Paramount Press Books (1918)

New York Press Praises “The White Heather” Leading Newspapers Pay Warm Tribute to Maurice Tourneur’s S uperb Pr amountArtcr aft Special Picture. Maurice tourneur’s latest Paramount-Artcraft production, “The White Heather,” had its premiere at the Rialto Theatre in New York City on May 4, 1919. Offered with a special musical arrangement, “The White Heather” scored a remarkable success. The New York critics received it with enthusiastic comments. .0" Big Feature Hit THE New York Review had this to say regarding the production, which it declared a big feature hit : “The title of Maurice Tourneur’s latest photoplay, “The White Heather,” which was a big feature hit of the Rialto program yesterday, has a double significance. It refers not only to the title flower of the Scotch highlands, which is supposed to bring good luck to its wearer, but it is also the name of a yacht on which much of the action takes place. “The White Heatner” is adapted from the famous Drury Lane melodrama by Cecil Raleigh and Henry Hamilton, which had a long run when it was first presented at the Academy of Music, with Amelia Bingham in the leading role. The story is one that is calculated to make a wide appeal. It is a romance of the Scotch highlands and the sea. It presents scenes of great beauty among the sheep herders in contrast to the grim studies of night life in the London streets. The action centers around the recovery of a marriage record from the hulk of the sunken yacht, ‘ ‘ The White Heather. ’ ’ ‘ ‘ The big scenes of the melodrama take place at the bottom of the ocean, where a death struggle ensues between two divers for the possession of a marriage record. These scenes were taken by Mr. Tourneur off San Pedro Harbor by means of a remarkable invention of the Williamson brothers which makes sub-sea photography possible. “The White Heather” has the distinction of being the first motion picture which has actually been directed on the ocean floor. Mr. Tourneur donned a diver ’s suit and directed his players at the bottom of the sea by means of signals. ‘ ‘ The White Heather ’ ’ has the advantage of being played by a wellbalanced cast. Among the prominent members of the company is Tittle Ben Alexander, who will be remembered for his splendid work in ‘ 1 Hearts of the World.” In Mabel Ballin Mr. Tourneur discovered .a sympathetic heroine, and the other players include II. E. I|erbert, Jack Gilbert, Ralph Graves and Spottiswoode Aitken.” . T Superb Photographically HE New York 'Telegraph declares “The White Heather" a remarkable photoplay, it b^ing “superb photographically.” The review follows : ' \ /■ ;,:#S “Maurice Tourneur’s latest prodfisik, tion, ‘ ‘ The White Heather, ’ ’ was the principal attraction at the Rialto Theatre ” last week. The story is adapted from the Drury Lane melodrama of the same name by Cecil Raleigh and Henry Hamilton, the play derives its title from the little flower of the Highlander, the white heather, which is said to bring good luck to those who wear it. The background of this melodrama is divided between the Scotch high-, lands, the London financial district, the slums and the sea, the greatest interest, being centered in the later locale. ‘ ‘ The narrative chiefly concerns?: f he efforts of an unscrupulous nobleman to repudiate his marriage to a pretty commoner, the only record of the wedding being in the wreck of a yacht at the bottom of the sea. The tale ends in a struggle between the hero and the villain at the bottom of the sea in which both are struggling to obtain the certificate which is locked in a water-tight chest in the wreckage of the boat. The latest invention of the Williamson Brothers was used by Mr. Tourneur in taking the subsea scenes, and some startling effects were obtained. 1 ‘ Photographically, the picture is superb. Many of the exterior scenes brought forth applause from the audience at the Rialto and the spectator will find genuine thrills in the fight between the villain and the, hero at ocean bottom. This feature of the production is in itself well worth seeing. “Mr. Tourneur is one of the few film directors who believes “the play’s the thing, ’ ’ and consequently he fits his players to his story instead of the reverse, which is frequently the case. The result of this practice is that there is 20 no star in “The White Heather,” but all the players have been selected from among the most proficient screen artists. Headed by Mabel Ballin as the heroine the company includes H. E. Herbert, Ralph Graves, .Jack Gilbert, Spottiswoode Aitken and last but by no means least, little Ben Alexander.” Maker of Masterpieces DECLARING Mr. Tourneur to be a maker of motion picture masterpieces, the New York Times says : “Maurice Tourneur is a maker of moving pictures. His work invariably affirms it. “The White Heather,” at the Rialto this week, offers the latest testimony. Many of its scenes — especially, but by no means exclusively, those shaded by fog and night — are masterpieces of their kind. Anyone who sees them is bound to enjoy them. 4;“ Spectators will also enjoy the thrills of Mr. Tourneur’s latest melodrama, which includes a fight between two men on the bottom of the ocean. The acting of SpbitHiswoode Aitken, Little Ben Alexander, a|td H. E. Herbert, stands out among a satisfactory cast.” Beautiful Genre Studies Allison smith, critic of the New York Globe, finds in the scenes of “The White Heather” a series of genre studies of remarkable beauty. He says : “In “The White Heather” at the Rialto, Maurice Tourneur unfolds tne scenes of the Drury Lane melodrama in a series of genre studies of remarkable beauty. There is Scotch mist in these pictures, and the wind on the dunes and the scent of the white heather. Tourneur has some magical method of his own of enveloping his ‘ ‘ shots ’ ’ with atmosphere that is instantly projected into the audience. You don’t need thistles on the Rialto panels to remind you that this is a Scotch film; from the first flash on the screen you are in Scotland, and it takes all the tumult of the Sunday evening crowd to bring you back to Broadway. ‘ ‘ The acting is so uniformly excellent that it is impossible to differentiate between the roles. After all, in a perfect piece of work like this, the director and not the play is the thing. When you have sat through reel after reel of cheap screen “business” played against Early Pullman interiors, you feel a personal sense of gratitude toward the man who has brought so much genuine beauty to life before your eyes.”