Wid's Films and Film Folk (1916)

Thursday, May 25, 1916. ee WID’S MELO WITH RIDICULOUS MOMENTS AND MUCH FASHIONS. Gladys Hulette in OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY Thanhouser-Mutual. DIRECTORG 2. hone. inline eee Wm. Parke GAMERA, MAN). 2. 2.04. eee Walter K. Scott SCENARIO) BYisi6 cid ees ates. See Lloyd Lonergan AS A WHOLE........ “\wovie Melo”? and fashions ei NOD Ge Ge eee oecis ce Odea Geen Quite hackneyed DIRECTION | 2 47st fights ble eh ee Fairly good PHOTOGRAPHY? ihe eis. ee ee Good IIGHTIN GS eis ce ire eae sik. Sod aes Ordinary CAMERA, WORK.3.)0..¢050.. . GRR Acceptable Da eet. etd alot tatwisis oie: Rather pretty SUBPORT Coils een eS Le oe Good HET HRIORS : 2 ihe ene ok Central Park and Drive INTERIORS (020288 Le SS, eee eee Good DITA Taio o-d oe. ais vetoes xy: a ree Fair GECN GUD et) ee chs Che ee os eee Five parts CaN HIS is a decidedly ordinary “movie” plot, ; based on the work of a pair of “get-richquick” artists who wreck a banker’s institution and then go to work on another victim, only to be foiled eventually by the fact that the banker’s daughter is loved by the victim. The banker, who escapes when first told of the coming failure, returns to the action in disguise, the disguise being painfully obvious, and, securing a place in the office of the “get-rich quick” men, he assists in tricking them at. the end. The story of this includes that highly original thought of destroying an automobile by sending it over a cliff. Failing in this attempt to kill the heroine by placing her in the automobile which was destined for destruction, the hero discovered that the plotting chauffeur of this machine had lost a button from his coat in jumping from the car. We then had the truly ridiculous situation of the hero walking the streets of New York examining the coats of every chauffeur of a taxi-cab or garage, to find one who was minus a button such as that found by the machine. We had many “interesting” scenes of him walking up to various taxis and into various garages and, of course, he finally located the right man. If this situation does not get a real laugh whereever shown I will coommence to readjust my opinion of film fans. Really this offering is about three reels of melodrama and two reels of fashion display, since someone connected with the production must have figured that there was not enough material for five reels, and so they arranged with a prominent New York store to give them a little advertising, with the result that we had about two reels of various models showing fine gowns, the front of the store being flashed a few times so that there could be no question as to what concern was providing all these joys o fa woman’s life. It is probably true that the feminine portion of an audience enjoys looking at beautiful clothes, but I believe they would rather see them on a character that has something to do with the story or else look at them in one of the current news weeklies. It is hardly good construction to inject two reels of this sort of thing into ordinary melodrama. There is nothing very interesting about any of this unless it might be the work of Fraunie Fraunholz, who is the hero ,and he is given such ridiculous business that his part cannot register convincingly. As a whole this is very ordinary. It may be accepted by an audience that does not worry much about what it sees but surely it will never do where they are good judges. Others in the cast were J. H. Gilmour, Yale Benner and Kathryn Adams. STORY WITH ONE WEAK SPOT VERY WELL PRODUCED. Tyrone Power and Lois Weber in THE EYE OF GOD Bluebird. DERBCTOR Rec chee ss cig ele dw ae Lois Weber SCENARIO ............ ‘oca Qaeh eRe Lois Weber AS °A. WHOLE 5. 66. oe ee Interesting, well played STORY... . Different, and holds, but has weak spot DIREGTION © reat Go 6 os, sds). ees Very good PHOTOGRAPHY oes on 0s... eres Good LIGHTINGS \ Je eet See Some excellent CAMERA) WORK... 03. 6... | See ee Very good SARS yon shot. ae eC etc eece ss Forceful, convincing SUPPORT sh... 2 trot tas... eee Very good HATHRIORS 5% itso... eee Well chosen INTERIORS voce cs ek iss... Very good DETAIL.) 20 ee... Good WUHING UE, : enero. ate, o. ———— Five parts 4) HIS is a very interesting offering because of the manner in which it has been presented, and it has been well played and well produced. It is one of those stories which is told backwards, the central figure being shown about to die in the electric chair, with the titles given as excerpts in the story of his life, written by him home. 600 on the night before his execution. There is a question about the wisdom of this sort of construction because it kills some of.the suspense and still it must be admitted that it has its merits. The story concerns a man who had lived unhappily on a farm because mismated. A strange, beautiful woman stops over-night in his home after missing a train, and he fell madly in love with her. The next day she went out of his life. Later two men sought shelter in his home from a storm, carrying with them a fortune in ready cash. By using a secret entrance from his attic room, through the floor into the room where one of the men slept, he murdered him and wounded the other man who had | been on guard. He hid the money and the story of the wounded man, telling of the fortune. was not believed, he being sent up for the murder of his companion. The farmer later left with the ill-gotten fortune, and after much traveling, found that he was being followed. His conscience had already begun to bother him, he being haunted by the thought that the “eye of God” was on him whenever he started to spend any of the money. Suddenly he came face to face with the woman who had visited his home and she invited him to her She made love to him and he confessed how Pe ee