Moving Picture World (Jan-Jun 1910)

620 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD Independent Film Stories. "IMP." THE MAELSTROM.— A marriage against her will, to a man she does not love — a late abhorrent to any free-born girl. True, be is wealthy, but what la money wben one's beart is unhappy? On her weddlug day, In fact, the man whom she does love is beseeching ber to turn, but she dare not, aud is married to the financier. He Is a peculiar man — a puzzle to her. She sees that be loves her, but be does not seem the least perturbed at the fact that his love Is not returned. He is always smiling. Oh, if be would only talk to her of ber coldness — plead with her as a lover should — open bis silent heart to her — do or say something that may perchance affect her — but be does not. He Is one of those men who study, cold and calculating. Has he a beart at all? The answer comes to her suddenly one day, when be appears with a travelling bag, saying that he must , go out of town — business calls bim. Before be leaves the room, however, a message comes from the stock exchange: there Is a panic! The market is going against him! He dashes out, dropping his coat and handbag. She picks it up, opens it, and finds— only a revolver! Like a flash the truth strikes her — she has misunderstood him all the time — he really loves, and her Indifference has almost had a terrible effect! We now follow him to the exchange floor. There Is a scene of awful pandemonium. On all sides frantic men are begging bim to sell, sell, sell, or it means ruin. With the same enigmatic smile, he is standing stoically 'mid the scene of ruin and disaster; he is cornered, but Is bravely trying to bluff the market and save himself from being wiped out. Up in the spectator's balcony a scene of wonderful Import is being enacted. His wife knows of what was impending. Her love for him is now a raging flame. Did he not, on the very eve of disaster, calmly present her with a beautiful necklace of jewels? Now it Is her sacrifice. She sends a messenger out with a bos containing all of her costly jewels, and soon he brings to her in the balcony a certified check. The amount is sufficient. She sends it to her battling lion on the floor, and in a moment the avalanche of ruin is shattered into harmlessness. The victor, his work done, carries that inexplicable smile home — to the little wife whose love, craved by a lion, meant naught to her because she had never known lions! IN WAR TIME. — A young husband has gone to drink, and, as usually follows, it wreaks havoc with his sense of honor. When the Civil War breaks out a courier is spending the night at his home, ' his mission being to transfer valuable papers he carries to another courier who is to meet him at the house the next day and take them through the Union lines. This second courier was a suitor of the drunkard's wife in her sweetheart days, and her husband now plans to spoil matters for him. He therefore robs the sleeping messenger, substituting an empty envelope for the one bearing the papers; these he sells to the Northern commander, and buys more drink. Through a series of stirring incidents, the young wife learns of her husband's baseness. In endeavoring to save the situation she Is captured and paroled in the custody of an officer. But the courier, who still loves her, succeeds In an astoundingly daring rescue, and brings her ^home. Yes, she admits she loves him, but even though her mate in life is such a despicable creature, she must be true to her vows. Soon a report is brought to her that her husband was killed: It Is providential, and we now see her making preparations to marry her sweetheart of former days, the courier. On the wedding day, however, a negro girl brings word that the supposedly dead man Is In a certain low dive, heavily under the influence of liquor. A friend of the groom Intercepts her before anyone but he has heard it, and he goes to the dive. He finds the man there, in the throes of delirium tremens. He Is carried to an upper room, and the bridegroom's friend sits at the door, calmly waiting for him to die. Habitues of the resort call a doctor, | but the man at the door draws a pistol and holds them off, while the man Inside raves and tears at the confining walls until he succumbs. Then the doctor is let in, but he Is too late to be of any service. The friend goes silently back to the house, and the wedding takes place. bottle to his wife with pride as a new burglar alarm. HUSTLING MR. BROWN.— This unusually clever and amusing trick subject introduces Mr. Brown, the great hustler, who in a series of scenes shows his remarkable magical powers by which he, in his mysterious way, gets things to move at lightning speed, often to the discomfiture of bis victims. GREAT NORTHERN. A NEW BURGLAR ALARM.— A portly man of business is seen in his office, paying close attention to a bottle of whiskey, which he hastily hides in the safe as his wife enters. The latter, a formidable lady, takes bim home, and forces him to spend a quiet evening with her In the drawing room. Meanwhile, at the office, two burglars, who have entered through the window, are busy at the safe with a crowbar. They find the bottle of whiskey and some cigars, and indulge so liberally that they are soon sleeping peacefully on the floor. There they He until the morning, when hubby appears and seeing the state of things, hastily rings up his wife, who appears shortly afterwards with two policemen. The men secure, hubby points out the THE POWERS COMPANY. THE RE-MAKING OF A MAN.