The Moving Picture World (Apr-Jun 1913)

THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 1 241 work to every little detail. This on the whole is much the safer plan; lor as Mr. Metcalf says, it is difficult for an orchestra to follow closely to details. Some leaders "humor" the scenes without changing the piece of music. Unless done with skill this is risky, although I have known violinists who could so vary the music at times by means of retard, accelerate, diminish, crescendo, etc., that their work was a joy to hear. This, of course, in certain scenes where the contrasts were not too pronounced. It would hardly hold good in all situations. — Editor. "Half a Chance" A Vigorous Three-Reel Reliance. Reviewed by Louis Reeves Harrison. THERE is a lot of warm blood in this production, and, it compaprisons have any significance* it ranks at the top of Reliance features I have seen. In the first place, there is a. story by an. author who is very much alive. It portrays a clearly-defined leading character to whom sympathetic interest becomes instinctively attached; it sets forth his distinguishing traits and preserves them to the end; it utilizes incident to bring out his passions and emotions, and it hinges on his fierce struggle upward to some definite end. It contains that breath of life which only the craftsman knows how to inject into a pictured phase of human existence. Both author and his work are unknown to me — the photodrama visualizes a Bobbs-Merrill novel — but the motive is sociological in pointing to the power of circumstances, the necessity of opportunity and to education as the principal form of opportunity by which man rises above mere desire to exist to intellectual control of his forces. The theme is one so well suited to dramatic uses and admits of so many thousands of delightful variations that the only astonishing thing about it is its rare appearance in screen presentations. No scenario editor need worry about the fact that it has been done before — it has as many diverse forms as there are interesting human careers. "Half a Chance"' begins with an extreme, though not at all improbable, incident which proves to be a corrective turning point in the life of a dissipated pugilist, a powerful man known as "Frisco Pet." He becomes obstreperous in a low joint and is thrust into the room of a dissolute adventuress to sleep off his drunk. That good old stage prop, the "degenerate nobleman," now appears, quarrels with the adventuress, and she is accidentally killed in the scuffle. "Frisco Pet" is falsely accused, convicted, and deported on a convict ship. The ship is wrecked, and the convict saves a pretty little girl. He is cast away on a desert isle — moss-covered — finds a case of books and studies law. While I do not favor this entirely new educational system, it presents a unique method of transforming a pug into a practitioner and it might not be a bad plan to try on some of our New York police inspectors. If there were only enough desert isles in the Pacific Ocean, we could maroon our aldermen, senators and other representatives of the people there, each with a case of books to live on, and enjoy ourselves in a period of relative tranquility while they were becoming regenerated. Anyway, somehow-or-other, "Frisco Pet" equips himself by self-instruction, so that he rises above those who merely graduate from institutions of learning and successfully fights his way to social position — he wins the little girl he pulled out of the sea, and liberty. In fact, he becomes one of the greatest criminal lawyers in The United Wigdom. Mr. Apfel is to be congratulated upon overcoming many difficulties in the visualization of the story, upon his artistic settings and upon his admirable selection of types. The cast is excellent straight through, and the role of "Frisco Pet," played by George Seigman, is a masterly interpretation. The part is one requiring tremendous physical strength in combination with fine personality, but it is splendidly performed from beginning to end. The tout ensemble is a long step upward. Frank E. Montgomery, who is now producing films featuring his wife, Mona Darkfeather, in Indian pictures, has taken the name "Mona" for his brand. Scene from "Half a Chance" (Reliance).