Volume II: Filmography

CUPID THE CONQUEROR

August 11, 1911 (Friday)

Length: 1,000 feet

Character: Drama

Cast: Marie Eline (Cupid), Marguerite Snow, Julia Taylor

ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, August 5, 1911:

"Cupid the Conqueror is one of the neatest phantasy pictures we have ever put forth on a market that fancies phantasies when they're well done. Phantasies in films are rare because they are really difficult to produce, calling for stage and photographic tricks that are not always sure of success. So the straight drama or comedy is much preferred by the picturemaker. Here, however, we give you a film that YOU prefer - an unusual story, with unusual effects, unusually presented, and really worth unusual effort to book."

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, August 12, 1911:

"A young artist, in love with a society girl, finally induces her to consent to pose for him, in a picture which he believes will be his masterpiece. And the confidence is expressed when he finds just the child he wants for Cupid, to be in the painting with his lady fair. The picture is a success, but the painter's courtship does not progress so favorably. He musters up courage enough to propose to the girl, and is utterly cast down when she refuses to give him a decisive answer, although she does not actually reject him. He waits, hoping to hear from her, but without result. Looking at the nearly completed painting, he wishes that he could invoke the power of Cupid to aid him, and dozes off. Cupid does come to him - in his dreams.

"But Cupid, like the artist, has a hard time of it. He finds that for once his arrows are not potent, and not only is he scorned, but he is harshly treated. Altogether, it is a sad and mightily ruffled little Cupid who calls to tell of the failure of his mission. But when Cupid is really determined, you cannot avoid him. And in this case Cupid was on the job. Falling as a gentle knight of love, he adopted the course methods of the up-to-date highwayman, and at the point of a revolver, compelled the maiden to stand and deliver her heart. Then he returned in triumph. The artist woke to find that it was all a dream. But sometimes dreams come true, and this one did, for the little girl who surrendered to the 'dream Cupid' gave her hand and fortune to the painter, who loved her."

REVIEW, The Billboard, August 12, 1911:

"The story told in this film is a rather light and inconsequential one, but it possesses some points which are pleasing and entertaining. The play is built around the Thanhouser Kid as Cupid seen in a dream to steal a woman's heart and take it to her lover. The fairy-like scenes in which Cupid appears have been selected with great care and are in all well worked up. Cupid plays a good part, being clever as well as cute, and seems to have a very thorough understanding of each scene."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, August 13, 1911:

"Delightfully airy is this photo-fantasy, in which little Prince Cupid captures another heart and gives it to the waiting lover. The dream and the reality are closely interwoven, and the dream seems almost a part of the actuality of the story until the awakening of the lover the reappearance of the little newsboy in his tattered rags. This wooer is an artist who falls in love while painting the portrait of a society girl. He meets a little newsy and brings him home to pose as Cupid in the painting. He at last proposes to the girl, but she writes him that if she does not appear for a sitting in the next day he may realize that his love is in vain. He waits and waits, at last falling asleep. In his dreams the little newsy in his Cupid costume whispers advice into his receptive ear and makes off to the lady's home. He hits her with one of his arrows, but the dart glances from her and angrily she takes the tiny chap and casts him from her boudoir, shutting the window behind him. In sorrow he trudges back to the man.

"Then an inspiration comes, and as speedily he carries it into effect by donning a mask and taking a revolver and burglar's lantern and returning to the maiden's domain, and in the darkness he holds her up and takes from her her precious heart, which he hastens to give to the surprised lover. Cupid disappears, and as the artist rubs his eyes he sees in the place of the cherub-like youngster the dirty little street Arab, who announces the coming of the lady. He arise to find his dream come true, and in dazed gratitude he stretches forth his arms to the little fellow, who had apparently been his good genie. The double played by the little Thanhouser child could not have been more subtle, happy in its roguish glee and sorrowful in its knowledge of the world's poverty. The other principal roles are equally well handled, while the production is excellently put on."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, August 26, 1911:

"An artist dreams that the girl who rejected him was forced to deliver her heart to Cupid at the muzzle of a revolver. This all happened after Cupid tried to force her into loving the artist in the usual way. And the dream came true, too, for even though the girl had not positively declined the artist's love, she had been cold and indifferent, but like her surrender to the dream Cupid she finally surrendered to the real Cupid with her hand to the artist. The novelty of presenting Cupid with firearms makes this an entertaining picture."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, August 16, 1911:

"This makes a delightful little fantasy, and one wishes it had not been given in the form of a dream, but allowed to stand by itself. An artist falls in love with a society woman who is posing for him. When she does not appear promptly the day after the proposal he falls asleep, and dreams that Cupid, in the form of the little newsboy who is posing with the girl, goes to her home and, dressed as a burglar, robs her of her heart and brings it back to him. He awakens to find her in the room."

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