scheduled for release on Monday, November 1" The story concerns an aged curator ni the department of anthropology in a great museum, who stumbles upon a vial in the body ptian mummy, containing a liquid, one drop i>i which will restore youth, and of his attempt to bring hack his young manhood by use of the liquid. Charles Wheelock enacts the role oi Jonathan Wise, the aged curator, and is especially 1 in th< in which he depicts Wise, as the old man. The settings ami backgrounds throughout the story are thoroughly satisfactory, and one scene, that in which Professor "Wise experiments with the liquid on a potted plant in a window, is marked by clever trick photography. A the story runs, Jonathon Wise, a curator in the museum, is approached one morning by Director Henshaw. head of the institution, who laughingly advises him of a brokerage firm which claims to make investors wealthy, and Wise remarks that if he were only young, he would place all his savings in such an enterprise. Xext day a mummy arrives from Egypt, and. while uncrating the odd figure. Professor Wise direrthe vial, on which is inscribed in Egyptian "one drop with each new moon brings back youth." Deeply interested. Professor Wise secretes the vial on his person, and takes it home with him that night. new leave-, and gTO\A several feet in height within a few minute-. Thoroughly satisfied, i to the bank next day and withdraws all his savings, with the idea of investing, and that night while the moon l -till new, he -wallow a few drops of the magic / a* a clerk in the museum. Suspicious that it may not renew youth, he experiments on a withered plant that stands in a window, and is amazed to have the plant at once sprout Professor Wise discovers the rial. liquid. Instantly he becomes a young man, and, not willing to explain to his landlady his sudden change from old age to youth, he packs a valise and steals silently away, returning shortly as a youth, to engage rooms in the same house. Going down town, he invests all his savings in Mexican oil stocks, and is much surprised later on discovering by the newspaper that the disappearance of Professor Wise is a mystery to all. Xext day he reads in the papers that the Mexican stock salesmen have been driven from town by the police, and, realizing that his fortune is gone, he at once sets about securing employment. He answers many advertisements, but is rejected time and again on account of his too youthful appearance, so at last he endeavors to obtain the job he formerly held, as curator of the museum, but Director Henshaw refuses to consider him favorably, though he eventually installs him as a clerk. Days later, his landlady informs him that she has inherited an immense fortune, and expresses the wish that she might become young and enjoy it, but he has had so many unhappy experiences that he asks her to refrain from the experiment, as only unhappiness can follow. The landlady will scarcely believe him when he tells her that he is the same Pro fessor Wise who formerly roomed in the house, and it is only after he has reached the conclusion that no good can come from the continued use of the content of the magic vial that he destroys the remaining portion of the liquid, and, at the next new moon, once more, finds himself an