Paramount Press Books (1918)

Advance Press Stories of “The White Heather” To be Sent to the Newspapers Immediately Prior to and During the Display of Maurice Tourneur’s Latest Production A Paramount-Artcraft Special Picture “THE WHITE HEATHER” TOURNEUR’S LATEST THRILLING PICTURE Film is Based on Famous English Melodrama and Contains Many Novelties. lVyiAURICE TOURNEUR’S new Paramount-Artcraft special picture, “The White Heather,” will have its premiere at the Theatre next Unusual interest is attached to the production for a number of reasons. First, because it is the first production coming from Mr. Tourneur in months; second, it is the first picture made by the director in California; third, it is described as the best of the melodramas made by the producer of “The Whip,” “Sporting Life,” “Alias Jimmy Valentine” and other screen thrillers. “The White Heather” is based on Cecil Raleigh and Henry Hamilton’s famous Drury Lane melodrama, which met with enormous success in London and later in New York. It had a Broadway run with Amelia Bingham as the heroine. Richard Bennett also appeared in the company. When Mr. Tourneur took his entire studio stafif to California he selected “The White Heather” as his first production. The background of the melodrama is divided between the Scotch Highlands, the London financial district, the slums and the ocean. The story revolves around the efforts of an unscrupulous nobleman to repudiate his marriage to a pretty commoner, the only record of the ceremony being in the wreck of a yacht at the bottom of the sea. “The White Heather” culminates in a death struggle between the hero and the villain at the bottom of the sea, both trying to get possession of the fateful paper locked within a water-tight chest. These scenes were actually taken on the ocean floor off San Pedro Harbor, Mr. Tourneur utilizing the newest subsea photographic inventions of the Williamson Brothers. DEATH STRUGGLE ON OCEAN BED SCENE IN “THE WHITE HEATHER” Superb Photographic Effects Are Features of Tourneur’s Latest Production. “THE WHITE HEATHER” DRAMATIC PICTURE OF INTENSE APPEAL Maurice Tourneur’s Latest Film Has All the Elements of Great Screen Thriller. A SCENE of tremendous dramatic power is that in which two men engage in a death struggle on the floor of the ocean in Maurice Tourneur’s latest Paramount-Artcraft special picture, “The White Heather,” which will be displayed at the Theatre next This is said by New York critics to be the most thrilling and novel scene ever pictured. “The White Heather” is adapted from the Drury Lane melodrama. Indirectly, the title comes from the good luck flower of the Scotch Highlands, the white heather. Yet Scotland is the background for but a part — and a minor part of the melodrama. The action centers around the recovery of a marriage record from the hulk of a destroyed vacht, called “The White Heather.” The big scene of the melodrama takes place at the bottom of the sea, where the hero and the villain, in the weird costumes of deep sea divers, fight to the death. Thus the thrilling portion of “The White Heather” has the bottom of the sea for its background. For those scenes Mr. Tourneur employed the newest inventions of the Williamson Brothers, whose subsea photography devices made possible the visualization of under the water scenes. Much of the story centers in London, revolving between the financial district and the slums. In the scenes “on change” Mr. Tourneur employed thousands of players. “The White Heather” has a cast including H. E. Herbert, little Ben Alexander, the child who scored in “The Turn of the Road” and “Hearts of the World”; Ralph Graves, Mabel Ballin, Jack Gilbert and Spottiswoode Aitken. 15 HAVING all the elements that make for the success of the big screen productions, Maurice Tourneur’s latest Paramount-Artcraft special picture, “The White Heather,” will be shown at the Theatre next It has an abundance of highly flavored action, fine outdoor settings, and a gripping story which works out to a powerful climax in a submarine fight between the hero and the villain on the ocean’s floor. Donald Cameron, heir to a Scotch title, would marry a woman of the peerage for family reasons, but his secret marriage years before to the housekeeper at the castle is an impediment. He repudiates his wife and child, depending upon the peculiar circumstances of the marriage to make impossible any proof of a legal ceremony. Years before, during a trip on his brother’s yacht, the White Heather, he had acknowledged Marion Hume as his legal wife, before two witnesses, the skipper and mate, who had signed a contract of marriage in the yacht’s log. Subsequently the yacht was sunk near shore. To prove her claim, save her good name and secure the rights of her son, Marion goes to court, but in the absence of proof is defeated. Cameron decided to make sure of his position by getting possession of the yacht’s log. Also Alec McClintock, an admirer of Marion, decides on a like expedition. Both men don diver’s suits and descend to the wreck intent on recovering the record. They come together under water and there is a struggle. In his effort to cut the pipe which brings air to his rival’s helmet Donald severs his own and is drowned, while Alec recovers the marriage record, and wins Marion.