The Warrens of Virginia (1915)
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Blanche Sweet | James Neill | Page Peters | Mabel Van Buren | House Peters | Cecil B. DeMille (Director | Producer | Editor)
Rest of cast:
Dick La Reno | Sydney Deane | Raymond Hatton | Milton Brown | Richard L’Estrange | Lucien Littlefield | Gerald Ward | Mildred Harris | Mrs. Lewis McCord | Marjorie Daw | DeWitt Jennings | Alvin Wyckoff (Cinematographer) | William C. de Mille (Play) | David Belasco (Presenter) | Jesse L. Lasky (Presenter)
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“The Warrens of Virginia”
A filmed version of the well-known Belasco play, which had such a record of success.
Reviewed by W. Stephen Bush.
The screen has seen the great American war drama “acted o’er and o’er again,” and it may be that audiences are somewhat cloyed with civil war plays. The Warrens of Virginia has become a classic on the speaking stage. Just what screen values are to be found in the old play may be an open question. Of course in the matter of spectacular effects the screen is a far better medium than the stage. In the filmed version of the Lasky Company quite a good deal has been made of the spectacular possibilities. One or two scenes are especially worthy of note, such for example as the ambushing of the Confederate supply train and the destruction of the powder wagons. There was, throughout, much evidence of a most laudable desire to do things on a lavish scale. I noticed, too, that attention to detail, without which a real feature is impossible.
As to the acting, the work of James Neill as General Warren, may be characterized as thoroughly capable and conscientious and effective; House Peters as Ned Burton had a most trying part which tested his art to the straining point; Dick La Reno made a most acceptable “General Griffin.” Blanche Sweet has a charming personality, which has won her innumerable friends among patrons of the screen, but in the part of Agatha Warren she is scarcely at her best. In the great scenes which precede the discovery of the forged dispatch there was a lack of fire and spirit. In the scenes where sweet girlishness was needed Miss Sweet was at her best. She fitted well into the refined but simple atmosphere of an old-fashioned Southern home. All the outdoor scenes in the play were extremely well chosen. Here and there I noticed a flash of the skill which visualizes quickly and powerfully, but evidences of this skill were less frequent than in other Lasky productions. The part of Mrs. Warren was in the filmed adaptation of the play a minor and not a very grateful one, but it might have improved under better treatment. Touches of humor occurred occasionally and often they were good, but once or twice they seemed labored.
Taken as a whole, the production will go well on most programs.
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Scene from The Warrens of Virginia (Lasky)
Collection: Moving Picture World, February 1915
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see also The Warrens of Virginia (1924)