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The Greater Call (1910) Online

The Greater Call (1910) Online
1910
Original Title :
The Greater Call
Genre :
Movie / Short / Drama
Year :
1910
Type :
Movie
Rating :
6.2/10

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The first scene opens on the stage of the Comedy Theater, showing a part of the wings and Claudine Durand's dressing room. The curtain has fallen on the last act and the star, assisted by ... See full summary

The Greater Call (1910) Online

The first scene opens on the stage of the Comedy Theater, showing a part of the wings and Claudine Durand's dressing room. The curtain has fallen on the last act and the star, assisted by her maid, is dressing for the street when Richard Grey, an admirer of Mlle. Durand, enters and is admitted to Claudine's dressing room. The actress greets him effusively, and after a short love scene Grey proposes and is accepted. The scene changes to three years later. The two have married and their marriage has been blessed with a wee girl. The little domestic scene ushers in the first hint of Claudine's dissatisfaction with her life and her longing to return to the stage. Richard has noted his wife's melancholy and trembling reproaches her for her lack of interest in her home and child. Claudine tells her husband that the lure of the stage is too great and that she must go back to it. Ten years have elapsed and we find Claudine in her dressing room at the Comedy Theater, when she is interrupted by...
Credited cast:
Alice Donovan Alice Donovan - (as Miss Donovan)

Released as a split reel along with the comedy Hank and Lank: Blind Men (1910).


User reviews

Nekora

Nekora

The story of a mother who became an actress, leaving her child behind; but years after, when it was supposed the child was dying, she listened to the greater call, forsook the stage, even in the midst of a play, and went to the child's bedside, to see her recover. The picture is emotional and dramatic. The actors have performed their parts with sympathy and discretion, but it does seem improbable that the woman should refuse to heed the call all those years and then depart so unceremoniously. Perhaps this was done to increase the dramatic effect, and if so it succeeds admirably. The other actors simply assist. The leading woman in this instance is the whole picture. - The Moving Picture World, December 31, 1910
Nikojas

Nikojas

Alice Donovan is an actress. She marries a rich man but three years later abandons him and their daughter to return to the stage... a decision she will come to regret.

This sort of weeper was a popular genre of the era and this one has a lot to recommend it in its careful compositions and a lively performance by the lead actress. The scenes set backstage are particularly good, with the many performers vying for the attention of the stage manager. The acting style at Essanay had just begun to be affected by what Griffith was doing at Biograph but is not in the least stodgy.

Movies could not be copyrighted in this period, so producers would do things like print a copy in a book or try for the protection of trademark law. See if you can spot the Essanay Indian head. I found it in three of the five scenes.