Motion Picture News (Jan - Mar 1914)

THE MOTION PICTURE NEWS 25 "THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE" FILMED Book by Reginald Wright Kauffman Dramatized and Produced by the Photo Drama Company — Subject is Handled in Able Fashion and in a Manner that Should Not Offend the Most Fastidious THE clear, concise manner in which "The House of Bondage," the book by Reginald Wright Kauffman, is written has made it comparatively easy to dramatize. There is nothing in the text that need be avoided in this day of so-called morality plays. It is nothing more or less than a statement of facts, turned into fiction form in order to avoid dull reading and it is handled in a manner that should not give offense to anyone. The scenario, following this plan, and adhering to the policy of a clean MARY ESCAPES story, has resulted in an acceptable offering that is unlikely to give umbrage to the most fastidious taste. There has been no change from the original story, with the single exception of one scene. This, telling the story of the last meeting between Mary and the cadet Max, could be told far better in words than in action. Thus, it was found necessary to "kill" Max in a conventional manner in the screen version of Mr. Kauffman's work. It is very evident that great care has been shown in attending to the minor details that are so important in the dramatization of a popular story. The numbers of the houses, the steel mills in which the father worked, the interior settings, are all as we have imagined them while reading the book. The steel mill scene, with the father returning home to his work, showed superior direction in every detail, and was one of the best pieces of photography the writer has ever seen. THE story of the play, which is almost too well-known to require repetition, is as follows: Mary Denbeigh, a country girl, who has been reared in a manner which has allowed her but little insight into the ways of the world, objects to going to school. Her unwillingness is overruled by her strict mother and father. There is little but unhappiness at home. She is forced to do all the drudgery that can be heaped upon her and is beaten by her father. Yet with all this, Max Crossman, a "cadet" from Rose's house, does not find her an easy victim. His first attempt to speak to her is frustrated by Mary's simple statement, "I do not know you." But later they meet, through his persistency, and that night being in fear of a beating she goes out through the window, having been locked in the room by her parents. She again meets Max, and knowing that she is to be severely beaten by her father, consents to marry the "cadet" and go to the city with him. They arrive in the city and go to a cafe where Max informs her that because of the late hour they cannot get married at once. He points out that a license cannot be obtained. This appears to be perfectly plausible to Mary and she goes unsuspectingly with him to the home of his "mother's friend." After partaking of a few drinks she becomes unconscious and so commences her life as a "slave." In the morning when she awakes it is with a head that is nearly breaking. Arising quickly she cannot find any clothes but an old kimono. Rose, the mistress of the house, answers her repeated cries for help and gives her a terrible beating. The other girls come in and talk with her, finally coaxing her to eat. Weeks pass and Mary at last is apparently content. But all the time she is watching for a chance to escape. She succeeds at last through the help of a politician. This man, Dyker, gets her out of the house and she goes to the home of a working girl with whom she had been in communication through the German beer man. Here she at last finds friends. She is able to obtain work as a servant, only to be discharged for the theft of some towels of which she is entirely innocent. She again gets work with a society woman as a maid-of-all-work, but the woman's son had been one of the patrons of the house where she had been an inmate, and on meeting her, orders her discharge. SHE then goes to the settlement house, where she tells her story to the matron. She happens to mention the name of Dyker, the politician who had assisted her, and gets in trouble again, as Dyker is the man to whom the settlement worker is engaged. Dyker, hearing that she has told his fiancee about his part in the raid on the "House of Bondage," makes her assert to the woman that it is untrue. Thus Mary loses her friend, and being unable to live on the meagre income of a shop-girl, is forced to go on the street again. She ends up in a little resort on the waterfront as the mistress of a sailor. Here she again meets the son of the society woman who had been so brutal to her. He visits the house, together with a friend, in a slumming party and takes the girl's part against the man. He is killed in the fight and Mary escapes and makes her way to her home. Her mother, fearing her father's wrath if he sees her, forces Mary to take to the streets again. She returns to Rose's house, where the mistress refuses to take her in. because, as she puts it, "The life has got you, Violet." The last scene shows her being found by a Sister of Charity and being given a home at last where she may die in peace. V D. M. MARY WELCOMED AT THE HOME OF FRIENDS