The types in the photodrama are admirably chosen, and the characterization made as clear as possible within the limitations of a two-reel presentation that covers the tremendous action of a great two-volume novel and is compelled to devote a great deal of space to explanatory sub-titles. "Count Fosco," "Laura" and "Walter Hartwright" are all impersonated very close to the author's ideals, and are what he would have liked to have seen if he had been able to witness his entertaining story exhibited in picture form. Wilkie Collins, like all men of fine selective taste, believed strongly in characterization and expressed himself on this subject so ably that his words are worth quoting for the sake of those who are really interested in moving pictures and aspire to elevate them to a rank with the fine arts. Beginning With a statement that he has always held the old-fashioned opinion that the primary object of a work of fiction was to tell a good story, he modifies it to the extent of saying that the first condition to be observed is that of character delineation. He says: "The first effect produced by any narrative of events is essentially dependent, not on the events themselves, but on the human interest which is directly connected with them. It may be possible in novel writing," and this is true of photodrama production, "to present characters successfully without telling a story; but it is not possible to tell a story successfully without presenting the characters; their existence as recognizable realities being the sole condition on which the story can be told." If that clear statement could be cut out and pasted up in every studio in America it might have an effect that critics have been aiming at for the past two or three years. If it had that effect, the photoplays would gradually rise in character and value to a point now occupied by the few that have been written and set forth by men who are thoroughly conversant with their respective branches of the business. The general average might be raised to the quality of our few rare masterpieces. I must compliment the director of the Gem production upon the care and taste shown in much of the interior furnishing and certain important exteriors, such as the church scene, as these have necessarily to conform as far as possible to the peculiar characteristics of English country life. - The Moving Picture World, October 19, 1912
