A Vitagraph Romance - 1912

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Kitty
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A Vitagraph Romance - 1912

Post by Kitty »

A Vitagraph Romance – 1912

This interesting little short is unique, although it starts out as a film we have all seen before. The daughter of a banker (Clara Kimball Young) goes out reading a book near the beach, and there she meets a young author (James Morrison). They fall in love, and there is a cute scene of them walking along the beach, both of them running to avoid the water hitting their shoes as it laps up on the shore.
Soon they are sure that they must get married. The daughter’s father (Edward Kimball, who just happens to be Clara's real father!) is unhappy about the engagement, as he says that she is way too young to get married. (She looks just the right age to me, but what do I know?) He sends her off to boarding school, where she continues to secretly meet with her boyfriend. One moonlit night, they decide to have the daughter sneak out. She goes out the window and down a ladder, much to the disdain of the school’s watch dog. After feeding the dog chocolate, which definitely gave him a tummy ache, they hurry out to get married.
The father reads their marriage notice in the newspaper, and writes a letter to her pretty much saying he’s cutting her off since she went against his wishes. Soon the couple are in the situation of no money, as many young couples have experienced before. As the husband despairs, the wife stays in good spirits and persuades him to take a walk.
This is where I feel that this picture becomes unique. They come upon a man operating a moving picture camera with many people around. Apparently, the young author knows the cameraman, and they soon learn he is working for the Vitagraph Co.. Their problem of money is solved, as they both get a job in the motion picture business! Strolling past a motion picture house, the father sees that his little girl is starring in a picture that is playing there. He goes to Vitagraph, and gets the grand tour of the place. When he finally sees is daughter, she is filming a dramatic scene. When she sees him, she breaks character, for she is overjoyed to see her father! There is a happy reunion.
According to a synopsis in Moving Picture World, there was a little more to the end scene. The father immediately forgives his daughter and her husband. He congratulates the husband for his apparent success, and offers him a job to work for him.
The print I saw was a well-restored print from the EYE. The Dutch intertitles says that the father is a banker, but the synopsis in Moving Picture World says that he is a senator. The synopsis also names names, (the daughters name is Caroline Carter, and her eventual husband is Charles McKay). The synopsis also states that before they were having money problems, the husband was a scenario writer for photoplays. He wasn’t successful, which resulted in them becoming broke.
Another contemporary review says that during the scene where the father is touring Vitagraph, it is a detailed view of the real Vitagraph plant.
This is a very interesting short! As well as being a nice drama, and well acted, too, it is a very apparent advertisement for Vitagraph Co.. There’s no doubt in my mind that it fueled serious fantasies of young people’s ideas to get into the movies. If they didn’t think they could ‘fall’ into the movies before, they sure did now!!
Rating: 10/10
You trying to tell me you didn't hear that shriek? That was something trying to get out of its premature grave, and I don't want to be here when it does. - Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

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donnie
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Re: A Vitagraph Romance - 1912

Post by donnie »

Good review! Sounds interesting--just taking a peek, it looks like an excellent quality print, but I wish there was a score and English titles.

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Kitty
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Re: A Vitagraph Romance - 1912

Post by Kitty »

donnie wrote:
Thu Apr 06, 2017 8:12 pm
Good review! Sounds interesting--just taking a peek, it looks like an excellent quality print, but I wish there was a score and English titles.
Me, too, but I'm so glad we have it in the form we do---and google translate is a godsend.
You trying to tell me you didn't hear that shriek? That was something trying to get out of its premature grave, and I don't want to be here when it does. - Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

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