The Moving Picture Weekly (1916-1917)

THE MOVING PICTURE WEEKLY 19 rith Actors or With Types All of them find comfort in the film, and are made happier by its influence. One suspects that the Smalleys, who pin their faith so firmly to the motion picture, have subtly "put over" a little sermon on us; but we have been so wonderfully entertained that we don't find it out till afterwards. The play proper is acted by an exceptional cast with the Smalleys at the head of it. They are unique in that their reputation along the three lines of authorship, acting and direction, is equally great. Mr. Smalley plays the husband who thinks that his wife should be satisfied with an Phillips Smalley, Mrs. Phillips Smalley and Mary MacLaren in a scene from "Idle Wives." idle life, and Lois Weber plays the wife, who convinces nim of his need of her, when she leaves him to return to the settlement work in which she is really useful. It would be unfair to ignore the work of Mary Mac Laren in this picture. As the headstrong girl, who, heedless of the warnings of her family, insists upon trusting her own judgment in the selection of her friends, she accomplishes some of the best work which has been seen on the screen in years. Her story is a sad one, a real tragedy, but the Smalleys have known how to make the picture so appealing, and so varied, that there is no danger of its suffering i n popularity because one of the themes is tragic. The girl, Molly Shane, has a terrible awaken i n g, and suffers a heart rending e X p e rience, but her story ends with the glimmer of hope. With wonderful art, the c h a r a cters, at the beginning s o divergent, are brought t o gether in the end. The moment when Molly Shane, about to b ecome a mother, and e xhausted by days of wandering, breaks into the door of the settlem e n t house, and falls a t the feet of Lois Weber, is one of the finest dramatic moments which either the legitimate drama or the screen has ever known. It grips the most hardened pictureg o e r by the throat. When the Phillips Smalley in his study. picture was shown at the Maxine Elliott Theatre in New York the critics of the metropolitan dailies accorded it a reception seldom given to any film. Almost without exception, the leading papers, despite the pressing interests of the European war and the election, gave the picture more than half a column of space on the news pages. James Oppenheim's name on the novel was doubtless an attraction, but it was conceded by most people than the picture made a deeper impression than the book. "The Stielow Case," which Lois Weber has just finished in eight reels, offered Miss Weber an opportunity to prove all over again that she i^ a master of the art of making types appear like the most experienced actors. The story of course is a homely one and all the actors in this one of the greatest dramas of modern times are homely characters, that is, all of the more important of them are. Miss Weber promptly picked a cast which contains only two names which have wide prominence in the photoplay world. There are very fine players also in the remainder of the cast, but the big roles are taken by extra people into whom Miss Weber has breathed the breath of apparent genius. Being three thousand miles away from the scene of the Stielow tragedy Miss Weber was at a disadvantage in every way, and more particularly since many of the later developments in the case had not been fully reported to her. The types she chose were found to be admirable. A few words about the author of the story from which Lois Weber constructed the scenario of "Idle Wives" are not out of place here. ^ (Continued on page 26)