It should be pointed out that this print is shy of the original running time by a little over half-a-reel. The 35mm print from which this print derives was beginning to deteriorate fast, and no negative could be made of certain sections. Fortunately these do not upset the continuity to any marked degree, and the addition of one or two new irises and dissolves helps to cover what would otherwise be jump cuts. For the record, here is a listing of the missing footage: some scenes at the very beginning, establishing the King and Queen as being beloved by the people, but plotted against by secret factions; a sequence In which Montague Love finds Alice Brady a prisoner in her own dungeons, promises to affect her release, and then does nothing; and also a sequence when three rather effete noblemen propose marriage to her in the throne-room. The first two of these were in a state of (filmic) decay, and thus only the third - a type somewhat resembling Baron Sadoja in The Merry Widow - remains.

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C H A R L E S  R A Y

Although not as tightly-knit as 1912's The Musketeers of Pig Alley, and certainly lacking both the fine photographic compositions and well developed characterisations of that earlier film, The Gangsters and the Girl is nevertheless a fast-moving and actionful little thriller. Made in less than ten days, the film has some remarkable technical finesse, including a fine split-screen effect, and a rapid change of set and locale. Its plot, of the detective who joins the gang to round them up, later became standard fare in countless B thrillers and westerns -- many of them written by Betty Burbrdige, who has the feminine lead. (Miss Burbridge was especially active at Republic in the 30's, turning out one 3 Mesquiteer and Gene Autry script after another. In the 40's, changing the names of the characters, she sold many of the same stories over again to a presumably unaware Monogram!). Charles Ray seems rather too young and slight to be convincing as the detective hero; more convincing is Tom Ince himself, who has a bit as one of the detectives in an earlier portion of the film.

(INTERMISSION)

* Talking about Pickford, even indirectly, one should perhaps re-stress that the Pickford films are those of 1916-1921. It is most unfortunate that, because it is the only film readily accessible, Little Lord Fauntleroy (almost certainly her weakest film) is regarded as being typical of them all. Its slow pacing and sugary sentiment are pleasingly absent from the best of the Pickfords, which had sentiment aplenty, but mixed with plenty of pepper and good gutsy stories. There was nothing soft or sloppy about the early Pickfords, which compare with the later ones just as the great pre-1920 Fairbanks frolics compare with his later turgid costumers. And with directors like Maurice Tourneur at the helm, and Charles Rosher doing practically all the camerawork, they were often fine films as well as being good Pickford vehicles. And Mary herself, no longer a girl, not quite a woman, never looked lovelier than in those years.

Our Next Program - THURSDAY APRIL 24th, 7.30., room 8-B

COMEDY SHOW --

BUSTER KEATON - THE HAUNTED HOUSE
    HAROLD LLOYD - NEVER WEAKEN
      CHARLES CHAPLIN - CITY LIGHTS (excerpts)
         WILL ROGERS - DON'T PARK THERE
            CHARLIE CHASE - THE RAT'S KNUCKLES
               LAUREL & HARDY - TIT FOR TAT
                  EDGAR KENNEDY - A PAIR OF TIGHTS (a real re-rediscovery!)
                     LUPINO LANE - MONTIE OF THE MOUNTED
                        BERT WILLIAMS - A NATURAL BORN GAMBLER
                           MACK SENNETT - a composite reel of great sequences
                              BEN TURPIN in a comedy yet to be selected, and
                                 SO YOU WANT A MODEL RAILROAD - possibly the best of
                                  Richard Bare's much under-rated series of the mid-forties