Volume I: Narrative History

Chapter 9: 1916 Melodrama in Florida

The Net, released as a five-reel Mutual Masterpicture, DeLuxe Edition on April 1, 1916, marked the first appearance for Thanhouser of Marion Swayne, who was well known as a stage actress and as a screen actress for Gaumont. Variety reviewed the picture:

Very Laura Jean Libbeyish Note is this five reel Mutual Masterpicture which was produced by Thanhouser. If it wasn't for our very dear friend "coincidence" there would be very little story to the picture. However, the feature is one that will appeal to a certain class who are fond of the sob sister type of fiction.

The action of the tale takes place on the sands of Florida, which in this particular case seems to be a mecca for criminals who wish to escape punishment for their misdeeds. The fisherman (Bert Delaney) is the busy little hero of the tale, who is strong on saving girls either from the ocean or the quicksands. He saves a girl in each of the first two reels, becomes engaged to both of them and finally marries one. The first girl he rescues from a watery grave proves to be an absconding cashier of a New York firm who eloped with the payroll. The steamer on which she is traveling is wrecked and she is the sole survivor. She becomes engaged to the fisher lad, but when a detective tracks her down she makes him a proposition to become his mistress and share the loot with him, and he falls for it.

Then the boy becomes engaged to the girl that he saves from the quicksands. She and her father are in Florida also to escape the law. The father has been unjustly accused of a crime. The fisher lad is the heir to a large estate, and the detective learns the facts from one of the papers in which an advertisement appears. He and his mistress then plan to win back the affections of the boy so as to obtain the fortune that is coming to him. Their plan works out successfully until the mysterious stranger appears on the scene. He proves to be the former employer of the girl and she, fearing detection, rushes into the night to be lost in the sands. Then the boy and girl are happily married. - Fred.

Oh! Oh! Oh! Henery! was released in two reels on April 4th. The comedy featured Jay C. Yorke and Frances Keyes. April 8th saw the initial screening of the five-reel Mutual Masterpicture, Deluxe Edition, The Traffic Cop. The New Rochelle Pioneer Note printed an article which was probably straight from the studio's publicity department:

Exceptional merit marks The Traffic Cop, which has been produced by the Thanhouser studios. It is a novel five-act drama with Gladys Hulette and Howard Mitchell in the leading roles. This is a photoplay unique in filmdom and is sure to meet with unprecedented popularity wherever it is shown. It does not try to solve any deep psychological sex problem, but is a straightaway narrative of the love of a charming, vivacious girl and a fearless police officer.

Variety reviewed the picture:

This five-part Mutual Masterpicture produced by the Thanhouser Company is at once amusing and interesting. It has as its hero a figure that is familiar to all New Yorkers. He is Casey, a copper attached to the traffic squad of the city. The picture gives a rather faithful reproduction of the work of a policeman attached to this particular branch of the police system of the metropolis. The use of the department for this feature was sanctioned by the Police Commissioner, and two of the superior officers of the squad were loaned to the director to see the technical detail was held to.

There is a rather romantic story on which the excuse for the introduction of the work of the police is hinged. It is more or less of the general style of Boy's Companion fiction. There is, however, a comedy relief that proves the saving grace. Casey (Howard M. Mitchell) saves a banker's ward in a runaway in the Park. After a series of adventures he marries her. Of course the 'cop' is put to all sorts of tests of courage before he accomplishes this, but in the end he put the nippers on the girl's uncle who has stolen her fortune, cleared the name of his brother who was charged with robbing the bank, and won the praise of his superior officers. The Traffic Cop is not a great feature, but is an interesting one and will entertain, especially in greater New York. - Fred.

The Romance of the Hollow Tree, a two-reel release of April 11th, was found to have insufficient dramatic strength and some inconsistencies by The Moving Picture World. Another two-reeler, The Girl From Chicago, with Gladys Hulette in the title role, was first screened on April 18th.

