Moving Picture World (Sep 1916)

1682. THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD September9. 1916 M nimiuimiro^^ wmi fey .-uuiljif 'I'lii-ii'iiniM"!!!'!!;"! liii;;'!.'!'!;!" ;■; "Y^ 9 Reviews of Current Productions iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiminiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiy iiiiiiin-, 1> EXCLUSIVELY BY OUR OWN STAFF "The Usurers Due" Three-Reel Lubin Photoplay Which Glorifies the Sentimental Crook. Written by Kenyon T. Nolan and Directed by Paul Powell. Reviewed by Edward Weitzel. THE Sentimental Crook is having his innings these days, and is rapidly crowding the Virtuous Hero from his once proud and impregnable position in the center of the stage. The novel, the footlights, and the screen are all exploiting him. Vaudeville had him as a recruit a season or so back, placed there by Edward Clark and Junie McCree; George M. Cohan attempted to achieve his most ambitious bit of playwriting in his dramatization of Frank L. Packard's novel, "The Miracle Man," which overflowed with sanctimoniously sentimental thieves; the recently produced "Turn to the Right," of Winchell Smith and Jack Hazzard, has a pair of these engaging rascals, and now comes Kenyon T. Nolan, and throws upon the screen a gang leader who befriends beauty in distress, saves her from being driven from her home by a loan shark, and is rewarded with the hand of the lady in the last reel. The vaudeville sketch, "Turn to the Right," and "The Usurer's Due," have another bond in common; the big moment of all three plots is where the now virtuous crook turns his professional skill to good account by relieving the villain of his ill-gotten gain and bestowing it upon the persecuted heroine. The element of poetic justice in such a piece of sleight-ofhand loses none of its force through the brand of humor injected into the situation. A little humor is a pleasant thing, and a satisfied chuckle becomes the irresistible accompaniment of the spectator's hearty applause when he beholds such a scene. Let us have the reformed gangster of mimic life, but thrice hearty his welcome if his return to rectitude be the signal for moral reflection — mixed with innocent mirth! The author of "The Usurer's Due" has selected his material with a keen eye to winning sympathy for his hero-criminal. When his heroine, a young widow, cannot pay a loan shark a judgment of $125, the leader of a bad gang, who has taken refuge in her house, solves the difficulty for her by borrowing the money from a friend, paying the judgment, securing the note, stealing the money back from the loan shark, and returning it to the friend. There can be no reasonable objection to chasing the devil around a stump, when tne devil happens Scene from "The Usurer's Due" (Lubin). to be a loan shark. Sentimental Crooks who perform such feats, will never lack for approbation. It only remains to add that director Powell has discharged his duties with credit, and that the same may be written of L. C. Shumway, Velma Whitman; George Routh, Melvin Mayo, and Robert Gray, members of the cast. Harry Beaumont in "His Little Wife." Harry Beaumont's next appearance on the screen will be In "His Little Wife," three-act Essanay drama. "The Test' Absorbing Five-Part Drama on Pathe Gold Rooster Program Features Jane Gray. Reviewed by Margaret I. MacDonald. THE pleasant personality of Jane Gray will be remembered well from other screen appearances, such as "Let Katy Do It." In "The Test" she portrays those same motherly instincts for the motherless children of her employer that she portrayed for the numerous children of her dead sister in the above-named screen production. George Fitzmaurice, who directed "The Test," has lost no opportunity in making the most Scene from "The Test" (Pathe). of the telling situations found in the original scenario from which the picture was made. In the story of the young woman whose husband was taken from her to serve a term in prison there will be found a large human appeal, inasmuch as that her path lay across those of others more fortunate, but still alone. There is a warmth in the story that is pleasing; the characterization affords of the interpolation of interesting types, and the complications of the plot are consistently interwoven. A pretty touch of romance is entertained in that portion of the story covering the period of the young woman's sojourn in the home of the widower, who, ignorant of her past, falls in love with the woman who cares for his children. There is presented also an interesting bit of psychology while the woman struggles to overcome her affection for the man because of the ever present skeleton in the closet of her memory. This production will find favor with intelligent audiences, and in fact with any audience. Its release date will be early in September. "The Kid' Five-Part Vitagraph Blue Ribbon Feature Presents Story of Considerable Power with Lillian Walker in the Feminine Lead. Reviewed by Margaret I. MacDonald. AS a young woman of seventeen filled with ambition to become a newspaper reporter, Lillian Walker gives an attractive impersonation. She clothes the character of the girl with the warmth and impulsiveness of youth, and the undimmed hope and expectancy that belong to a child nurtured in an environment of inspiration. Playing opposite her is Robert Gaillard, a strong and splendid character, as the star reporter of a New York daily, and foster father of the nameless child whose mother he hart rescued from suicide, promising at the almost simultaneous birth of the child and death of the mother that he would care for it as though he were its father. Ned Finley plays the role of Dunster, a wolf of society, and father of the child, who afterward turns up in Mexico under the assumed name of Robinson, and is later discovered in New York as one of the backers of the beef trust.