The Girl in the Arm-Chair

The Girl in the Arm-Chair (1912)

*** (out of 4)

A young man with a gambling problem soon finds himself in even more trouble when he can't cover a bet. There is a woman who has a thing for him and she has the money that he would need but will he pretend to love her to get it?

This Alice Guy film is certainly another winner for the director who has become a legend over the years because of being one of the few women working in the business during this era. If you're a fan of early films then you'll certainly stumble across Guy and this here is a good place to start. The film works quite nicely as a melo-drama and, unlike the work of D.W. Griffith, it doesn't go into the over-dramatic range. I'm all for Griffith's style and his way of telling a story but it's interesting to see how different Guy's approach is. The performances are good, the film is well-made and there's even a nice dream sequence.

A drama from Alice Guy in which a young man is saved from his gambling problems by the woman who loves him. Guy's output was often of a high standard, but this is a sloppily written, contrived piece of work with little regard for character consistency.

Mace Greenleaf comes home to discover that he is the guardian of wealthy heiress Blanche Cornwall. She loves him at first sight, but she is not his type, nor is he interested in her money. One evening, however, he loses heavily gambling and signs a note to repay $500, plus 10% interest in a week. When the week passes, the usurer shows up demanding his money. Greenleaf does not have it, so he takes it from his father's safe while, unnoticed, Miss Cornwall sits in a big chair in the room.

It's a sweet little movie from Alice Guy, using her all-purpose heroine. Miss Cornwall was a long-time actress. She entered the movies in 1911 for Miss Guy, and for the next three years, she played in dozens of shorts for Solax. She retired to work for the Woman's Christian Temperance Union until her death in 1918, aged 50.