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WILLIAM S. HART
Lays Aside Chaps and Sombrero For Prison Stripes in
“THE POPPY GIRL’S HUSBAND”
Story of Photoplay deals with Underworld Life in the Infamous Barbary Coast of old San Francisco, a Resort for [Crooks and Ragtag of Humanity.
rTp HE many admirers of William S. Hart will discover in “The Poppy Girl’s Husband,” his newest Artcraft picture, that he has temporarily doffed chaps and sombrero to play the role of a convict and denizen of the underworld. Yet every bit of the innate strength of character that has made Hart a world-favorite on the screen, is retained in this new picture which deals with underworld life in San Francisco — the famous — or infamous — Barbary Coast.
The story was written by Jack Boyle and adapted to the screen by C. Gardner Sullivan. Mr. Boyle has become noted for his “Boston Blackie” stories and this famous character appears in the picture.
When “Bill Hart” cut his hair close and went up to San Francisco from Los Angeles, to make certain scenes, no one^knew him. He was dressed like any other citizen and for once in his life traveled without being surrounded by admirers. But finally someone did discover that it was the Artcraft star and then the crowd grew with lightning-like rapidity.
Returning to the studio, the
company made a replica of Mother McGinnis’ old time hotel cin the Barbary Coast, the Mecca of the slummers and the haunt of the unreclaimed. They also erected prison cells and obtained some wonderful scenes therein.
This picture, from all accounts, is one of the strongest ever supplied for the virile westerner. It presents a love that is as true as steel for a woman who is weak and faithless. The love changes to hate but a child redeems the man whose best years have been wasted in solitary confinement.
The tragic life of the notorious Coast of the Bay City is depicted with startling fidelity in this story which has, nevertheless, a strangely powerful motif — an uplift that lightens the dark places and makes it a remarkable argument for faithfulness and the greater joy that comes from love as opposed to_ hate and the craving for revenge.
The plot concerns a man who is jailed for ten years but who never loses his love for the wife he left behind. He emerges from prison to find she has married another. He seeks his little son and without letting the child suspect
his identity, plays with him in a park and learns to forget the hatred he has conceived in his new found love.
Then he learns he is beinar framed by the man who sent him to prison before and afterward married his wife. He escapes and goes to punish the faithless woman. He plans to brand her indelibly and mar her beauty forever. But the boy cries out in the night and the love surges back. Silently he takes the child and leaves the woman unharmed. And in the far off hills he finds a home for himself and his little son — and, happiness.
William S. Hart does wonderful work throughout the picture. Juanita Hansen, as the Poppy Girl, is beautiful and gives a finished performance. Georgfie Stone as the child is excellent. The other members of the cast are all well chosen and do splendid work. The picture is one that will not soon be erased from memory once it is seen, and despite the depths of emotion it reaches, it is nevertheless a story that leaves a feeling of satisfaction.
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