User Reviews

Edison pictures hitherto have not, in our opinion, been of that strongly dramatic nature which occasionally hold an audience in suspense every instant of the time that the film is on the screen. It has rather seemed to us that the Edison producers have had a great tendency to spin out into five acts, as it were, what other film manufacturers might condense into two or even one. The Edison pictures indeed are usually crowded with characters and plenty of action and incident. They fill, they satisfy, they convince, but they do not excite. The little picture under notice is, however, a radical departure from the usual Edison formula which we welcome, and which we think the public at large will welcome, for indeed, "The Temptation" is a short, sharp, incisive bit of drama which we hope is the precursor of many more similar efforts. A young man is entrusted with the cashing of the check for the pay-roll. Having got the money he arrives home in a blizzard, where he is greeted by his young wife. The money in a bag is deposited in a bureau in sight of the audience. Then the temptation occurs, and the young man gives way to it. So telling his young wife that he has business at the factory, he goes out into the stormy night. The girl is armed against possible intruders. In due course a tramp arrives and she succors him. Then later in the night a masked burglar appears and sets out to steal the money in the bag. Fortunatelv at this moment the befriended tramp intervenes and fells the burglar to the ground. Here occurs the most dramatic moment of the play. With the tramp out of the way, the young wife discovers that the masked burglar who attempted to steal the money, is none other than her own young husband. Of course, the foolish fellow repents, and the girl forgives him and so the story ends leaving a sufficiency of something to the imagination. This is the kind of story that a moving picture audience likes. The Edison Company have worked out this particular one with wonderful naturalness and success. There are only three leading characters in the film, two men and a girl, the office staff, the bank staff shown in the first two scenes being mere accessories. But how finely dramatic it all is. We hope to see many more Edison plays treated with such simplicity and conviction. This one is photographically well done, and we count it amongst the Edison successes. - The Moving Picture World, September 18, 1909