This was the first starring role of Colleen Moore; the only time Hoosier dialect poet, James Whitcomb Riley ever appeared in a movie; and the last feature produced by Selig Polyscope. It was rotting on film cans, the way so much of our silent heritage is, until Eric Grayson badgered the Library of Congress into letting him have the materials, set up a Kickstarter funding, and roped in people like Bruce Lawton, Ben Model and other silent film nuts, into helping him blend remnants of five prints into something that is a close approximation of the original film. Bravo!
Mae Gaston keels over and dies right before the eyes of her daughter, who is sent to an orphanage. There, she grows up to be Colleen Moore, who likes to tell the other orphans witch stories about what happens to bad children. She is sent to live with her uncle and aunt, who beat her, but is succored by Tom Santschi, and by Lafe McKee and Eugenie Besserer, who have about a dozen other children.
The movie is bookended by Riley himself, telling the children the story. It's filled out with the images of the witches and gobble-uns, actors in masks and costumes, who are inserted witchily into the film. To the modern eye, these are primitive and obvious effects.In 1918, they were incredibly difficult and startling.
Director Colin Campbell tells the story in a straightforward, slightly stodgy fashion. Miss Moore, although almost unrecognizable without her signature hair-do of the 1920s, is very good. Although the movie is more interesting for its connections than its actual execution, its good humor makes it very watchable, even today.
Mae Gaston keels over and dies right before the eyes of her daughter, who is sent to an orphanage. There, she grows up to be Colleen Moore, who likes to tell the other orphans witch stories about what happens to bad children. She is sent to live with her uncle and aunt, who beat her, but is succored by Tom Santschi, and by Lafe McKee and Eugenie Besserer, who have about a dozen other children.
The movie is bookended by Riley himself, telling the children the story. It's filled out with the images of the witches and gobble-uns, actors in masks and costumes, who are inserted witchily into the film. To the modern eye, these are primitive and obvious effects.In 1918, they were incredibly difficult and startling.
Director Colin Campbell tells the story in a straightforward, slightly stodgy fashion. Miss Moore, although almost unrecognizable without her signature hair-do of the 1920s, is very good. Although the movie is more interesting for its connections than its actual execution, its good humor makes it very watchable, even today.