A Rebellious Blossom
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A widow threatens her rebellious daughter that she will remarry if the girl does not behave at school.A widow threatens her rebellious daughter that she will remarry if the girl does not behave at school.A widow threatens her rebellious daughter that she will remarry if the girl does not behave at school.
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The comedy shows unnecessary weaknesses
She was a rebellious blossom, a schoolgirl, and a charmingly prankish young lady. She didn't like the idea of her mother's marrying again. The player who takes the widow's part also deserves praise. .Mr. Johnson is the suitor, and fills the part with distinction. In the picture there are four or five bits of true comedy that fairly scintillate; but as a whole the comedy shows unnecessary weaknesses as though it were hastily constructed. The first scene is in the heroine's room at a boarding school. There is going to be a shindig, tea and cookies, and the other girls in wrappers are sneaking in. They get carrying on and one girl laughs so loud that the head mistress knocks. They can't hide fast enough and are caught. This schoolma'am isn't very well drawn. She writes to the heroine's mother: "Unless your daughter will conform to our regulation she will have to be suspended from the school." It isn't a typical letter and should have been shown merely as a typical ending of the letter, if some way could have been devised to make the showing only of the ending of a letter natural. It was not necessary for us to see the letter being written. We would have known who sent it to the mother. The next scene shows an elderly lady and gentleman seated talking together. They are the girl's mother and her suitor, but at first this isn't known. We naturally supposed that the lady was the girl's mother and the man her father, for nothing had warned us that the mother was a widow. In a regular play, the handbill would have supplied the information. It is, in fact, not a bad idea to introduce the chief characters in a photoplay by means of a bow before the curtain. It uses film, but in this case, if we had already seen ''Mrs. X, a widow," it would have saved confusion. The mother receives the schoolma'am's letter and at the suggestion of her elderly suitor, writes to the girl that if she doesn't behave, she'll get married. The scene that follows is one of the picture's gems. The girl and her roommate are reading dime novels and eating candy. It's very original and must be seen to be enjoyed. The girl gets the letter. The scenario's first weakness occurs here. The situation is overdrawn and Miss Lawrence is not at her best in picturing the result of this letter. It ends by her packing up and going home, which is not only unnecessary, but shuts out delightful possibilities, that in this case could have been pictured perfectly. No doubt many a schoolgirl has wanted to pack up and go home, but very, very few have done it. The schoolma'am would have enjoyed reading that letter. If she had found the girl in the sulks and made her show it, or if she had picked it up and read it in the girl's presence, there would have been a thoroughly mad girl to picture and it might have been worthwhile. The difficulty could have been solved by a convenient summer vacation. The scenario's great shortcoming occurs in the next scene. Before this, the Rebellious Blossom had been the heroine; from now on, it is the mother who is leading lady. Though the girl has still a very important part to play, the chief interest lies in the mother's love match. The girl's reconciliation with it is even shown, as it were, off the picture; we don't see it, though it is suggested, vicariously, by the suitor's nephew. Because of this, the talented player, not having any carefully worked out business that pictured a clear-cut character to carry through, seemed, now and again, to step back into a very well-marked personality with which she is familiar, the "Hoyden." And, even allowing that the picture is divided at this point, the remaining scenes, taken by themselves, are not perfectly knit together. Three or four scenes are shown as in the grounds about the mother's house, but the eye has no way of being sure of it. The time we spend wondering where those scenes are and how or why the characters got there is a loss to the impression and it makes the picture less concrete. When the first scene of this part opens, we see the widow and the suitor talking together, making love. The daughter's approach is announced. The maid must have been in the woman's confidence. This is not typical and wasn't necessary. If we had caught a glimpse of the girl through one window as she got out of a carriage, the suitor's hurried exit through the back window wouldn't have been any less amusing. When the daughter enters, the mother suddenly discovers that the suitor's hat (he must have been a professor) was there on the table, as big as life. Her rendering of this discovery fairly sparkles. Her first move is to get the girl, who hasn't noticed it, out of the room; her next would probably have been to glance out of the window by which the professor left; he might have been just under it. She would have seen him in the bushes and that would have connected that spot with the house. By a happy chance, the professor's nephew comes to visit him and to fool the girl, the mother and professor agree to have him pretend to court her. He does it too thoroughly. Of course, the intention was to add to the fun by making the professor jealous; which would also furnish a good climax. But the professor would have had far more reason to be jealous if he'd had less cause. In the end, this nephew consoles the girl. And this is one of the best, it surely is one of the brightest comedies of the week. - The Moving Picture World, September 9, 1911
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- deickemeyer
- Apr 5, 2016
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