Bernard Lamont, Daredevil (1915) 🇺🇸
He risks his life to put “punches” in the picture.
That is the vocation of Bernard Lamont, once a newspaperman, but now a motion picture “daredevil” — for a suitable consideration. Lamont has but recently returned from California, where his favorite method of flirting with death was aviation. He did not state what particular stunts he performed with aeroplanes, but it may be reasonably assumed that he can “loop the loop,” fly upside down, and do all of the rest of the fancy capers aviators put in the air these days. At any rate, he’s here, not because he’s here, but because he would like to make a deal with some enterprising picture producer who wants to put a few “daredevil” punches in his pictures.
Mr. Lamont has been through a variety of adventurous experiences in his time. Noteworthy among them was his commission by the Hearst newspapers to visit the islands off the west coast of Mexico which are inhabited by tribes of bloodthirsty Indians who live only as long as their hungry enemies will permit. These Indians are said to be cannibals, but Lamont concluded that his style of beauty was not sufficiently attractive to arouse in them a desire to feast off his carcass, so he took a chance, together with a note book and pencil, and went down among them for information. He was not eaten, else this item would never have been printed, and now he’s looking for someone to put up the “stunt” that he will be afraid to do.
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The Sins of the Mothers
Vitagraph’s Five-Part Subject Produced from Prize-Winning Script Is a Fine Picture.
Reviewed by George Blaisdell
Cast:
Trixy Graham, the Tempted — Anita Stewart
Norris Graham, the Husband — Earle Williams
Mrs. Raymond, the Mother — Julia Swayne Gordon
Alice, the Temptress — Lucille Lee
Dovey, the Servant — Mary Maurice
Anatole De Voie, the Vampire — Paul Scardon
Ever since the announcement of the winners of the Evening Sun-Vitagraph scenario contest there has been pardonable interest in the trade at large to see the screened results of the wide-open competition. True it is that of the thousand-dollar winner among thirty-five hundred contenders for first honors much was expected. The showing of The Sins of the Mothers at the Vitagraph Theater in the week of December 27-January 2 would seem to demonstrate the success of the experiment from the viewpoint of the picture public. The story holds throughout its five reels. It is possible or probable that from some there will be a mild criticism to the effect that the production might have been sharpened somewhat by an elimination of one of the several avenues through which coursed the gambling mania of the young wife. Nevertheless, as said before, the picture holds; and holds through legitimate means — straight drama minus the spectacular or melodramatic. To be sure, there are a hotly contested horse race and a thrilling raid on a gambling house, a suicide and an accidental killing, but these are incidental seemingly, stones in the highway over which steadily drives the story of the woman with an irresistible appetite for gaming.
Miss Elaine Sterne, the authoress, has chosen for her theme a vice with the evils of which practically everybody has knowledge, either first or second hand. Which means, of course, her story is one in which the interest exists at the beginning — it is ready at hand. She has created a daughter of a suicide speculator and a bridge-playing mother, as girl and as wife unable to overcome the temptation to gamble. Aside from the tribulations flowing from this vice the home life of the young woman is ideal — and an indulgent husband is the big factor in it. Promises are made and broken, and forgiveness is sought and obtained. The contrition of the wife and the patience and leniency of the husband constitute one of the moving elements in the story.
Miss Stewart shows quality throughout her portrayal of the gambling young woman. She possesses unusual power in emotional situations — it is the power of the artist to transfer to other breasts the tumult that surges within her own. From the entrance of this very young player into the story as a girl leaving a convent to her death from a pistol-shot fired in a gambling house raid conducted by her own husband, her work is of uniform strength.
Mr. Williams has a role for which he is splendidly fitted. His playing is marked by fine discrimination; he obtains results by perfectly natural means — which is much more readily said than done. Mrs. Gordon’s interpretation of the widow who pursues her bridge-playing propensities to the point of owning a fashionable gambling house reveals the self-control which is commonly attributed to those who are most successful in games of chance. This long-time screen player gives us of her best.
Miss Lee in the part of the temptress — the woman whose code is “Why not take a chance? You’ll spend it anyway” — very successfully wins disapproval. It is an unpopular role, and she plays it as a temptress should. To Mary Maurice falls one of the big moments. The beloved veteran actress makes her part of the self-sacrificing servant stand out.
Paul Scardon, as the manager of Mrs. Raymond’s gambling house and later the owner, makes a distinct hit in a cast of hits. His is an artistic delineation of the suave Latin and the cold-blooded gambler. Ralph Ince is more than the producer. It is he who so skillfully portrays the speculator suicide at the opening of the story.
The denouement is tragic. The death of the wife is sufficiently distressing without the final symbolic bit where the death’s head claims the mother.
The Sins of the Mothers is a drama of power. Rare judgment has been displayed in the selection of players. The acting is of unusual quality. The staging and direction match. The costuming is notable.
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Bernard Lamont
Scene from The Sins of the Mothers (Vitagraph)
Scene from The Sins of the Mothers (Vitagraph)
Collection: Moving Picture World, January 1915