Wid's Filmdom (1920)

Sunday, August 29, 1920 é DAILY 21 Very Oldstyle Melodrama But Generally Well Done evr Hatt OPES Screen Classics—Metro Bar he AeA) LS MEW esta agencies. Sats w a ents Herbert Blache BAS SL UEL CER oes teh sa Cecil Raleigh and Henry Hamilton Bet CSS VG og act aa ‘es Albert Shelby Le Vino ANU TeN VLA INGE 5. oo a oe Saw wae a we Not Credited ASA WHOLE ...... Old fashioned Drury Lane mel adrama handled effectively though conventionally STORY Of a very familiar type, but will certainly “get” the lovers of plain melodrama ace sv ee MUP TOr MEL) N MP mw utie & A. ae ism wy Satisfactory aR RD CLACe EEC PN DEA Y fe! age See OS ape oi bag Se soe sane Good SPL AMRIT SME Fete Ch a larals «aoa pics apiece Stee Goo RIV Hale AMV. TR ONE ao ions ata seve stews Commendabie sete PIN GPA Y ERS YG)... ews ote. s Satisfactory Be eae) Pcs ERE ete o.oo." «i's vhs bio phe ecco eam Average Hie aN RST sta.ahe Varied; include glimpses of England, India and Italy with pretty realistic earth quake stuff in last location NR LD) LOM aaa hei Se sss Ps neve eR Satisfactory EP st en ee ene cle os aso OR WL a eee Average Ate Cli ORs LORY ....04 Villain puts blame for his nasty deeds on hero until wronged girl finally clears his name LENGTH OF PRODUCTION .... About 5,600 feet “The Hope” is a Drury Lane melodrama of a conventional type and yet at the same time its very conventionality is responsible for its effectiveness. Those who admire plain, bold melodrama will certainly find much to satisfy them in this. The action starts in England, where Harold, Lord Ingestre, a lieutenant in the King’s Rifles, is in love with Lady Carlyon. Hector Grant, his superior officer, discovers that Olive Whitburn, Brenda’s companion, is in reality the daughter of a notorious money lender. The money-lender, desiring his daughter to enter society keeps his business activities from her. Hector blackmails her father on this score. The regiment is sent to India, whither shortly afterwards, Brenda and Olive follow Hector succeeds in gaining Olive’s confidence and the poor girl, finding him false, leaves the garrison penning a scathing note to him. This Hector shows Brenda, saying that it was addressed to Harold. Back in England Harold is disgraced. Brenda has broken her engagement with him and he and his mother are penniless. from Italy. Eventually Olive writes Brenda Thus the actiofY shifts again to the sunny clime and there the truth of Hector’s perfidy comes out. A volcanic eruption and earthquake result in Hector’s death while all is straightened out between Harold and Brenda. The action is very satisfactory from the continuity viewpoint. It progresses without any haltings or limpings and the villains connivings are manouvered so that a good bit of suspense is the result. Director Blache has worked in some pretentious street settings that do well for India and Italy and though his local color is somewhat obvious, he has managed to make them averagely realistic. Other big scenes include a polo match which opens the picture and the fight in India between the regiment and the natives which is engineered quite well. Jack Mulhall is satisfactory as Harold and MarFrank EI liott as Hector and Ruth Stonehouse as Olive render guerite de la Motte is a pretty Brenda. very creditable performances while others are Lillian Langdon, Maym Kelso, Arthur Clayton, J. P. Morse, Bobby Mack and Herbert Grimwood. Pictures of This Type Have Their Particular Audiences Box Office Analysis for the Exhibitor “The Hope” is an average niviotrama on the suriace though the workmanship dispiayed in the construction of it is of the same high quality that has marked the more pretentious of these melodramas that have been turned into pictures. It isn’t probable that you'll find the really high class audiences responding to the rather time worn stuff in this, but on the other hand, it should go to big advantage before the theaters that cater largely to the “eallery god” type of audience. The villain here is the same sort that used to be hissed. The hero is honorable and upright but unable to clear himself. There is the pretty heroine and the muchly wronged girl. But it is this set of characters that will draw the response from the audiences above reffered to. The action is certainly rapid enough and there are plenty of thrills, both of the physical and mental variety.