Wid's Films and Film Folk (1916)

Thursday, June 1, 1916. Early in the offering we had some interesting bits there being a flash of a polo match and a few very good scenes getting over the Joan of Arc idea which inspired Miss Gish to go forth to do battle with the armies of vice. I want to comment particularly upon the fact that all through this action the lightings were particularly effective and unusually artistic. The camera work was exceptional, because it held the center of action before you at all times and ‘still kept the scene distinctive and artistic. Some of the exteriors were particularly beautiful. Mr. Powell dug up some fine types for his underworld characters and there were dozens of little touches which are sure to register with any audience. The titles were remarkably well prepared, the speech titles particularly being human enough to register very forcefully and in almost every case it WID'S i 4 | | | | can be said that the titles helped the action decidedly instead of interfering with it as sometimes happens, — It seems to me that this is the sort of subject which can go any place because it has a “sure-fire’ a| appeal with, both highbrow and lowbrow audiences. | The name of this film is all right after you have seen the picture, but I can understand that it may not appeal to exhibitors as a good drawing card, and so I would suggest that you advertise this strongly © to emphasize the fact that it is really “worth-while.” You might speak of it as a venture of one of society’s sweet young things to reform the underworld, or some similar description which would get over something of the idea of the story. Take it from me this is very much “worth-while.” Others in the cast were Fred_A. Turner, Edwina Harley, Kate Bruce, and Clyde E. Hopkins. STAR’S WONDERFUL PERSONALITY & BESSIE LOVE MAKETHIS GREAT Douglas Fairbanks in REGGIE MIXES IN Fine Arts-Triangle DIRECTORS cick .n >. ae W. Christy Cabanne STORY! BY@e pee oh os ee ..Roy Somerville ASA WHOLE ........... Saeeueeteen A big winner STORY,» Be aes nls tas, od os eee Very slender DIRECTIONS..3.:..4... >. : Zee Very good PHOTOGRAPHY. |... :.Gieeeeeeee Good LIGHTINGS@# .2.. 00. 3. eee eae Effective CAMERAGWORK .......: eee Very good SIVA Rete sess os. nos SE ONGertile personality SURPO Ray eae tials o> 2 ee .... Fine types HXGRE AR LORS eae ee Gwen Ee ..,. Acceptable INTERIORS”... .....0 2. ee ee Good ‘DEUMA TU Mrie ct cdent ae. + eee Be anceecltap cera Good NES IN| Gy yl epee ve +.» 0 IEE os corres Five parts HIS is another great big winner. It is Fairbanks all the way and this wonderful young man proves again that he can certainly hold an audience through five reels without letting down. The story of this offering is a decidedly slender one, but it has evidently been built around Fairbanks and Bessie Love and these two remarkable personalities register in every scene in a manner which is sure to win any audience. The story shows Fairbanks as a wealthy idler who accidentally comes across a new type of girl when he sees Bessie Love giving her pennies to children. He discovers that she is working as a dancing girl in a saloon to support her mother who does not realize what sort of a position her daughter has. Fairbanks explores the cafe, rescues Bessie from a gangster who tries to kidnap her in an automobile and is appointed official ‘‘bouncer” by the man who runs the cafe. Fairbanks takes the job and sticks, and there is a lot of wonderfully human business having to do with his adventures there, up to the time when he clashes with the leader of the gang. This brings a big fight scene and Doug puts over some real rough stuff, doing a wild leap over tables landing on the gangster’s head in a manner which is sure to win any house. He wins after a very strenuous battle and does a getaway with the girl, ending in a hospital where he secretly arranges that the girl 618 shall think that a lost uncle in Australia has left her $100,000. This money brings the girl in Doug’s set, and then he goes to her, still in the character of the “bouncer,” and asks her to come back to the slums with him. She agrees, and then he changes clothes and presents himself as the wealthy young man, with the result that they get together for the “final clutch.” There is a splendid type serving as valet for Doug” throughout this, and he has been christened “Pickleface” by the frivolous youth. This character serves as a wonderful contrast and excellent “feeder” for Doug’s infectious humor, and there are a great man good laughs in the bits of business between Doug and his valet. One scene which brought down the house at the Rialto, pulling applause from a blazé New York audience, was where Doug finds himself in a trap with three gangsters laying for him as he leaves his: girl’s home. He threw one fellow downstairs, kicked the gun out of another’s hand and walloped him. Then he stepped out into the street and found the third man hiding behind a house ready to shoot him. Doug stepped past the open place in a hurry, did a quick turn and a wild leap which landed hi halfway up the side of the buildling and there he perched himself on the top of a door-jam until the gangster stepped out, which gave Doug a chance to jump on the gangster’s neck and beat him up: prior to putting him on his back and carrying hi to the gang’s quarters, where he threw him through a window and stuck his head through the door to announce that he had returned their messenger. I do not know of.anyone else that can get awa with the stuff that Fairbanks does in this offering and make it a big film. He certainly has a personality which puts him on intimate terms with ever member of an audience before his films have gone one reel. His comedy is surely wonderful, and that smile of his could win a hard-boiled egg. I would play this up as strong as I knew how with the emphasis on the names of Doug Fairbanks and Bessie Love. Anyone who has ever seen a Fairbanks’ picture will want to see this one, and you can promise them that this is a “bear.” : Others in the cast were Joseph Singleton, W. E. Lowery, Wilbur Higby, Frank Bennett and A. Di Sears.