Moving Picture World (Jul-Sep 1911)

THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD / 'a ine's mother: "Unless your daughter will conform to our regulation she will have to be suspended from the school." It isn't a typical letter and should, perhaps, have been shown merely as a typical ending of the letter, if some way could have been devised to make the showing only of the ending of a letter natural. It was not necessary for us to see the letter being written. We would have known who sent it to the mother. The next scene shows an elderly lady and gentleman seated talking together. They are the girl's mother and her suitor, but at first this isn't known. We naturally supposed that the lady was the girl's mother and the man her father, for nothing had warned us that the mother was a widow. In a regular play, the handbill would have supplied the information. It is, in fact, not a bad idea to introduce the chief characters in a photoplay by means of a bow before the curtain. It uses film, but in this case, if we had already seen ''Mrs. X, a widow," it would have saved confusion. The mother receives the schoolmam's letter and at the suggestion of her elderly suitor, writes to the girl that if she doesn't behave, she'll get married. The scene that follows is one of the picture's gems. The girl and her roommate are reading dime novels and eating candy. It's very original and must be seen to be enjoyed. The girl gets the letter. The scenario's first weakness occurs here. The situation is overdrawn and Miss Lawrence is not at her best in picturing the result of this letter. It ends by her packing up and going home, which is not only unnecessary, but shuts out delightful possibilities, that in this case could have been pictured perfectly. No doubt many a schoolgirl has wanted to pack up and go home, but very. very few have done it. The schoolmam would have enjoyed reading that letter. If she had found the girl in the sulks and made her show it, or if she had picked it up and read it in the girl's presence, there would have been a thoroughly mad girl to picture and it might have been worth while. The difficulty could have been solved by a convenient summer vacation. The scenario's great shortcoming occurs in the next scene. Before this, the Rebelious Blossom had been the heroine; from now on, it is the mother who is leading lady. Though the girl has still a very important part to play, the chief interest lies in the mother's love match. The girl's reconciliation with it is even shown, as it were, off the picture; we don't see it. though it is suggested, vicariously, by the suitor's nephew. Because of this, the talented player, not having any carefully worked out business that pictured a clear-cut character to carry through, seemed, now and again, to step back into a very well marked personality with which she is familiar, the "Hoyden." And, even allowing that the picture is divided at this point, the remaining scenes, taken by themselves, are not perfectly knit together. Three or four scenes are shown as in the grounds about the mother's house, but the eye has no way of being sure of it. The time we spend wondering where those scenes are and how or why the characters got there is a loss to the impression and it makes the picture less concrete. When the first scene of this part opens, we see the widow and the suitor talking together, making love. The daughter's approach is announced. The maid must have been in the woman's confidence. This is not typical and wasn't necessary. If we had caught a glimpse of the girl through one window as she got out of a carriage, the suitor's hurried exit through the back window wouldn't have been any less amusing. When the daughter enters, the mother suddenly discovers that the suitor's hat (he must have been a professor) was there on the table, as big as life. Her rendering of this discovery fairly sparkles. Her first move is to get the girl, who hasn't noticed it, out of the room; her next would probably have been to glance out of the window by which the professor left; he might have been just under it. She would have seen him in the bushes and that would have connected that spot with the house. This reviewer suspects that those bushes were not in the same place, but they might have been. By a happy chance, the professor's nephew comes to visit him and to fool the girl, the mother and professor agree to have him pretend to court her. He does it too thoroughly. Of course, the intention was to add to the fun by making the professor jealous; which would also furnish a good climax. But the professor would have had far more reason to be jealous if he'd had less cause. In the end, this nephew consi iles the girl. And this is one of the best, it surely is one of the brightest comedies of the week. "The Professor and the New Hat" (Edison). August 23. — The new hat was the absent-minded professor's