The Girl Philippa (1916) User Reviews

It is difficult to suggest how the picture could be improved

[deickemeyer · 9 November 2014]

The Vitagraph Company has given the photoplay the benefit of an elaborate and intelligent production, and Anita Stewart and the other members of the cast keep the acting at a high level of merit. S. Rankin Drew, who adapted the story to the screen and directed its production, has surrounded the scenes with the correct atmosphere, and infused the players with the spirit and intent of the novelist. So well has "The Girl Philippa" been fashioned into a photoplay that it is difficult to suggest how the picture could be improved without altering the construction of the story. Taken at its present valuation, the Chambers work possesses an absorbing but not always skillfully constructed plot, variety of scene, speedy action, realistic glimpses of the great war, and a worthwhile love affair between a man and a maid who turns out to be a Princess. The faulty construction may be explained by pointing out that in the brief prologue the murder of the father and mother of the little Princess is shown and the abduction of the child. During the first four reels of the play proper, the action centers around the struggle between English, French and German secret agents for the possession of an important document. It is only after the paper has reached its proper destination and war has been declared that Philippa comes into her own, with the discovery by the girl that Wildresse, the proprietor of the wine shop, is a traitor, it becomes her game, and she proceeds to dominate a series of exciting situations that include scenes of battle and the burning of a town, during which it is captured by the Germans and retaken by the French. Other touches of good honest melodrama give it a regular fireworks finish, with the American artist and the little Princess in a close embrace. One of the best momenta in Anita Stewart's impersonation of Philippa is where she discovers the truth about her birth. Her assumption of her new dignity is charming. Particularly meritorious performances should be credited to S. Rankin Drew, Frank Morgan, and Anders Randolf. – The Moving Picture World, January 20, 1917