Wid's Films and Film Folk (1916)

they put over their big situations in a manner which keeps the dramatic moments tense and convincing. There are a number of appealing human touches which have ‘been nicely handled, and I believe that you can safely et on this as an offering which should please generally. _ Id play up Miss Brockwell very heavily, calling at‘tention to the fact that she has appeared in many of William Farnum’s Western features. You can safely talk about the fact that Miss Brockwell does two parts ‘in this, because the two characters are so distinctly dif , Violet Mersereau in ” _ THE HONOR OF MARY BLAKE . & Pe Ki : Bluebird PDIRECTOR 2021002. edwin Stevens BDO) een een kee ee hh a John .C. Brownell Pe EEUICA MEAN ooo coo. cote cance --Lewis Ostland Smet ATI BY. eck... ee Thomas O’Neill BORN LO no ease lannnacen nt Excellent opportunities; . missed fire in handling PO TORY........ Done before, but provided human situations |} DIRECTION. .......... Made principals, except star, cameraF *: conscious; theatric and unconvincing PHOTOGRAPHY. ..........--..--¥Yust good; a few poor spots BOAMERA WORK 7. f 2.00.03... Good; not unusual a) dominated action PS UPPORT............--.. Some good types, but didn’t convince a. hecause they “acted” OMT ERIORS 2,220.04 -Good village atmosphere; not 1 a particularly artistic SEINTERIORS.............--.-..-.-Good atmosphere; not artistic 1 several bad backdrops aL _....... Spotlight close-ups in light sets bad; costuming and “props” rather good Rp eee ae Ne Sixty-three minutes HILE this plot has been used before, I believe that it could have been made into an exceptionally human offering as outlined here if the production had been kept convincing and natural, instead of allowing the principals to overplay and mar the more important situations by very theatric grouping. ' The plot is the fairly well-known situation of the show girl who stopped off in a small village because of } illness and fell in love with a young farmer, with the } result that the villagers were scandalized. _ The villain had married her early in the film, after | having attacked her, his real wife showing up soon after the marriage. He then continued to pursue the heroine until the finish, adding a bit of excitement now and | then. : Of course, the finale found heroine and hero in a , jutch before a beautiful sunset. They’re sure working that sunset thing hard. ' | From the first character to loom into the action, a landlady in a theatrical boarding house, down through ‘the list of theatrical manager, the first wife of the ‘manager, the farmer boy hero and. many others, the characters were so camera-conscious and so inclined to ‘overplay that this offering never got under the surface. 7 [HAROLD LOCKWOOD ae YORKE = wip’s the style of story that made Jack London.famous? LESTER CUNEO Heavies Mpk TRO 1169 ferent and are kept apart so nicely that the mechanics Thursday, December 14, 1916. of having one person doing two characters never ob~ trude. In your advertising you might use some such lines as these: “Have parents the right to insist upon knowing the family tree of their child’s intended?” Do you like so, see ‘Sins of the Parents.’ ” Among other things, you might mention that Mr. May all appeared in “Civilization” as ruler of the warring | nation. THEATRIC HANDLING MARS HUMAN STORY HELPED BY CLEVER STAR In situations of such delightful possibilities as the meeting of the deacons of the church, called to reason with the farmer boy, and the meeting of the gossips, called to gather news from his mother, we found the director planting them all on the other side of a small table in a manner which killed the effectiveness of both scenes, because the grouping was painfully “stagey.” In both of these scenes there was a great opportunity for close-up studies of the various types, but this was missed entirely. In the case of the gossips, the director panoramed along the line, which only added to the theatric impression. In other words, the director has failed to realize the possibilities of the story, his scenes lacking the desired human note. Several times during the film we found close-up studies of single figures shown with spotlight lighting against a black background, when the long shot of the a , same scene:showed a light set. It is perfectly all right to use spotlight close-ups in a dark set, but they certainly kill the effectiveness of the action when they are found in light sets. Miss Mersereau has registered her points very satisfactorily, despite the overplaying of her support, and her personality will help decidedly in carrying this pro_ duction. On the finish they have a little “trailer,” in which Miss Mersereau appears With a bow, and the words are flashed, “That’s all.” I’ve a little secret hunch that there may be a come-back to this, because some gink may whisper rather audibly, “That’s enough.” In the cast were Tina Marshall, Caroline Harris, Sidney Mason and James O’Neill. The Box Office Angle Miss Mersereau’s name should be worth considerable at the box office, because she has a distinctive personality and has many, many admirers. Her work is good enough to make this register as interesting, and there are lots of human notes in the story which may get over with many, even though they have not heen presented with the fine touch of the truly capakie producer. I’d suggest that you play this and talk about it being a human story of a show girl who wanted to go straight. That sounds interesting and should pull some business without your having made any definite promises as to the perfection of the production. _ ; You might also, in your advertising, mention that this is a story of village life, showing the havoc created by a If e young show girl being forced to remain there because of illness. For instance, you might use such a line as this: “Did you ever fal! in love with a repertoire show leading lady? See Violet Mersereau in “The Honor of Mary Blake.’ ” MAY ALLISON | |