Wid's Films and Film Folk (1916)

WID’S The central thought of the story was easily followed and contained a few very powerful situations. These were very well handled. Mr. Breese gave a portrayal which had power and strength and Arthur Hoops was an impressive figure as the man who had ruined the early life of Breese, afterwards marrying the woman Breese had hoped to wed. Evelyn Brent has a small part and appears to splendid advantage. Christine Mayo as the woman loved by Breese, but afterwards married to Hoops, did some very pleasing work. Throughout this production we had light effects which were very good. There were a few places in which the lighting was hardly strong enough to register points for an audience which might be slow, but I believe it is decidedly better that the fault should lie in that direction rather than that we should have lighting which gives as much light on the ceiling as there is on the floor. The titles in many places carried the Service lines and these were nicely worked out by the action. Taken as a whole, this is a production which will surely register as very much “worth-while” because it has been made in a manner which sets it, throughcut, above the ordinary release. . Thursday, May 25, 1916. “The Spell of the Yukon” is a splendid title for advertising purposes, and I would lay particular stress upon the fact that this production has been adapted from the famous Service. poems, because they have been very widely read and they are generally known to be particularly forceful and suggestive of red-blooded action. In one or two places the editing was a little bad, scenes being allowed to run a little too long and there were two rather bad slips. One of these allowed a scene to run long enough to show some person walking on the scene just before the miner discovered the half-breed at his cabin, and. this was rather confusing, because this man does not figure in the action, and having seen him walk towards the miner the audience will naturally expect him to figure in the struggle which follows.In the last reel, in a very important dramatic situation, there is‘a title which reads, “She is your own daughter.” This was inserted in the scene further up than where it really belongs, with the result that Mr. Hoops does not register the proper expression at that time and later on we find this title spoken, it being very easy to read the lips of Miss Mayo when ay tells him. This could be and should be corrected at once. ARTISTIC PRODUCTION AND GRACEFUL STAR SAVE SLOW STORY. Mae Murray in SWEET KITTY BELLAIRS Lasky-Paramount. PETES GIDO RE poten mol oe crete, cis --uaie hater ene James Young AUTHORS....... David Belasco & Edgerton Castle AVA UV EUAGVETLIN Erpeee Mans rehets ss ebereliacs ls sae ten Paul Perry AS A WHOLE.......... Very good entertainment Bs DCU EGY We meats: eet ec Rane |. Ae fob TRA Slow, but holds PTE MOTION rinaes ot vies Artistic, good atmosphere Po OLOGRA PHYS eon .tcasbets:. Sipeiei Se his «fete Excellent OG EEUN GS oo pepe eho’. sh Ee ote Artistic, effective CAMVTBIICVACW OR Kerters 2 icre:s spaiebs tentetels abe = Very fine Be A Se et eraete etek ter. acs 6. sok Pleasing personality PAAR A ECR RRs hor ed ths. «ls -dutain oy of os Very good Be DORR L OURS cong, ota. suivcs ace, ¢ otene Some very beautiful a PURG AGP Ens yor oee Pi cnin <bata ots s, -/ciehel even Arete” Well done RR RMA LIM Stee ae es ates esis AYRE «saps a.t 6 be Good LENGTH MeN EEE NCU Ke Fenrer ie» War ea? hot tere e Five parts yJT is rather decidedly to the credit of Pro; ducer James Young that this can be counted a very good film, because the story really contains only one big situation and the presentation of the atmosphere of the time of Kitty Bellairs is no small task. Mr. Young has succeeded in registering strongly with his atmospheric touches because all of his scenes fit in perfectly with the general idea of the time of the story and the film moves along with the interest centered on the action of the principals to a sufficient degree that the fact that this is a costume production is never noticeably objectionable. Some of the exterior locations were particularly well chosen, and separate mention should-be made of the fact that in the last reel we have such a conventional happening as the marching of troops along a roadway, made into a truly artistic effect, the grouping of the troops on the roadway against a background of clouds making these scenes decidedly distinctive and remarkably artistic. When these scenes were used they were given in short flashes 599 which fitted perfectly into the tempo of the dramatic action, and there was just enough of them to register their beauty without enough being given at any one time to allow the audience to tire of the artistry of it all. Miss Murray as Kitty was decidedly beautiful in many of the scenes and her very graceful carriage helped make her characterization distinctive. The action of this was decidedly slow in the first two reels because it was for the most part the “ylanting” of characters and the registering of atmosphere. This was something that could not be avoided, however, because it was of course necessary to make this production follow the story of the original, and so the producer cannot be blamed for the dearth of material. The scene in the bedroom where Kitty faces disgrace in order to save her friend was very well handled, and the big scene of the ballroom was particularly good. Miss Murray’s entrance in this ballroom set was very well handled. Tom Forman, as the bashful lover, was decidedly inclined to overact at-times, and his work was the weakest in the entire offering. Almost all of his scenes in which he attempts to register bashfulness, are marked by playing which was unconvincing because he overdid things. At least his work did not impress. Taken as a whole I would say that this is a decidedly ‘“‘worth-while” production because of the advertising opportunities offered by the name and the fact that Miss Murray has had tremendous advertising at various times as a dancing star and as a star in her previous pictures. This is surely a good enough production to make a fuss about, and while it may be a little slow to some audiences, it has been sufficiently well done to register as pleasing and there is certainly nothing about it which can be pronounced poor. Properly handled this should be a box office winner. Others in the cast were Joseph King, James Neill, Dell Bennett, Lucille Young, Lucille La Zarney, Horace B. Carpenter, Bob Gray.