Out of the Shadows

“An exceedingly effective and somewhat unusual story, which is notable for some fine acting and clever photography. The simple plot deals with the history of an actor whose wife, tired of a wandering life, deserts him for a false friend. Twenty years later he is too old to act, and lives in poverty with his young and beautiful daughter, who has entered her father’s profession. While seeking an engagement, she meets an agent who had once been her father’s call-boy. Meanwhile, the old player’s mind wanders back to the days of his early triumphs, and in imagination he re-enacts the parts which brought him success. By the time his daughter returns, accompanied by the agent, he has, however, already passed away, and the film concludes with an indication that the two young people’s lives have come together for good. Mr. Irving Cummings gives a wonderfully delicate and finished study of the old actor, whilst Miss Florence LaBadie looks charming and acts with sincerity as his daughter. The picture is full of cleverly played scenes—notably that in the agent’s office with its procession of characteristic stage types—and the episode showing the dying actor’s looming ‘out of the shadows’ is admirably presented, both by artist and photographer. We are not shown what happens eventually to the errant wife, who disappears from the story at an early stage in the action, but, in the circumstances, this is almost a point of merit rather than a failing. Except that the conclusion is a trifle abrupt, there is nothing at all with which one can find fault in this really excellent production.”

“This two-part picture, pleasantly sentimental and poetic, is full of typically Thanhouser atmosphere and draws for us the trials and something of the triumphs of an actor’s life. The opening shows the young actor, with his wife and baby, on tour. The wife is growing tired of it all and soon has run away with the actor’s ‘friend.’ It took skillful handling of this incident to keep us still in sympathy with the weary woman and yet to protect the actor from losing in our respect on account of it. It is at once natural and pretty in its humanity. Twenty years pass; the baby is grown up. She and her father are poor. While she is out getting a job as an actress, she dreams of his old successes and we see him in the chief Shakespearean roles of Hamlet, etc. These scenes give Irving Cummings a fine chance to show his versatility. Well acted and beautifully photographed, it makes an excellent offering that is likable with no greatness or originality in it.”