The Moving Picture Weekly (1918-1919)

Human Appeal and War Theme Combined in Notable Film Dorothy Phillips in "THE HEART OF HUMANITY" Universal Special. DIRECTOR „ Allen Holubar AUTHORS „ Allen Holubar and Olga Scholl SCENARIO BY Allen Holubar and Olga Scholl CAMERAMEN _ Fred Leroy Grandville, Harold James and King Gray. AS A WHOLE Powerful production, strong in human ' , element and presents many vivid war scenes; holds attention all the way. STOgY„ Mother. love theme handled sympathetically; ^ ' depends upon heart appeal rather than complications. DIRECTION Places Holubar high in the ranks of American directors; equally successful in registering small incidents, or handling battle sceties on a large scale. '■' ' PHOTOGRAPHY ^.Excellent alf thr<*gK^ LIGHTINGS A number of unusiially artistic effecl ^ cleverly varied to secure atmosphere. STAR One of the best performances Dorothy Philli] has ever given; sympathetic in the extreme, regiS^^; ters points without overacting. SUPPORT Erich von Stroheim stands out as ideal type for Prussian oflScer; William Stowell, Margaret Mann and others satisfactory. EXTERIORS -...Real enough to have been taken in the actual war zone. INTERIORS -.Correctly furnished DETAIL. _A strong point in putting picture over; pathos and humor well contrasted against background of suffering. CHARACTER OF STORY Human quality and magnitude of production lift it out of class of ordinary war film. LENGTH OF PRODUCTION... About 8,000 ft. ALLEN HOLUBAR has done a difficult thing extremely well. He has made a war picture so big and so human that it passes out of the numerous company of "just war films" and becomes a genuine feature production of the first class. There's no danger of this being overlooked because peace days are here. It has too much human appeal for that and too many thrills in the war sequences, many of which are presented on a massive scale. Beyond the pictorial and dramatic worth of the produc tion, it has the distinct advantage of meeting the needs of the film rnarket ou<:side of the United States, in that it presents the part Canada played in the war, without of course, slighting America's contribution. This is an angle that few producers have hit and it sure will be appreciated by Canadian exhibitors. They start things oif in Canada, where Dorothy Phillips, the ward of the parish priest, is engaged to the oldest of five brothers, all living with their widowed mother. Into the quiet of the peaceful village falls the thunderbolt of war, and one by one the sons go, Dorothy having become the wife of her soldier-lover. There's nothing extraordinary about the opening reels, but photographically and in the indication of the pre-war life in a Canadian village they have a convincing atmospheric quality. Advancing to the really momentous passages of the story, the audience inevitably finds, itself being carried away by the power of what Is portrayed with exceptional exactitude. You exhibitors know, and the analytical "puj^lic knows, how. an expert director, equipped with the exqofsite com^j)rehension .of hum& nature, may play upon the common ' 'emotions, but there are few who sense the dividing line between ^^entiment and sentimentality and between what is truly dramaticand something just sensational. It strikes me that Mr. Holubar, in his handling of the mother-love theme, in the use of children as a means of exciting the feeling always ready to respond to a screen depiction of appealing youngsters and in his adroit varition of humor and tragedy, so closely allied in the lives of many of us during the past four years, has proven himself a director of unusual attainment. From a technical viewpoint, the most remarkable parts of the picture are its war scenes. Tremendous is a big word but it isn't too big to use in connection with some of the combats shown here. They startle, they thrill, they contain the suspense of the unexpected and the frightfulness of war. Struggling in flooded arenches and dugouts, bayoneting their way through the streets of a village fortified by Huns, fighting in the air — you see the soldiers of the allies in convincing reality that makes the pulse beat faster. There are many scenes in the production bound to score, but I want to mention two in particular that wont' be forgotten by anyone who sees the film. The first is that in which a Red Cross dog rescues Dorothy Phillips, who has become a nurse, from a wounded German soldier; the other shows Miss Phillips in a state of temporary insanity when it appears that she can no longer resist the attack of von Stroheim. Play It Up Big and Count on Fans Being Satisfied Box Office Analysis for the Exhibitor. ^ON'T worry for a moment about this being a war film, because, unless I miss my guess entirely, it will go over with a bang, even if other war pictures have missed out. Audiences are looking for human appeal and they've got it here. There's plenty of humor and heart interest to offset the tragedy and when it comes to war stuff the picture goes over the top and then some. Holubar is a young director, but I want to make it clear to you folks who haven't seen the film, that he has put across something surprisingly big which it will pay you to boost to the limit. "The Heart of Humanity" is a mighty good, title and I would work my publicity along just that angle, ti-ying to create the impression that for the first time the human aspects of the world war have been truly revealed. Naturally, the Canadian angle won't mean much to Americans, but to exhibitors across the border it will suggest all sorts of possibilities. Running this as an eight-reel feature you won't need much else to fill out your show, so it would seem wise to go to the expense of unusual advertising in order to let your regulars know that you have something out of the ordinary. Get them in and they'll admit that you've played fair. If Dorothy Phillips is well known at your thtatre, mention "The Talk of the Tovm," "A Soul for Sale," and other pictures in which she has appeared, promising that this is the best thing she ever did.