— Harry Allen Is a victim of the liquor habit. After a jolly spree with the sports, he enters his father's home very drunk. His father, a banker, of blgh social standing, orders his son to leave the house and never enter it again until be Is a real man. Two years pass, and the 6on is going a downward path rapidly. We see him, as a bum, thrown out of a saloon. Harry enters a cafe and begs a drink of two men, Richard Grant and his friend, who are seated at tables. The waiter attempts to eject Harry, but Grant interferes. Something about Harry awakens Grant's sympathy and he says to his friend: "This fellow Is not bad, and I am going to make a man out of him." Grant takes Harry to his apartment, treats him to a bath, a shave, good food and good clothes, and then gives him a position In his on^ce. Lillian Clay, a society girl, who is engaged to be married to Grant, calls at his office, meets Harry and becomes infatuated with him. A short time after, at a ball at Lillian's home, she tells Harry that she loves him. Harry, faithful in bis devotion to the man who saved him from a drunkard's gr%ve, determines to go away; and he writes a letter to Grant, telling him that he is compelled to leave town and cannot explain. A letter is handed to Harry. It Is from his father's lawyer and tells him that his letter to his father had come too late, as his father had died some weeks before, leaving his entire fortune to Harry. Two years pass. Grant is in trouble. Large losses in business have brought him to the verge of ruin. If he does not take up a note for $32,000 before three o'clock he is a ruined man. Despair drives him almost insane. He writes a note to his wife, Lillian, and then seizing a revolver, Is about to end his life. A rap is heard on the door, and Harry Allen enters. He compels Grant to tell him the cause of his trouble. Allen pulls out a pocket checkbook and says, "I am a millionaire now. All I have is at your disposal." He takes out a check and hands It to Grant to fill in the amount, and then Harry, accompanied by the office boy, dashes out to the bank to take up that note and save his friend. When Allen returns to tell Grant that the matter is settled and that he can hold up his head proudly as a merchant, be finds Grant's wife, Lillian, there. The wife sees the two men hug each other and dance for joy, but she never knew just why. • . HIS MOTHER'S LETTER Tom Greene, a New England boy, Is out of work. His former chum, Al Thompson, sends him a letter from Nevada, in which he offers Tom a chance to make big money to help him work his gold-mihing claim. Tom bids good-bye to his old mother and goes to Nevada. He meets his chum, and be also meets Nellie Lane, a most accomplished flirt, whose father keeps a hotel in the town nearest Al's mine. After two months of hard work, Al sends Tom to town with a bag of golddust, with which Tom is to buy needed machinery and supplies. Tom stops at Lane's Hotel, and after some comedy scenes with Nellie and her various admirers, he lets himself be persuaded by a traveling salesman, Baker, to get into a stiff poker game. Tom loses his head and cashes the gold nuggets, and loses every dollar of the money that Al and he had worked so hard for. Later in the night, Tom, half-crazed by his loss, determines to enter Baker's room and get back his money. He forces the lock of the door. Baker is awakened by the noise. Seizing his revolver, he points it at the door. Tom Greene, not realizing that death awaits bim at the other side of that door, is about to open it, when he hears footsteps. He goes back Into his own room. A rap is heard, and Al enters. He hands to Tom a letter from Tom's mother marked "very urgent." Tom learns from the letter that his old mother is very sick and fears she may die without seeing him. In a beautifully pathetic scene Al forgives Tom and helps him to get back to his mother. NESTOR FILMS. AT DOUBLE CROSS RANCH.— As he read his uncle's letter, Archibald Willard merely shrugged bis shoulders and heaved a sigh of bored resignation. Truly it was the master stroke of what he termed "Uncle Joe's tedious eccentricities," this offer of $50,000 if he would wed the daughter of his uncle's comrade, Col. Redmond. This meant a tedious trip to the Colonel's ranch, and even then Miss Moinai might prove entirely Impossible; still. as his fond mother argued, it was distinctly worth a trial. Then, too, mingling with hundreds of swaggering cowboys and riding bucking bronchos would be rare sport. Accordingly, armed to the teeth with guns and knives, he set forth, accompanied by the haughty Mrs. Willard.' Major Joe Buford's kind offer, however, was not received at the ranch with such complacent resignation. Molnat indignantly declared that she bad already bestowed her heart upon her father's junior partner, Lewis Shelby, at which tbe sly old Colonel pretended to