First and foremost Beatriz and her sister both inherited their father's talent as an opera singer and from the time she was a child she was taken on as a member of the Princess Chic Opera Company and given roles befitting her age. Films were an after thought when her husband set up California Motion Picture Company - the CMPC, especially for showcasing his pretty young wife's career. "Salomy Jane" was the first feature and given quite a premiere with "invitation only" tickets. Viewers were impressed by the beautiful Californian scenery, the giant Redwoods, rocky bluffs and the wild Russian River. Beatrix also appealed and her husband started to see her as a threat to Mary Pickford.
All stops were pulled out to make this a spectacular production - even taking several minutes to introduce all the players. The disreputable Hang Town is where all the characters converge - the villainous Red Pete, hanging around his hard working laundress wife only long enough to bully her and take her money. "The Stranger", Jack Dart (House Peters) who is on a mission to get the reprobate who ruined his sister and last but not least, Salomy Jane and her pa (already a marked man), a horse dealer who leases a rundown house out of town. Jane has already had to fight off Dart's man and in a very realistic fight scene, Dart, who is only known as "the man", kills him in a bloodied fight to the finish. Meanwhile Red Pete has been involved in a stage coach robbery and Yuba Bill the driver, who has been shot, makes it back to town with a full and vivid description.
In the title role Beatriz is fiery, displaying her Latin temperament but she is no Mary Pickford and shows by her expansive and flowery gestures that she still has a lot to learn about movie acting. The big plus for the film is the beautiful location shooting, the horse chases through the forest, the daring descent of the stranger from the bridge into the stream below, the sliding of Red Pete down a canyon and the perilous journey across the river on a log by Jane and her man!! All filmed against the panoramic scenery of the Californian forests.
Even though this movie wasn't profitable, word of mouth convinced Michelena's husband George Middleton that she could be a star of the first magnitude, so from then on every film produced was intended as a star vehicle for Beatriz. Unfortunately her ego and demands sent production costs sky rocketing and by 1916 the company was shut down and declared bankrupt. Handsome House Peters was nick-named "The Star of a Thousand Emotions" and it was clear in this movie that he wasn't the strong, silent type - he had a real personality. He started his career on a high note playing opposite Mary Pickford in "In the Bishop's Carriage". Although he said he preferred villains he was typecast as a hero from the start but he didn't have a long career. In 1924 he signed with Universal hoping for a comeback that didn't eventuate and he soon descended into bit parts.
Highly Recommended.
All stops were pulled out to make this a spectacular production - even taking several minutes to introduce all the players. The disreputable Hang Town is where all the characters converge - the villainous Red Pete, hanging around his hard working laundress wife only long enough to bully her and take her money. "The Stranger", Jack Dart (House Peters) who is on a mission to get the reprobate who ruined his sister and last but not least, Salomy Jane and her pa (already a marked man), a horse dealer who leases a rundown house out of town. Jane has already had to fight off Dart's man and in a very realistic fight scene, Dart, who is only known as "the man", kills him in a bloodied fight to the finish. Meanwhile Red Pete has been involved in a stage coach robbery and Yuba Bill the driver, who has been shot, makes it back to town with a full and vivid description.
In the title role Beatriz is fiery, displaying her Latin temperament but she is no Mary Pickford and shows by her expansive and flowery gestures that she still has a lot to learn about movie acting. The big plus for the film is the beautiful location shooting, the horse chases through the forest, the daring descent of the stranger from the bridge into the stream below, the sliding of Red Pete down a canyon and the perilous journey across the river on a log by Jane and her man!! All filmed against the panoramic scenery of the Californian forests.
Even though this movie wasn't profitable, word of mouth convinced Michelena's husband George Middleton that she could be a star of the first magnitude, so from then on every film produced was intended as a star vehicle for Beatriz. Unfortunately her ego and demands sent production costs sky rocketing and by 1916 the company was shut down and declared bankrupt. Handsome House Peters was nick-named "The Star of a Thousand Emotions" and it was clear in this movie that he wasn't the strong, silent type - he had a real personality. He started his career on a high note playing opposite Mary Pickford in "In the Bishop's Carriage". Although he said he preferred villains he was typecast as a hero from the start but he didn't have a long career. In 1924 he signed with Universal hoping for a comeback that didn't eventuate and he soon descended into bit parts.
Highly Recommended.