Reel Life (1916-1917)

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Masterpicture, De Luxe Edition f and that the serv¬ ants must go, or that he can¬ not work his pow¬ ers to any avail. The young millionaire ar¬ ranges a perfect set¬ ting for the gambler’s experiment, not know¬ ing that “Doc” has plotted with Mary, who is to appear in the shadowy distance, as the dead wife. Everything is as planned. The servants are sent away, and William and Ardini wait for the appearance of Jessie’s spirit. Her form seems to appear in the distance, William is almost overcome. After having seen her sister’s husband, Mary is unwilling longer to be a party to Ardini’s mischief. She tells her brother-in-law who she is. The same night, Ardini’s plot to rifle William’s safe is foiled, and the thief is shot and killed. It is the beginning of better days for the little actress. Attracted by her likeness to Jessie, William asks her to be¬ come his bride. The Dead Alive gives charming little Marguerite Courtot, the new star of the Gaumont’s constellation, an opportunity to do some splendid and unusual acting. In the parts of both Mary and Jessie, the little actress appears in dual roles on the screen during a great number of scenes. She talks with herself, walks with herself, sits down and remonstrates with herself. Her dual role leads her into two entirely different sides of life, and gives opportunity for a wide variety of acting. Sydney Mason, the handsome young juvenile lead, makes a most charming William Stuyvesant. Henry W. Pem¬ berton’s splendid heavy and character work is well known to Mutual followers. His work as “Doc” Ardini is most convincing. In the role of “Old Jim,” James Levering plays with his usual distinctive understanding of the part. There are some spectacular scenes in this five-part pic¬ ture. The water scenes, on and off the yacht, are espe¬ cially full of the charm of Florida. The picture was produced under the direction of Henry Vernot, the French director especially engaged by the Gaumont studios. Maty I jess' $ . Marguerite Courtot William . Sydney Mason •■Doc” . H. W. Pemberton Presenting the beautiful and 'popular star of the screen. Mar¬ guerite Courtot, in a dual role NO matter how much we may scorn spiritualism or any other psychic phenomena, we are all fas¬ cinated with them. There are none of us, perhaps, who have not sat enthralled in a charmed circle, with a group of other spell-bound young¬ sters waiting for the ghost to tap on the table or knock on the floor above. It is upon this very curiosity about the vast unknown that the Mutual Masterpicture, De Luxe Edition, The Dead Alive, featuring Mar¬ guerite Courtot, is based. According to the story, “Doc” Ardini, an in¬ ternational crook, who poses as the friend of William H. Stuyvesant, a young millionaire, tries to work on the young man’s interest in spiritualism, to accomplish a daring robbery in the young man’s sumptuous home. The story centers about twin sisters, the daughters of a weak-willed, vacillating drunkard, who comes under the influence of “Doc” Ardini through his propensities for gambling. “Old Jim,” the father of the girls, loses his money in “Doc’s” gambling house. Out of pity for the old man, the gambler gives him a small job in his employ. The two girls come to the city, not knowing in what degrading business their father is occupied, and decide to keep house for him and to work at the same time. Jessie becomes a clerk, and Mary goes on the stage. At her place of business, Jessie attracts the attention of William H. Stuyvesant, a wealty young millionaire, who grows to love her honestly, and asks her to marry him. Before the girl has given her definite answer to her handsome suitor, she learns of a raid on “Doc” Ardini’s gambling house, in which her father, whom she thought employed in a respect¬ able business, shoots and kills a man. Under an assumed name, her father is held for murder. Jessie feels that with this disgrace upon her family, she cannot marry William, and goes away, leaving a note tell¬ ing him that she cannot marry him because of a terrible secret in her life. She has never told him of her sister Mary. Undaunted, Stuyvesant hunts until he finds her, and in¬ sists that she become his bride, in spite of anything which may have happened. At the trial of Ardini and “Old Jim,” Ardini is sent to prison for three months, and Jessie’s father is sentenced to a ten-year term. On leaving prison, Ardini is in need of money. He learns that Jessie has kept her family relations a secret. Possessed with an almost un¬ canny hypnotic power, the gambler gains control over Mary, and forces her to go to her sister and threaten disclosure of her real identity if the young wife does not give her money. Almost immediately after this, while aboard her husband’s private yacht, Jessie becomes heated with wine and with the glamour of it all through carelessness falls over the rail and is drowned. The young husband is inconsolable. It is at this time that “Doc” Ardini sees an opportunity to get in some of his smooth and treacherous work. He makes the friendship of William, and persuades him that he can bring back to him the spirit of his wife. But the crook says that he must be alone in the house with William, Marguerite Courtot and Sydney Mason, co-stars in “The Dead Alive,” Pro¬ duced by Gaumont “The Dead Alive” REEL LIFE — Page Five