Wid's Films and Film Folk (1917)

re ee ee as ee re ee ee Esti et Thursday, January 25, 1917. WID’S JUMPY MESSED UP MELLER. MORAL LOST IN SHUFFLE Anna Murdock in ENVY With Shirley Mason and George Le Guere McClure—Seven Deadly Sins—Triangle Exch. DLRECTOR Rivets sie nan eee Richard Ridgely GAMERAMAN +. 3225) 2.0 ee George W. Lane AS A WHOLE...Jumbled, jumpy “meller,” witn shapely limbs displayed STORY............Rambling, unconvincing; titles and action jarred DIRECTION ........ Allowed everyone to overact; provided wild “meller” bits EHOTROGRA PH Vier eee Just fair; sometimes poor DIGHLINGS 2 ee ee Ordinary and poor GAMER ASW OR Ke) 2 eee Acceptable SAT fae Pretty, but camera-conscious; displayed much silk hosiery SULLOR T= Juveniles acceptable; others ordinary EXCH RIORS 3 eee i ee ee ee Ordinary TN TCERIORS@ See a eee eee Acceptable ee AT Die cn ee ee Muddled CAN’T feel that any one will “Envy” McClure’s this. It started off fairly well, but soon commenced to miss fire, and finished with a lot of wild “meller”’ that was certainly cheap. Frequently we had rather interesting displays of lower extremities, which were not unpleasant to inspect, but after a time many of these seemed to be rather forced upon us, which kills the novelty and makes one fail to sit on the edge of the seat. It was just like going to a burlesque show where you see them all in tights. That doesn’t interest you nearly so much as if you viewed some diplomatically exposed ankles. I have no inside information on this, but it looked to me as if they made a lot of footage with a lot of story and then decided that it was all wrong and cut it down to a very little bit of footage, deciding to use a lot of titles in order to make the story something that it wasn’t when they started. Whether this was the case or not, that certainly is the impression it registers. In many places the action seems to jar with the titles provided, and we had many long titles that are used in an attempt to bridge over bad jumps in the story development. I can only say that if this is the story as it was originally intended, the McClure people should certainly give more attention to their ’scripts before they start out to make ‘master pictures” for present-day film fans. The plot told about a country girl who envied an act ‘ress, and then learned that the actress had an awful time because her brother was a crook and she had only a few months to live. After starting with this they worked into some wild melodrama, and seemed to forget that they were trying to register a moral. The moral got lost in the shuffle. After comparing the lower extremities displayed by Miss Murdock and Miss Mason—Miss Mason registering hers without any stockings—there may be some difference of opinion as to whether there is any chance for “Envy” there. The wild-eyed melodrama on the finish, in which the crook tried to kill Miss Murdock, seemed to be badly muddled, because there was a title saying that he would report it to “the sport,” evidently meaning an elderly lover, and I can’t understand why he should think that the lover would be pleased to know that he had murdered the act ress. Anyway, the title served to bring all the characters together on a yacht, where we had a free-for-all fight that was decidedly “meller.” One of the funniest bits was the scene where Miss Murdock raced in a motorboat to the rescue of Miss Mason with George Le Guere riding on behind on a surf board. Whoever thought out that bit must have been seeing serial “mellers.” There was certainly no class or artistic distinction to the atmosphere and the entire cast seemed camera conscious and inclined to overact in most of the scenes. In the supporting cast were Jessie Stevens, Lumsden Hare, William Wadsworth and Robert Cain. The Box Office Angle Because of the tremendous amount of publicity that has been given to these pictures you can possibly get some money with them. I fear that most audiences will be sadly disappointed, and it is a question as to whether you can afford to play this stuff and offer alibis after ‘wards. Certainly this is not a high-class production, and I wouldn’t make any specific promises of that nature. You can say that it is filled with action, if you like, but don’t promise that it preaches a tremendous moral, because they lose the moral early. The other features in this series may be better, and so I would say that you can safely take a chance on this one getting by without too many kicks, and you can hope that the next will be better. ; The fact that you get a new star in each adds a certain element of chance which may bring them back, even though they don’t like this. Joseph M. Attie AT LIBERTY A native of Algiers, educated in France, I have traveled extensively in North Africa and could supervise any costume production relating to that picturesque land. SEVEN YEARS EXPERIENCE Producing and Playing in France Address Care WID’S, TIMES BLDG., N. Y. C. 54