be greatly surprised; but, in truth, seeing which way the wind blew, it was this fact which caused bim to make the young cowboy bis partner. Lewis' suggestion, therefore, that they give the Wlllards a reception they would long remember, met with hearty approval from all sides. He and Moinai would meet the mother and son at the station, and escort the stagecoach home on horseback in truly Western fashion. At a given signal, a band of Indians, In warpaint and feathers, would surround the coach. They were to be led by Sour Bill, for whom the cowboys borrowed Kid Eagle's headdress, and with the aid of some brown house paint, which they assured the enraged Bill would surely wear off Inside of a couple of months, he might well have been the proud possessor of the title they bestowed upon bim, "Chief Paln-in-the-Face." The hold-up was to be followed by a thrilling rescue by the cowboys stationed in the distance, and the day's sport wound up by giving young Archibald an opportunity to ride tbe bucking broncbo be bad written he Intended doing. The entire program worked like a charm. At the first sight of the savage Indians, Mrs. Willard fainted, while Archibald got to his knees and Implored tbe redskins with such earnestness to spare his life, that it was only with the greatest difficulty they kept from laughing In his face. The cowboys then made their heroic rescue, and the Indians, selecting a soft spot, fell In a heap at the first sound of the rescuer's guns. Mrs. Willard still remained unconscious, so Moinai, giving her horse in charge of one of the "dead" Indians, clambered Into the coach to revive the poor lady. The girl thought the sport had gone far enough, but not so Lewis; for the instant they reached the ranch, while father and daughter were taking care of Mrs. Willard, he led Archibald to the barn, and putting him aboard "Peanuts" started bim down the road at a sharp clip, amid the shouts of the pursuing cowboys. "Peanuts" was the gentlest of the bronchos, so, at the most, the young man would only get a severe shaking up. This shaking up, however, together with a slight sprain and several bruises, which he received in falling, bo cooled the tenderfoot's ardor for anything Western, that he remained up half the night in his fear that they might miss the first Eastern-bound train. ECLAIR. LOVE THE CONQUEROR At the border of a wood a company of gypsies are seen playing dice. The sister of the chief pleads with him to give up the despicable game, and as he Is exceedingly fond of his sister, laughingly promises. Later we see the same company performing in tbe street, having reached the town. In the evening the chief, forgetting his promise to his sister, again plays dice and drinks heavily. At last, having lost all he possessed, he accepts the challenge of a young nobleman to play one last game, his sister to be the stake! The nobleman wins, and despite the efforts of the rest of the company, the chief allows his sister to be carried off. Soon, however, the chief comes to himself, and with his followers starts in hot pursuit of the ignoble nobleman. The young gypsy woman fights valiantly against her captor, and so retards their progress that they are overtaken by the chief just as they are about to cross a stream In an open boat. The nobleman, seeing escape is impossible, shoots the chief, who falls overboard. Made desperate by her awful predicament and her love for her brother, the young woman flings herself overboard and aids In the rescue of the chief. Although badly wounded, he recovers, and Is forgiven by her, for the wrong he has done her. NEW YORK MOTION PICTURE CO. BISONRED WING'S CONSTANCY.— The squaw man leaves his wife at their shack, after an affectionate farewell. During his absence a half breed comes to the squaw and endeavors to persuade her to leave her cowboy husband. She repels bim and finally they quarrel. When ber husband returns she tells him of the half breed, and after giving her their provisions, the cowboy starts to find him. The half breed is overtaken on the road, and a knife being his only weapon, tbe cowboy throws aside his gun to have a fair combat. The half breed is the successful combatant. After waiting some time for her husband, the squaw becomes anxious and goes in search of him. She comes upon his body and hastens to get the Sheriff on the half breed's trail. A number of cowboys accompany him, but after many chases return home, telling the squaw of their failure. She then determines to capture the half breed herself and follows his tracks to a woodland. When he spies her he would harm her, but by pretending to be friendly he follows at her bidding. When she leads him to a grave, he shows suspicion and then fear. He tries to get away, but Red Wing is set upon ber retribution. She compels him to fight her with a knife, and after a short duel she is the victor. She returns to the sheriff to tell of her triumph and guides him and the cowboys to the grave where lies the half breed. She spurns the reward offered for his death, feeling repaid by being her husband's avenger. RIVALRY IN THE OIL FIELDS.— It Is a difficult proposition to choose between two men, •nd so Mary found it. There, was Jack Belden and Ned