User Reviews

A Vehicle for Vivian Martin, who has coyly smiled her way into stardom, "The Arrival of Perpetua," a five-part World Film production serves its purpose with something to spare. Miss Martin will be remembered as the heroine of "The Wishing Ring" and equally favorable was the impression left by her performance in "Old Dutch." This time she has a role that presents a winning personality in no less harmonious surroundings. Perhaps they were created primarily as a setting for Miss Martin's graceful accomplishments, and perhaps Director Chautard purposely subordinated everything to a display of his star's most likable traits; at all events a pleasing performance and a pleasing picture have been the outcome. The first appeal of the production, and one that is consistently maintained to the end, is that of girlhood so innocent that it may be indiscreet without consciousness of indiscretions. "Pet" is a young woman capable of kissing a man or a baby with equal frankness. But for all her lack of sophistication she has dependable feminine instincts that lead her to dislike her quite impossible aunt with whom she is forced to live; likewise her impulses are all opposed to the three mercenary suitors anxious to spend her fortune. According to precedent, the proper dramatic partner for a girl of this sweet, impulsive disposition is a self-centered man with a well founded aversion to women. He is found in the person of Thaddeus, "Pet's" eccentric guardian, to whom she turns for shelter when life with the aunt becomes too unpleasant. From here on interest centers in the girl's guileless attack on her guardian's heart and his transformation from an unkempt oddity into a normal man ready to appreciate the affection that came with so little effort on his part. Scenes such as these and the ones earlier in the picture, laid at a girl's boarding school, are right in accord with Miss Martin's winsome personality; but Milton Sills as Thaddeus is a trifle stiff. Mr. Chautard's first American picture has been given a satisfactory production in which a numerous cast was capably directed. - The Moving Picture World, April 3, 1915