Reel Life (1916-1917)

“Life’s Blind Alley” Masterpicture, De Luxe Edition A tensely interesting drama , of the East and West, with an exceedingly novel finish TAKE a chapter out of the lives of millions of every¬ day, ordinary, living, breathing people, who are liv¬ ing along, striving for a little crumb of hapiness here and there, and you will have the plot of Life’s Blind Alley, Mutual Masterpicture, De Luxe Edition, produced by the American Film Company, Inc., and featuring Harold Lockwood and May Allison. There is no attempt to make the traditional “everything happy in the end” complexion to the picture play. The five reels of picture play holds the mirror up to life and reflects life as it is. The story follows : After a long, dry season, Walt Landis, the owner of an isolated ranch, is in desperate need of water. His cattle are dying for lack of it. The young ranchman tried to persuade his neighbors to let him use their water supply, but they refuse to accept his note, and he has no money. Walt wins the devotion of Wanpanah, an Indian, by sav¬ ing him from a poisonous snake. But he distresses the red¬ skin greatly by killing the snake. It is Wanpanah’s belief, according to the traditions of his race, that the snake is the messenger to propitiate the rain god. They wait and wait for rain, but none falls. At length, one day, Walt saves the life of an Eastern millionaire, Adam Keating. The older man’s daughter, Helen, is sent for, and comes west to take care of her father during his illness. Hearing of Walt’s predicament and moved by gratefulness, the Easterner buys an interest in the young man’s ranch, and advances money to help him from his distressful predica¬ ment. As the father and daughter linger, Walt becomes more and more deeply in love with Helen. After their return home, he follows them to the East, and lays his heart and hand at the young girl’s feet. Helen, used as she is to the more cultivated but more shallow men of the East, sends the stalwart rancher away, and marries a New York club man named Fred Sherwood. Walt, growing more lonely on his solitary ranch, at length marries Rose McKee, a factory girl, with whom he has come in correspondence by answering a note she had placed in a box of collars. As time progresses, Helen’s blase husband tires of mar¬ ried life. He grows more and more dissipated. On Walt’s ranch, Rose, used to the rush and whirr of busy life, iy palled on by the solitude and pines for the city again. At length, weary of his son-in-law’s dissipations, Helen’s father sends his daughter and her husband to Walt’s ranch, in which he still retains a share, to see if life out-of-doors will not have a regenerating effect upon the young man. Thrown together, the four find themselves turning natur¬ ally to their tastes. Helen sees the real worth of Walt Lan¬ dis. She appreciates his big outlook on life, his gentleness, his kindness and his love for life’s greatest things. Fred finds Rose more to his taste than his wife. He flirts with her, and she is flattered by his attention. One day, Walt and Helen discover the two in each other’s embraces. As they start to cross a stream, Rose and Fred are caught in the quicksands. It seems like a solution to their problem to the young rancher. If the two would only sink to their death, he and Helen might be left to face happiness to¬ gether. But his higher na¬ ture gets the better of him, and he saves them from a horrible death. Helen and Sherwood re¬ turn to their home in the East, mismated and unhappy as ever. Rose and Walt re¬ main on their ranch with no bond of sym¬ pathy in com¬ mon to see the wonder of the stars together, and be happy in the beauty of nature. Harold Lockwood and May Allison, the popular American stars, carry out their usual standard of excellence in their unusual life drama. Mr. L o ckwood plays the role of Walt Landis, the stalwart, handsome, cleanminded young rancher, who was denied life’s greatest hap¬ piness because he knocked at love’s portals too early. Miss Allison is as gentle and beautiful as ever in the role of Helen Keating. She plays her part with rare under¬ standing. Nell Franzen is splendid as Rose McKee, the lit¬ tle factory girl, whose vision had been marred by the lesser things in life, and Warren Ellsworth makes a very satisfy¬ ing Sherwood. Life’s Blind Alley is really human. Fate is always playing us tricks for which we later pay. When Helen held the ball of happiness in her hand she threw it away for a showier thing, but when it was gone, and the gaudier bauble had disclosed its sham, she longed for the modest ball which she had thrown far beyond her reach. We do things such as that, all of us, every day of our lives. Life’s Blind Alley may teach us to value more what is close to hand. Harold Lockwood as “Walt Landis,” in “Life’s Blind Alley,” Masterpicture, De Luxe, Produced by American Walt. Landis . Harold Loqjcwood Helen Keating . May Allison Rose McKee . Nell Franzen REEL LIFE — Page Four