Wid's Filmdom (1920)

mS ae = aoe yp —_ inasienpnneneenneeneeee Sunday, March 28, 1920 Whi DAILAY ; 21 EE EL EERIE PE Lt EE PR DES TT ae Production and Acting Faults Predominate Throughout This Madlaine Traverse in “THE TATTLERS” Fox SAMOA LOO TSR Ek bie a. 5 hee as: ox Howard M. Mitchell Pa Fee Peete iss Aw antolobead « Henry Clifford Colwell SS TC CAPRIS NG Foy 5.6 RECS Begs ws oie ts oe Denison Clift CMTC UAE oii, hosed teed « « Walter E. Williams ASA WHOLE....... Story with several good oppor tunities held way back by undistinctive direction and miscasting. SO CA ae Contains the germ of good idea but there is no clear motive in the telling. DIRECTION «... ... Very poor; players often show surprising lack of it. aE ATS APU et oe cnet bi «be ce os were Average Mat edN Cincy eee a RMR. ogee ai we we ole Plain EOE NENG Cars NTA C8 CGE a Plain SEA Ricks. «ck Is not the right type for the sympathetic mother role. SUPEOR Uaaacce. Juvenile role very poorly done; villain not at all polished. OP WISI RB IRC Sik a ee Few used Bh RGR A A Persea Oe hte ne ow se caleres eee oes Fair DETAIL......Sequence between juvenile and in genue show awkward attempts to be natural; “society” atmosphere poor. CHARACTER OF STORY...... Mother’s reputation breaks up son’s love affair. LENGTH OF PRODUCTION...... About 5,000 feet Direction that lacks skill and distinction and cases of miscasting and poor performances prove the determining factors in “The Tattlers,” eclipsing a fairly good story idea.. The direction hardly gets anything out of the material offered, most of the points being registered in the subtitles. The players often show a surprising lack of directorial guidance. Scenes that probably visualized dramatically are handled without the proper appreciation of their possibilities. “The Tattlers” is, in a sense, a story of a mother’s love for her son and his deep reciprocation. The role of the mother is hardly the sort suited Madlaine Traverse. She hasn’t the sympathetic appeal demanded by such a role. Added to this handicap there is the very poor playing of Jack Rollens as the son. Of sincerity he has much but of ability and polish to portray his emotions little. His makeup, appearance and his dressing of the part are not attractive.. As a result the scenes between mother and son lack the appeal and sympathy that was probably written in them. The story aims to show what damage gossip may cause, only in the given instance the gossip is founded on fact so.the point is somewhat weakened. Bess Rutherford, having divorced her husband, is tricked into the life of a mistress by James Carpenter. Charles, her son, loves Gladys Dexter who is also courted by Carpenter. Just when Charles is to ask Mrs. Dexter’s permission to marry her daughter she hears what his mother is. Carpenter, safe in the fact that his name is not mentioned in the scandal, confirms the report. The boy finds out the truth, confronts his mother with the tattlers’ tale and, just as she convinces him it is untrue, Carpenter enters using his key. After a pretty well sustained melodramatic scene is played between the three, Bess shoots her betrayer. Then they use the “waking-from-a-dream”’ trick to finish off with a happy ending. Though the motive of the story is not steadily and well developed and lack of characterization makes the heavy role quite unconvincing, a number of pretty strong sequences were worked up. . These would have shown to very dramatic advantage with the proper _treatment and acting. Among the others of the cast Ben Deely is prominent as the heavy, Carpenter. Deely is a type and is misfit in this role which calls for polish and a certain amount of subtlety. Others are Howard Scott, E. B. Tilton, Genevieve Blinn, Eleanor Hancock, Correan Kirkham and Frank Whitson. Small Chance of Registering Satisfactorily Box Office Analysis for the Exhibitor The chances of “The Tattlers” registering satisfactorily before audiences of any discrimination are very small. Way down beneath the surface there is the germ of a powerful picture but the surface being so entirely covered with various and sundry faults, the germ is practically obscured. They paint the way to good advertising opportunity in the title, hinting that the story shows the malicious results of gossip. But you would be misrepresenting the picture if you followed this line of exploitation because, after all, the gossip wasn’t gosip at all but truth. If you find yourself with this one all booked better slip it in very quietly and say little about it.