daughter's. It was delivered at the house and truly, in its paper package, it looked like a big bunch of roses, The professor put it in water, much to the girl's dismay when she found it out. The farce-comedy might have been funnier if it had been made, in some of its lesser parts, a bit more human and reasonabh Most of the professor's business was not bad; but the love scenes, especially the long cling of the girl and her lover, do not mean very much nor afford much of a handle for our sympathies. By far the best thing in the picture is a bit of character drawing in the millinery shop scene. The chewing gum saleslady is a line portrayal. Perhaps she \va"goin' to be married come Thursday week." It was made plain anyway that she "didn't have to take no trouble with customers." The Misses glared at her; but she kept on chewing and took her "royal American" time. "The Question Mark" (Edison), August 23. — The reviewer saw this farce in two houses, uptown and downtown; and he hasn't the slightest doubt of its being a thorough-going success. It took very well. "That's fine, now," said one man in front of him. The reviewer, somewhat surprised, looked around the house. Perhaps ninety per cent, or more of the people seemed to be enjoying it thoroughly. "The Diving Girl" (Biograph). — A little comedy in which an uncle takes his niece to the seashore. The stunts she does in the water quite unnerve the staid uncle and he locks her in her room. But she escapes and makes more trouble for him. He finally concludes that home, where there is no danger of drowning, is the best place for his venturesome relative. And home they go, much to her regret. "$500 Reward" (Biograph). — This film offers something of a novelty in detective comedies. A valuable necklace is stolen for which a large reward is offered and two rube detectives undertake to find the thief and secure the reward. Moving incidents by flood and field follow their attempt and they succeed in landing the victim of the robbery and the detective working on the case. An everyday copper captures the burglar and secures the reward. There are many amusing situations before the course of the thief and the amateur detectives is run. "Simple Ike Decides to Marry" (Kalem). — It takes a good many feet of film to tell the story which proves that the joke is on Jim, yet most of the picture is entertaining and some is funny. It is a matrimonial game, with an advertisement in a newspaper. Simple Ike answers it. The arrangements are all made and the bride is coming on a certain train. Here the boys at the ranch take a hand. They get Molly, the cook, to impersonate the bride and Simple Ike, because _ of ridicule, marries her. The real bride is carried away by Jim, Six months later Jim is so thoroughly subdued and trained that he is shown industriously doing the washing. Ike invites the boys in to dinner and the smiling Molly convinces them that he won the prize after all, even though it was forced upon him. "Wages of War" (Vitagraph). — This film is somewhat complicated and it is difficult to tell whither it is all tending. It seems to be a warning against war, showing some of its horrors in shooting and counter shooting. A girl's attempted sacrifice stands out very clearly and her willingness to be shot in place of her brother represents a high type of self sacrifice. But she is spared by a Union officer, who expresses a desire to make her his wife. The reviewer confesses that he was not able to follow the narrative very well through it, but the devotion of the girl for her brother was a good bit of work. "Among the Japanese" (Selig), August 28. — These scenes show a good many Japanese characteristics. They were taken mostly in the street and are filled with interesting faces, some unconsciously buying or selling. "In the Shadow of the Pines" (Selig), August 28.— Mr. Hobart Bosworth is the English major of this picture who. wounded in battle, is sent by the family doctor to Canadian wilds to recuperate. He falls in love with the daughter of the agent at whose house he stays, and his father writes that he will cast him off. He tears the letter and puts his arm about the pretty quarter-breed girl. The acting, particularly of the hero, but of the whole cast, is good. "Giving the High Sign to Women-Haters" (Gaumont), September 2. — A Greek philospher is represented on this film as teaching men to despise women. He introduces a sign language which gets around the need for talking. The women scheme to ruin the philosopher and begin by flattering him. He falls in love with one of them, renounces hi? philosophy and is shunned by all his former male followers. The settings of the story are interesting and arti-tic. The acting is good. "'Spike' Shannon's Last Fight" (Essanay), August 26. — The chief interest in this film is a four round boxing bout. which seems not posed, but the real thing. A love story,