Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-24
PIERRE BETTER
THAN His PLAY
GOOD ACTING 0BSCURES THE
FLAWS IN SELWYN DRAMA
RICHARD BENNETT GIVES STRONG
IMPERsoNATloN OF HERO
Grf and Farm Circus Redeem Or
pheum Bill-Walter Seeley Makes
Announcement of William
Morris Plans

Peter GAlbra1tn. Louis .hofi iiNoh
Father Coraine. ......., James k ADplebee
Jan Durl,in Observation-Disclosures Sheldon Lewis
Matt Brady $500. ...-..... .Chhrles hugS eS
Serpt Tom Redding .=........ Richard Vivian
Inspector Wbithy. ...... David NJ. harllord
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Val Galbraith. ...#............. Charles Giblyn
OOwankatchie. ...,..............H Harry Spear
-Jcn Galbraith ...........M Miss Helen Holmes
Miomi .............. Miss Adele Harrington
BY W. HERBERT BLAKE
~ OOD acting and a third act like a
T thunderbolt put a rather labored
VI and numbering play upon the roll
of Belasco successes last night. Pierre
of the Plains" as Los Angeles knows
it, is a credit to the versatility of that
theater's stock company, If scarcely
so to the adaptive artistry Of Edgar
Selwyn. In the first act we were en-
tertained, despite the dilatory action OF
the piece, by the freshness of the at
mospbere and the frank verify of the
enactment of Pierre. In the second act
there was an undeniable drag on the
movement of the plot, consumed prlncl-
pally in tedious efforts to awaken a
drugged officer of the law and in i'm
material comedy. In the third act we
have swift, gripping melodrama, clear
ly outlined. superbly acted. And in
a satisfactory conclusion, which might
proftably have been abridged by half.
Yet, all allowances made, Pierre is
n delightful character, faithfully pOr-
trayed by Richard Bennett in his first
opportunity for big vital work during
his present summer engagement.
Among his collaborators, Mr.. Lewis,
Mr. Vivian, Miss Holmes and Mr.
Gibfyn deserve first Commendation for
,ie.4s ri tit1I-
larly in the earlier scenes, which the
least lapse from sincerity and ear
nestness would have plunged into a
failure which their actual cOnstruc-
tion richly merited
Pierre is a half breed, Of Indian
mother and faithless white father
needless of the morrow, keen and alert
TO present danger, winning a livelihood
as a gambler and trusting TO the cards
for clairvoyant direction in the simplest
details of life Val Galbraith, son of
the proprietor of a Canadian border
road house, has shot an Indian in
quarrel, and the mounted police headed
by Sergt. Tom Redding, are on his trail.
Redding is in love with Jeu, Walls sis
ter, and comes to the road house with
orders to arrest Val for the shooting.
At Pierre's suggestion arrangements are
made to drug Redding with laudanum,
but at the last moment Galbraith,
senior, balks at the task. ReddinS
drinks the drug, however, by decided
ly improbable mistake, and falls in a
stupOT. Jen has an inkling of the truth
and takes his orders, riding to the post
herself in time to cause the arrest Of
her brother, of whose identity as the
slayer of the Indian she is ignorant.
The second act is occupied mainly
with the awakening of the drugged
sergeant and mutual explanations, in
til. 1-,, af ions
treason to her brother, who is brought
in under arrest by the officers. In the
presence of his guards he tells his sis
ter of Pierre's efforts to save him, yet
they make no effort to arrest Pierre,
which is slightly taxing to ones imag-
ination. When the party has gone Jen,
trusting to Pierres pledge of honor,
makes an appointment to meet him
near the post, and together they con
trive to release Val between the second
and third acts.
In a forest setting of real beauty We
see the three-brother, sister and
Pierre. The brother trusts Jen to
Pierre and fees for his life. There en-
sues a pretty scene in the heart of the
silent wood in which Pierre, in broken
poetry, confesses his hopeless love for
the young woman, but respects his
promise to conduct her in safety to the
sanctuary of Father Coraine, the par
fish priest. The mounted police appear
as they plan their flight and Jen hides
Pierre in a sheltered nook, denying he
is near to the sergeant, her suttor,
and by the power of her love inducing
him to support her falsehoOd when his
superior officer orders him to search
the shrubbery. The party moves on
but one, an old enemy of Pierre, re-
turns after the half breed has left
Jen, having surrendered to her keeping
a realistic battle with knives in the
dusk of the forest, and Pierre stretches
his foe dead, and makes his escape.
In the last act the half breed,
hunted by his grim foes. comes to
Father COraine's sanctuary for shelter
The action halts unnecessarily for eX-
plantations and a struggle Of conscience
i'm the old priest over the morality of
hiding the refugee. The sergeant and
the riders come again, and the former
at last agrees to give Pierre a thirty
miles start, which despite his wound
means practical release to the nimble
Nyitted gambler. The curtain falls on
Pierre turning the cards, the last one
apparently assuring his deliyerance
from his pursuers.
Very much of the tedious action of
the early acts and even the over-taliy
conclusion is relieved by the genuine
French canadian atmosphere of the
production-a Whiff of the wild, free
air of the great northwest, transferred
as if by magic from the pleasant pages
of Sir Gilbert Parker. And this inn
preston is we'll sustained and deepeued
by Mr.. Benefits acting. Except for
two almost imperCeptible halts in his
lines his technical presentation of the
character was nearly perfect He had
the professionally French, Indian and
English, yet none of the three-tO per-
fection, and he conveyed the blithe
and Carefree note in the Wanderer's s
character very forcibly. In his mo-
ments of broken love making in the
third act his voice evoked in us true
emotional sympathy for the charac-
ter. Against the drab crudity of the
frontier family's household we saw
Pierre etched, an unappreciated child
of nature, ignoring codes and morals
with impartial urbanity, a creature of
impulse, a thing of the woods and
rhe great highway, yet a man Withal.
Tt was acting of a high order, and it's
memory is the pleasantest which Mr..
Bennett will leave with us on his de-
parture.
Miss Holmes was delightful hero
inc. although she OVer-emphasiZcd at
times the harder side of Jen's nature.
especially in the scene where Pierre
rveals his love for her A visible sym
pathy for Pierre is requisite here,
which Miss Holmes did not fully con-
Vey, at least in her tones. Her two
slight slips in her lines are pardon