Picture Play Magazine (Mar-Aug 1918)

The Screen in Review 273 Peg Woffington — the story that was first woven into drama by Tom Taylor and Charles Reade. It is very beautifully acted throughout, even to the very minor roles. Peg, in the hands of Miss Irene Vanbrugh, is interesting from the very start, and her most pictorial career loses nothing in its screen version. The episode in which Vane appears as her devoted admirer is the mainstay of the picture. The grand bananet given in her honor by the fascinated swain, is a capital scene, and the drama emerges with the appearance of Mrs. Vane, who is startled to discover the truth. After that, Peg's sacrifice forms the theme in the usual "sympathetic" manner. So does her remarkable charity toward the poor artist, Triplet. The famous scene in Avhich th.* actress vitalizes his portrait by sticking her head through a hole cut in the canvas, is, of course, not neglected. In this way, she flouts the critics, who, in those days, were evidently as floutable as they are in ours. (And if they were not floutable, how many pleasant quips would be lost !) It is while she is vitalizing her own portrait in this way, that she hears the story of Vane's deserted wife, and is thus led to her sacrifice — if it was a sacrifice ! At any rate, Peg restores the husband to the anguished lady, and all ends as a picture should end — and insists upon ending. Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson as Triplet was admirable, and so was Miss Gladys Cooper as Mrs. Vane. In fact, this picture will give to the public a chance to see all the most remarkable figures of the English stage in one group. It is therefore unique — quite the most interesting thing I have seen on the screen. It is almost an education. I don't say that in its favor — because I thoroughly realize how keenly people hate being educated — but mention it as a fact. Apart from the educational idea, it is a sort of stage monu ment. It seems almost a pity not to write ten pages about it. However, brevity hath its merits. "A Petticoat Pilot" (Paramount) DEAR little Vivian Martin! I fancy I used to be rather harsh toward her when she decorated the legitimate. Now it is my" punishment to see all her films, and to be required to analyze them. I think I am growing to like little Vivian. I love her when she is kissed — and she always is in her pictures. So her latest, "'A Petticoat Pilot," interested me immensely, because Vivian was not kissed until the fifth reel — which was very late, indeed. Usually the kiss occurs in about the second reel, so that it can be resented in all the others. In this picture, she was Mary 'Gusta, who was adopted by two old captains. Years passed ! And years do pass so admirably in pictures! Mary 'Gusta grown up to be quite lovely and loveable met the conventional admirer, and was further induced to believe that she was an heiress. The two old captains did their best to foster this idea in the neatest storybook way. Little Miss Vivian Martin came into her own when she learned the truth about her fortune — or lack of it — and it was further shown that the man she loved was the son of the man who had ruined her father. Poor little girl ! Oh, she wTas very plaintive and exquisitely pathetic in those melancholy complications. Her love affair was in a sad way, and her life would have been blighted if Miss Martin's life could be blighted — and, of course, it couldn't. So, in the end, the old captains realized that the beloved youth was absolutely necessary to her happiness, and we saw the two together as the picture ended. It was, if I mistake not, an ending that I have seen before.