Then came a film mentioned earlier in the present text in connection with its production in Florida, Master Shakespeare, Strolling Player, a five-reel Mutual Masterpicture, DeLuxe Edition released on April 20th. The Moving Picture World commented: "A five-part production from the Thanhouser studios which is based on the Shakespeare-Bacon controversy. In the play, which features Florence LaBadie and Robert Vaughn, two lovers quarrel over the claim of the two writers to the authorship of the Shakespeare plays. Some excellent types have been used, especially in the portion of the picture which takes us back to the time of Shakespeare. It is not clear, however, whether the production as presented is intended as a burlesque on the controversy or not. Some of the earlier portions of the picture might have been omitted. The battle scenes in Mexico have the effect of padding." Variety found the plot to be unique but improbable and the action to be "rather confusing to say the least."

Wid's Film and Film Folk roasted the picture in a review which was one of the most condemning ever accorded by any publication to a multiple-reel Thanhouser film:

With serious-minded folk this will set the movies back quite a bit. With those who are light minded, it will register as a fearful joke. The only excuse I can figure for perpetrating this sort of a mess is that someone thought it would be a great idea to have something timely, so, with Shakespeare celebrations all about and the American troops fighting in Mexico, the brilliant idea has been conceived of presenting a story which would have a sufficient amount of each to allow for advertising along such lines.

The mere thought of combining the Mexican situation and the Shakespeare tercentenary is, of course, ridiculous and when an audience goes into a theatre where they have seen an offering billed: Master Shakespeare, Strolling Player, they will naturally expect something which has serious reference to Shakespeare. When they find the first two or three reels devoted to a very bad bunch of wild-eyed melodrama having to do with some of our troops fighting with Mexicans on the border, they will think seriously of speaking harshly to the manager. Then when the story twists sharply to the dream which the heroine has in which she is attacked by Sir Francis Bacon and rescued by her sweetheart and William Shakespeare, who becomes one of her pals, the serious minded in the audience are going to feel like throwing things at the screen.

The further thought of this wild idea is to have Sir Bacon fight a duel which, in the dream, is supposed to have reference to the Shakespeare-Bacon controversy and while, personally, this controversy has never worried me in the least, I am quite sure that this will not be appreciated through the country, because the whole has not been offered as a burlesque like Charlie Chaplin's burlesque on Carmen - although it approaches that sort of burlesque frequently - but is presented as a dream which the sweetheart of the Mexican hero has.

In the Mexican part of the story we find five Mexicans constituting the Mexican army up until the final battle scene, and the audience will certainly begin to ask if this is the limit of their strength. There is nothing very convincing or realistic about any of this part of the story. They have one very new bit introduced here in that the hero is allowed to be the messenger who goes through the enemy's lines to bring help. This has never been done before in the films. In the Shakespeare-Bacon part of the story, the settings are all stagey and unimpressive, and Queen Elizabeth's court suffers from the limitations of a small studio.

If this is billed as a comedy-burlesque on timely subjects, it may get by. But I am quite sure that any audience which goes into a theatre, knowing nothing of the offering except the name, is going to be very much peeved before it is all finished, because the thing is so absolutely ridiculous and, still, not sufficiently burlesqued to be truly funny. Personally, I found it quite painful.

The Man's Sin, released as a Than-O-Play on April 20th, showcased the talents of Grace DeCarlton, who was rapidly becoming one of the studio's leading ingenue players. A Man of Honor, a two-reeler issued on April 25th, included Madeline and Marion Fairbanks, the Thanhouser Twins, in the cast. Then on April 29th came The Carriage of Death, a three-reel drama written by Clinton H. Stagg, who, in a twist of fate, four days later met an untimely end in a "carriage of death" - in an automobile accident.

One-reel Falstaff films released in April included Ruining Randall's Reputation, The Professor's Peculiar Precautions, Sapville's Stalwart Son, The Overworked Oversea Overseer, The Sailor's Smiling Spirit, Simple Simon's Schooling, Dad's Darling Daughters, and Willing Wendy to Willie. By this time the release days of Falstaff films had been changed to Monday and Saturday. The few reviews that appeared in print were mostly favorable. During this period only the five-reel Mutual Masterpictures, DeLuxe Edition received widespread reviews. Thanhouser films of lesser length were ignored by the majority of film critics.