The Rattlesnake (1913) Online

There were some in the audience not wholly pleased by Romaine Fielding's production of "The Rattlesnake," by Emmet Campbell Hall, and some of its scenes do show a lack of humor, of health, of balance. Mr. Fielding is apt to lay on the horrors, but those last scenes, which also half-offended some as being raw, were worthy of high praise. It is not, for some reason, a pleasant thing to look squarely at life and pleasant art doesn't look at it either and so, since all our art is cooked, true realism always seems raw. At his best Mr. Fielding is head and shoulders above nearly all other producers we know, and he has put enough of his good work into this to make it a desirable offering. Tony's attachment for the snake didn't get over truly and the scenes that show it were kept on so long they threw the story out of focus; especially did the unforgettable but not very valuable mad scene in the ruined hut. The story was brilliantly conceived, but developed in a rather lawless way. Mary Ryan (Moritz Cytron), who was not villainous when she smiled (therefore not a good villain) and Jesse Robinson, with others, support Mr. Fielding, who plays the leading role. - The Moving Picture World, November 15, 1913