Volume II: Filmography

 

THE DOCTOR'S CARRIAGE

 

September 9, 1910 (Friday)

Length: 1,000 feet

Character: Drama

Cast: Marie Eline (Marie, the little orphan)

Note: "This is the play that was written especially for the Thanhouser Kid," a publicity release stated.

 

SYNOPSIS, The Bioscope, December 22, 1910:

"Max, an old musician, finds it hard to support his two motherless daughters, one of whom is blind, and the professor takes great pride in his daughter's musical education. The little one sings and the blind girl plays upon the violin. But sickness and death overtake the professor, and the orphans find themselves penniless and homeless. They are compelled to sing in the streets, and thus eke out a precarious livelihood. While walking through a fashionable street one day Marie sees the sign of the famous doctor. She calls her blind sister's attention to it, but the girl has no hope that the doctor will see penniless patients. Marie returns in time to see the doctor alight from his carriage, but the servant refuses to allow the ragged little girl to follow him. Marie conceives the idea of hiding in the doctor's carriage, and when he sets out on his rounds he discovers the terrified little girl. She pleads with him not to be angry, and tells of her sister's affliction. The doctor goes with her to see Violet, and has the stricken girl taken to a hospital, where he operates successfully upon her eyes. Mr. Grey brings Violet to the attention of some charitable women, who see that she does not lack professional engagements. While returning from one of her recitals, Dr. Grey offers to drive her home, and proposes to Violet, and is accepted. Marie is awakened by the sound of a kiss, and is told that she is to have a big brother."

 

REVIEW by Walton, The Moving Picture News, September 24, 1910:

"A tale of deep, sterling, human interest. The whole plot is so simple, so refreshingly lucid and pure. We cannot criticize this film any more than a man could analyze mother love. There is a tenderness - and pathos - that is as a nimbus to the whole. The acting of the blind girl, natural, and exquisite, and of her little sister is sweetly innocent. We saw this film twice, on the day of release, in different theatres, and in each case large audiences were touched - and also highly amused by the little girl in the carriage. A sweeter, purer, human-interest tale has not been put on the curtain. The prayer scene deserves to be limned by a master hands that lesson to our children's children. Had we space we could tell the comments of men and women on this production. One thing may be said and that is, all saw and realized the pathos, the beauty and the triumph of the work. Had the film been acted in a theatre we feel certain the audience, with ourselves, with one acclaim would have declared these two orphan girls as manifestations, in the hour of need, of the highest and best emotions of the race!"

 

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, September 24, 1910:

"A pathetic story of how a blind girl was cured because her sister hid in a doctor's carriage and presented the case to him so graphically that he attended to it. Then after the cure he married the girl. That is about all there is to the story and yet it touches the sympathies because the little sister insists that if she is allowed to visit the doctor he will do something, even though they are poor and friendless. And because her trustfulness was rewarded one feels as though humanity need not yet be given up as hopeless. The really warm hearts in any community are numerous when occasion demands a response, as the eminent doctor did in this instance. Such films are helpful because they make nearly despairing men sometimes hopeful, and as long as hope lasts there is opportunity for achievement."

 

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, September 14, 1910:

"One of those precocious infants who accomplish wonders figures as the deus ex machina in this film. Her work is truly remarkable for a juvenile actress, for she has a great deal to do, even before she steps ex machina, which in this case is a carriage. The little girl first has to lead her blind sister about the streets to play the violin for stray pennies; next she induces an oculist to treat her sister's eyes. The sister recovers, of course, and becomes a famous musician. Finale: The ring service. Several of the incidents take place in the doctor's carriage, hence the title. The little girl performs her part with mature intelligence, doing a number of things that only grown-ups would think of. The heroine is a young woman of taste and dramatic sensibility. She does her part with customary grace. The doctor was a good hero."

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Copyright © 1995 Q. David Bowers. All Rights Reserved.