Volume II: Filmography

THE PASSING

January 2, 1912 (Tuesday)

Length: 1 reel (900 feet)

Character: Drama

Director: George O. Nichols

Cast: Marie Eline

ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, December 30, 1911:

"One of those easy to understand issues that hold deep interest for the poor among your patrons, and especially draw the better classes - the people who think - to the picture show. No work of a psychological order will cause more thought on the part of intelligent people than the simple-story picture. As to the natural query the story suggests: can such things be? We leave that to you. There will be different opinions on this; let your own be the one that appeals most to your reason."

ARTICLE by Gordon Trent, The Morning Telegraph, December 24, 1911:

"That the good and pure in motion pictures finds no opposition on the part of the churches, but rather hearty approval, is evidenced in expressions from Fathers Greene and Halpin of St. Gabriel's Church, New Rochelle. Recently they saw a print of Thanhouser's The Passing and were highly pleased with the theme. 'It is good to know,' said Father Greene, 'that when we die we are united to our dear ones who have gone before, and in its conveyance of this The Passing appeals to me greatly.' The story, a remarkable one and quite unusual for the films tells of a mother's love for her departed son and how that love kept the child constantly with her. As the years went on the spirit child grew up, or so it seemed to the mother who grew old with him. She watched his progress as a youth, until, finally, he attained manhood - though no other eyes than hers saw the presence of whom she spoke. And, even in the end, when she crossed the great divide, he was there to show her to the throne. The story aside from its interest as a psychological study, is a strong lesson in mother love. An indifferent husband - of the type common in big cities where club life is often detrimental to home life - is well portrayed."

ARTICLE, The Moving Picture News, February 10, 1912. Reprint of a letter received by J.H. King, manager of the Crown Theatre, Mobile, Alabama, from Frank Mandrell, of the Evangelists' Home Mission Field, Barker Cotton Mills, Pritchard, Alabama:

"The Passing, an animated picture film by the Thanhouser Film Company, recently shown at this city at the Crown Theatre, is worthy of more than passing notice, and to the impressive and spiritual natures bespeaks a pleasant and powerful application of the law of supply and demand in its psychic portrayal of spiritual truths in this advancing day of psychology and metaphysics. In the opening chapters of Camille, Flammarion's great work, Unknown, dealing respectively on 'credulity' and 'incredulity,' there is portrayed more nearly perhaps than in any other work, the general mental attitude toward those facts that seem miraculous or phenomenal when not understood. The writer viewed with much pleasure and gratitude the above film entitled The Passing, and realized that the heavenly forces are using every avenue that can be used in order that the teachings of our beloved Christ Jesus may be understood and personally enjoyed.... The writer, for the sake of many interested in the active truth, asks the management to please run the film again for the sake of the great moral uplift and spiritual joy afforded to those who suffer through lack of vision and knowledge...."

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, December 30, 1911:

"The husband had a loving wife and child of whom he was fond. But he saw very little of them, social engagements taking up most of his time, while the two were left to live their lives together. Then crushing sorrow came to the wife's life. Her son sickened and died, as she sat at his bedside, hopelessly trying to aid him. The husband was not there at the time, having spent the evening with some friends outside, only returning with them at a late hour. The wife, alone in the world, though not a widow, passed a life of misery. The husband easily recovered from his grief, which was short-lived, they were further apart than ever. Then happiness re-entered the wife's life. The vision of her son appeared to her. She shrank from the mourning she wore, and to please him she arrayed herself in garments like those she wore when he was alive. And the happy hours of her life were those passed with him.

"As the years passed, the child from the spirit world grew up, or so it seemed to her, and the mother grew old with him. She watched him progress as a child, until finally he became a young man, but no one else ever saw him. And the woman jealously guarded her secret. When the time came for her to pass to the other world, her husband was at her side, but not in her thoughts. She stretched out her arms, but they were not for him. Her dying remarks were addressed to her child in the other world, and she thankfully welcomed the chance to join him there, where they could never be parted. The husband grieved when his wife died, but he never dreamed for one moment that they had been separated for many years, and that her life had been passed, not with him, but in the spirit land."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, January 7, 1912:

"Weird in its theme and thoroughly original, this is a photo-drama of striking interest. Double printing of creditable effect, exceedingly fine acting, and plausible presentation of the story results in one of the week's noteworthy offerings. Neglected by her husband a wife finds her sole comfort in her child. This infant is taken ill and suddenly dies. During later years the mother has visions of the return of her child, not as he was at the time of death, but as he would appear had he lived. In the closing the mother passes to her final rest, believing to the end that she is walking on with her grown up boy holding her hand and guiding the way. It is a trifle uncanny in spots but not offensively so. One slight seeming error was noted in the first part of the story. The husband is seen at his club. Then a subtitle states, 'Some weeks later,' and again we revert to the club after the illness of the child is shown, and the husband is with the same group of friends and evidently in the same position, as if it were all one scene chopped in two. Aside from this slight error, if it may be called such, the film is well nigh faultless, and we gladly hail it as a prize winner."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, January 13, 1912:

"A picture that in its scenes alone is very pleasing, but that, in its deeper meaning, makes a different and far stronger appeal. It shows a mother of a single child, a son. Her husband is frivolous and doesn't care for her. The son dies. The woman is very much alone after that; but she sees the spirit of her child and when she is happy can even play with him. As the child would have grown, so she sees this spirit who is her companion in happy hours growing up. There is an unusual, but beautifully spiritual idea behind this. It's a very valuable picture. It's a contribution to the cause of moving pictures. The mechanical work in the picture is very skillfully done."

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