Wid's Films and Film Folk (1916)

Thursday, June 8, 1916 their pictures slumping rather badly for a time and now they have picked up recently, although they have had an occasional bad_one mixed jn with the better ones. The Triangle Company has been making a majority of good films, but they also have had a few that slipped. The same is true of practically every organization. The answer is that the exhibitors must keep standing on the alert to observe exactly what is going on in the producers’ camps. I do not want you to rely only upon “Wid’s,” if any of you are now doing that, and I do not think that you should rely on the judgment of any of your staff. No two men can see a picture exactly alike. J think you should see them Helen Holmes and J. P. McGowan in WHISPERING SMITH Signal-Mutual Vy DIREC LO Riteen coerce Soe eis a0 J. P. McGowan AU TE O'R sae sabre: «ae Frank H. Spearman AS A WHOLE ...Fast, snappy “melo,’ bad ending STORY. tc cee ones. «o's sree Lots of action DIRECTION’... .....-: 0+. — Good for “melo” PHOTOGRAPHY. ......... : apeiron Very good LIGHTINGS of. [oki 30 = «| SSeitene ereeerets Ordinary ‘CAMERA WORK ....... + Ae ee ereea's Very good STARS or acetG cart «s. n Forceful, convincing SUPPORT tic.c sp too. .\2, aa ee Splendid types EXTERIORS (isice. oc. > -.. = chennai Well chosen INTERIORS 5. ..:0.... 0: .. saeeeeenepeneiaeerars Very good i DY 2d 20 Gl Oy oe A Sc OCC. SEE Good TENGE 7.68 soles ke s))+ «cg eee eee Five parts T was a pleasure to see this offering from the Signal Company because it is frankly presented as a melodrama of Western railroad life and it certainly is distinctive as an offering of this type. There is action all the way and it is fast, forceful, con vincing action at that. While the original story of this offering ends as the picture ends I believe that it was a serious mistake to leave this as it was because in constructing the film the director has failed to leave the sympathy with any characters except Whispering Smith and Sinclair’s wife, who was formerlv Smith’s sweetheart. Because of that the audiences will want these two to marry. P The story made Smith sacrifice his love to reunite the villain and his wife and that may be very good material in a book where characters can be put over better than they were in this film, but surely that ending is a terrible error for this sort of production on the screen. The action has been fast and furious and the vil lain has been a villain all the way. The fact has been “planted” that his’ wife does not love him and that she and Smith are truly in love. It is a terrible jolt at the finish to have Smith sacrifice himself to reunite the man and wife, because from the actions of the husband it is quite apparent that the wife is going to have to put up with even worse treatment 626 WID'S od of securing films. Feature Films as Wid Sees Them MELO OF GOOD, FAST ACTION AND DISAPPOINTING ENDING yourself when you play them and then write me when we disagree. ’ Personally I have always believed that from the exhibitors’ angle the open market is the ideal methSome day we may have this paradise. The best way to secure it is to follow the business carefully, talk to your brother exhibitors about changing film conditions and get to some general understanding which will really bring results; but the one thing which I want to sink in this week is, “See your films.” If you cannot see them before you book them, by all means see them when you play them. This is of tremendous importance to YOU! than she had before she left her husband in the first place. ; Because of this failure to give any sympathy to the villain it seems to me that it would be decidedl advisable to make over the last two or three scenes of this offering so that Smith and the wife could be left happy with the villain out of the action. This may be and undoubtedly is a bromide, but neverthe less it must be taken into account that audiences which like action melodramas also like happy endings. ; All through this, offering we find the central figures close enough to the camera to register their points” nicely and the photography and camera work was decidedly clean-cut throughout. There were no fancy trimmings or artistic touches but it was clean, clear photography such as delights the eye after a siege of the “muddy stuf.” ’ Mr. McGowan in the role of Whispering Smith gives a splendid characterization and registers force all the way with his powerful physique and his repressed emotion. . Miss Holmes did very well what was to be done. — Paul Hurst, as Sinclair, was a splendid type and did some very good work. The direction as to the putting over of the melo— dramatic movements was particularly pleasing because the film moved with a snap which was splendid as to tempo and still it convinced all the way. I would say that this will be one of the most pleasing offerings which Mutual has presented in some time, with the exception of the ending. To my mind it would be decidedly advisable to change this immediately. While most of the action took place in extériors which were well chosen there were one or two points which will be caught as a little bit off color. There was too much smoke and too little flame to the fire which was to burn down the trestle. In the — office of the general manager of the railroad there was a bit of scenery which was supposed to be a wooden panel and it was very badly wrinkled. Since © this was directly in the center of the picture it pulled the eye and jarred quite a little. In a number of places the technique of dissolving from a long shot to:a closeup and back again was ~ used, and while personally I do not like this nearly