Moving Picture World (Aug 1917)

August 18, 1917 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 1081 "The Crystal Gazer" Lasky-Paramount Fanny Ward Picture — Interesting Melodrama Without Marked Distinction of Story or Acting. Reviewed by Hanford C. Judson. THERE is in the latest Paramount five-reel picture, "The Crystal Gazer," no real chance for Fanny Ward to show her ability in the not very broad field of human emotion where she is undeniably brilliant. Her playing of the dual role of two sisters born in the dregs of society and separated Scene from "The Crystal Gazer" (Paramount). in infancy is commendable and entertaining, but lacks the convincing fire of life. We are kept interested in the outcome of the plot, which is certainly in the picture's favor, but our emotions are not deeply quickened. It is set and costumed and photographed well as was to be expected in a Famous Players film, and many of the characters are ably represented. Its greatest lack is convincing significance and tone. It opens with one of the most sordid of modern scenes. In a tenement room a woman is discovered dead and the two children near her are the offsprings of a condemned murderer. The gas is turned on and the children are with difficulty revived. One is adopted by the wife of the judge who passed sentence on the father — one wonders why this judge's wife was chosen — the other, by a disreputable woman of the slums. The girls grow up to look exactly alike and both are played by Fanny Ward. The poor girl is employed by a crystal gazing charlatan, and the rich girl becomes engaged to a very desirable society "catch." The resemblance leads the charlatan to suspect that they are sisters, and he discovers their mean origin. He tries to levy blackmail and succeeds in separating the lovers — but the girl won't tell why she runs away. The other sister now is brought in contact with the young man and he proposes to her because she looks like the first girl, and he pities her. The charlatan dies. This frees the first girl and she comes back. The young man now has the girl he is engaged to and the girl he really loves in front of him. The second girl dies saving the first from a burning room, and this gives a death-bed scene which some may really think is heroic. "Souls Adrift" Ethel Clayton and Milton Sills in Five-Part Peerless Photoplay of Adventure Laid Among Romantic Surroundings— Released by World Film Corporation. Reviewed by Edward Weitzel. LIFE on a desert island with the woman one loves has its attractive side, according to "Souls Adrift," the five-part Peerless photoplay written by Andrew Soutar, with Ethel Clayton and Milton Sills as the interested parties. Elma Raybourne, the daughter of a wealthy shipbuilder, is loved by a young engineer named Micah Steele. The elder Raybourne. having robbed Steele of a valuable invention, the young man is determind to be revenged. To that end he ships as an assistant engineer on Raybourne's yacht. During a trip from Honolulu to San Francisco the boat is wrecked, but Micah manages, by great effort, to save Elma from the sinking yacht and get her into a small boat. They land on a desert island in the Pacific, and during their adventures the girl learns to know the worth of her rescuer. The story is almost a two-part one, but the pair are always interesting, and are finely played by Ethel Clayton and Milton Sills. There are many picturesque scenes and several beautiful views of the ocean. There is also several views of Miss Clayton in the garb of Eve. What more natural than being on an uninhabited island she should take a dip in the sea? The episode is adroitly managed, the shades of nightfall affording the lady a sufficient mantle for the occasion. John Davidson, Frank de Vernon and Walter James are the leading members of the support. "When Sorrow Weeps" Little Mary McAlister in an Episode of Es^a Children Count?" Series. Reviewed by Arthur W. CourtneyJ A PICTURE in which a suicide is presented ws clearly as the rules allow is hardly a good picture forfehildren t . » In "When Sorrow Weeps," a two-part episode of the "1)" Children Count?" series, Little Mary McAlister is a ragged child whose drunken father dies leaving her alone in the world. She is taken in by Caroline Busby, the wife of a crook who is just finishing a prison term. The influence of the pure little child inspires Caroline to turn over a new leaf. The husband, fresh from a new crime, takes refuge in the house. His wife gives him up to the police, but he accuses her of complicity. The child goes with her to court, and there is taken away from her by members of a society who think the woman's past life makes her home unfit for the rearing of the child. The woman commits suicide, and the child is taken to an asylum. This picture ends as almost propaganda. The acting of Little Mary is, as usual, excellent. So also is the acting of John Cossar as the crook, and Mabel Bardine as his wife. This picture was released July 18. hold "Skinner's Baby' The Advent of a Young Stranger in the Ski Creates Delightful Interest — Bryant Waj Daly and Other Old Favorites in Reviewed by James S. McQuade. HARRY BEAUMONT, who wrote and directed "Skinner's Baby," being indebted of course to the story by Henry Irving Dodge, is to be commended at the very outset for the fine human and heart interest which it holds for the spectator. He has touched the Story very happily, here and there. with flecks of humor that makes one chuckle inwardly, as if fearing that louder manifestations of our pleasure mi^ht mar our own and our neighbor's enjoyment. At other times the humor is so broad and universally catching that nothing but a peal of laughter will serve the occasion. An instance of the latter is furnished by Skinner when he gives a holiday to the entire office force of McLaughlin. Perkins & Skinner in honor of his son, although that cherub has not yet been born and that he is taking chances on the sex of the young stranger. When the senior partner of the firm gently expostulates with Skinner on the untimeliness of the holiday and the uncertainty of the sex of his firstborn. Skinner replies: "No, he hasn't arrived, but he will.'' And when the little stranger did arrive, so impressed were Skinner's partners by his repeated assurances that one of them purchased a wooden. horse and the other a toy rifle for the occasion. When Honey whispers to her doting husband, after the partners have left, "He isn't a boy, dearie; she's a girl," he hides his disappointment in a flash, and in his great love answers: "She's more wonderful than a boy, Sweetheart, and we'll name her Honey Skinner. If she can't be a president, she can be a president's wife." Bryant Washburn's Skinner is altogether human, in the Scene from "Skinner's Baby" (Essanay). third Skinner story. There is not a moment when he fails to live the part. His tenderness towards and his anxiety for Honey, in the first great crisis of their married life, never create in the mind of the spectator the impression of simulation. And Hazel Daly's Honey is just adorable as a wife She sheds a radiance in the Skinner home that will make itself felt among the hundreds of thousands that will view the picture. The old favorites, McLaughlin and Perkins, are just as happilv sustained bv James Carroll and W. K. Houpt as on former