Obviously, J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame must have seen this film when she was growing up in the boondocks in the early 1900s. When you calculate how long it takes for something cutting edge in Los Angeles or New York City to "cross the pond" and penetrate "the hinterlands," the chronology puts AN UNSULLIED SHIELD smack dab into the formative years of Joanne Kathleen as the latest import from America. Where else could she have gotten the idea of people pictured in portraits hanging on the walls all of a sudden interacting with and scolding their descendants? That is the entire gist of this 16 minute, 37.84-second long short, as Marc McDermott plays someone the Sorting Hat would instantly relegate to Slytherin if not for the fact that he's a Muggle with no redeeming social qualities or mitigating circumstances. Just the opposite of Ebenezer Scrooge, this young reprobate SPENDS every cent he has and much more, until receiving his three ghost blasts from the past. I, for one, am not convinced that his pledged reform will last as long as Eb's.
4 Reviews
If You Need Money, Sell The Family Portraits
boblipton12 March 2020
Duke Wadsworth Harris is too ill to rise from his bed, but not so I'll he can't lecture his son, Marc McDermott, on not hanging around with ladies and men who drink cocktails, play jazz piano, and dance. Also, play cards and lose more money than you have, which McDermott immediately proceeds to do. He borrows money from Harry Eytinge, who eventually demands his money back. To pay him, McDermott forges his mother's name on a check.
Hevvings! Having done the foul deed, and placed it in his wallet, he walks through the ancestral home's portrait gallery, and falls asleep. In the style of a 18th Century Gothic Novel or Gilbert & Sullivan's RUDDIGORE, the portraits come to life and hector him like daddy.
It would drive me off,cocktails, I can tell you that. It's a heavy-handed bit of movie-making by Charles Brabin, done in a style which had long gone out of style. There's some nice double-exposure special effects, but the guys in the portrait frames can't keep really still while waiting to guilt-trip McDermott.
Hevvings! Having done the foul deed, and placed it in his wallet, he walks through the ancestral home's portrait gallery, and falls asleep. In the style of a 18th Century Gothic Novel or Gilbert & Sullivan's RUDDIGORE, the portraits come to life and hector him like daddy.
It would drive me off,cocktails, I can tell you that. It's a heavy-handed bit of movie-making by Charles Brabin, done in a style which had long gone out of style. There's some nice double-exposure special effects, but the guys in the portrait frames can't keep really still while waiting to guilt-trip McDermott.
Interesting Visual Effects
Snow Leopard18 August 2005
The interesting visual effects are the main reason to watch this short drama, which takes a relatively familiar plot idea and uses it to set up a lengthy sequence of camera tricks. The story itself is the kind of morality play that was very common in short features of the early 1910s, with Marc McDermott as the main character contributing a solid performance.
McDermott plays an irresponsible young Duke who, in a desperate moment, has a dream in which he is confronted by a series of his illustrious ancestors. The dream sequence is quite ambitious in its length and scale, combining a number of camera tricks at once to create the overall effect of the young duke's dream.
It has some rough edges, and there are other special effects movies of the era that created similar effects a bit more smoothly, but it is a solid enough job given its resources.
McDermott plays an irresponsible young Duke who, in a desperate moment, has a dream in which he is confronted by a series of his illustrious ancestors. The dream sequence is quite ambitious in its length and scale, combining a number of camera tricks at once to create the overall effect of the young duke's dream.
It has some rough edges, and there are other special effects movies of the era that created similar effects a bit more smoothly, but it is a solid enough job given its resources.
It's a good, fresh offering and will be liked as something different
deickemeyer30 April 2017
We suspect that the author of this unusual picture is an Englishman; his hero is a duke. The climax comes in a dream scene in which the duke, who is fast, needs money and has just forged his mother's name, thinks he sees his ancestors come down from pictures on the wall and remonstrate with him as an unworthy scion of his house. Three paintings free themselves from frames to show to him the glory of his heroic forebears and to make him disgusted with himself. That they succeed makes the offering pleasant, and in a measure encouraging. It's a good, fresh offering and will be liked as something different. Mark MacDermott plays the duke: Wadsworth Harris, his dying father; Mrs. Wallace Erskine, his mother; Harry Eyting, a money lender (a good sketch). Walter Edwin plays his warrior ancestor; Herbert Prior, his sea-fighting ancestor, and Augustus Phillips, his statesman ancestor. The author is Chas. J. Brabin. - The Moving Picture World, January 18, 1913
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