The Song of Solomon (1914)
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Edward Boulden | William Bechtel | Ashley Miller (Director)
Rest of cast:
Sally Crute | Elizabeth Miller | Edward O’Connor | Harry B. Eytinge | Harry Linson | Richard Neill
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“The Song of Solomon.”
Two-part Edison Comedy.
Reviewed by Louis Reeves Harrison.
Solomon, a composer… Edward Boulden.
Mr. Best, a music publisher… William Bechtel.
Trixie, a star… Sally Crute.
Her maid… Elizabeth Miller.
Gallegher, an actor… Edward O’Connor.
The pawnbroker… Harry Eytinge.
The doorkeeper… Harry Linson.
A composer… Richard Neill.
A decidedly interesting comedy-drama, The Song of Solomon, corresponds very closely to Brunetiere’s theory on what are absolutely necessary characteristics of any drama. The brilliant French critic declared in a series of lectures delivered at the Odean Theater, Paris, that an essential principle to be regarded by all playwrights is found in a clash of contending desires, the assertion of one human will against others offering strenuous opposition. “If obstacles against which the hero contends are insurmountable, then there is tragedy, and the end of the hero is likely to be death. Change the obstacle so as to equalize chances in the same conditions of struggle, those of human will in opposition, and we have comedy.”
The Song of Solomon tells the story of a composer who stakes practically all that he has, his position in a publishing house, his individual resources and all that he can beg, borrow or steal, on the success of a song he has created, and his struggles, while containing many elements of comedy, particularly because of Edward Boulden’s admirable impersonation, are so pathetic at times that the piece might well be called a tragi-comedy so far as its effect is concerned.
A little more than is necessary is made of Solomon’s agony of mind while in the throes of composition, but any one of keen musical sensibilities will appreciate his misery while trying to compose in an office devoted mostly to the sale of songs, such as are peppered in with the salt of moving picture offices near Times Square. That he succeeds in spite of a shrieking soloist on one side and a howling trio on the other gives a preliminary view of his unquenchable ardor and magnificent determination. There qualities support him after he is discharged, when he begins a plucky campaign to interest the reigning Broadway star, “Trixie,” charmingly impersonated by Sally Crute.
The desperate measures taken by Solomon to get his song before the popular favorite of the day constitute a series of amusing adventures, with an undertone of pathos, and culminate in his obtaining an apartment next to the expensive one she occupies in spite of his extreme poverty and a thousand intervening difficulties. He is not permitted to ride over these difficulties in the purely arbitrary manner which makes scenario writing so easy for amateurs and the completed product so wearisome for those who go to the picture shows.
There is no violation of plausibility in the action. Solomon has to fight every inch of his way from the conventional starting point clean through to the end, and that is what makes his uphill struggle interesting. Mr. Miller is to be congratulated for his fidelity to the legitimate requirements of his story. He does not ask us to believe the unbelievable. His story is one true in its motive and. better still, is so logical in its handling that it carries the conviction of actual truth, a life portrayal.
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Scene from The Song of Solomon (Edison).
Collection: Moving Picture World, April 1914