Aladdin's Other Lamp

Aladdin's Other Lamp is a 1917 American fantasy-comedy silent film based on the play, The Dream Girl by Willard Mack. It was adapted for the screen by June Mathis and directed by John H. Collins. The film stars Viola Dana and Robert Walker, and was distributed by Metro Pictures Corp., a forerunner of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It is not known whether the film currently survives.[1][2]

Aladdin’s Other Lamp
Directed byJohn H. Collins
Produced byB.A. Rolfe
Written byJune Mathis
Based onThe Dream Girl (play)
by Willard Mack
CinematographyJohn Arnold
Production
company
Distributed byMetro Pictures
Release date
June 25, 1917
Running time
5 reels
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent

Synopsis

Patsy Smith is kidnapped by her father when she's a baby, after having a fight with Patsy's mother. When her father dies at sea, Captain Barnaby takes Patsy to a boardinghouse run by Mrs. Duff. Inspired by the Captain's tales of Aladdin, she goes on a hunt for her father's oriental lamp which Mrs. Duff has sold to a junk peddler. After finding the lamp, Patsy buys it and starts to rub it and the Genie Jehaunarara appears. The genie transforms her room, restores the Captain's leg and turns Mrs. Duff into a rag doll. However, the genie can't reunite Patsy with her mother, because it is beyond his magic. After the genie wins first prize at a masquerade ball for his attire, Patsy applauds and unwittingly causes him to disappear. Upset, Patsy throws the oriental lamp out the window and barely misses hitting her friend Harry, who wants to become a lawyer and then president. Patsy finds letters in the lamp that lead her to locating her mother, who arrives with her brother, who is now a judge. Harry now daydreams that he is president and Patsy is his first lady.[3]

Cast
Robert Walker and Viola Dana in a publicity still for the 1917 film Aladdin's Other Lamp

Background

At the time of Aladdin's Other Lamp, Viola Dana was married to the director of the film, John H. Collins. He had discovered her and first brought her to work at Edison Studios and then later to Metro Pictures.[2]

Reviews and reception

Hal Erickson wrote in The New York Times that, "the popular star/director combination of Viola Dana and John H. Collins had another winner on their hands".[4] Variety offered the opinion in 1917 that "there is no dramatic tensity [sic] worthwhile in this film, it being one of those fantastical, fairy-changing, double exposure films that will make more of a hit with the kids than the grownups".[2]The Oakland Tribune said the film contained “delicious humor and melting pathos” and opined that Willard Mack's play, The Dream Girl, “loses none of its charm by having been picturized”.[2]

References
  1. "Aladdin's Other Lamp". Silent Era. Retrieved February 18, 2015.
  2. John T. Soister; Henry Nicolella (2012). American Silent Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Feature Films, 1913-1929. McFarland. pp. 7–9. ISBN 978-0-7864-8790-5.
  3. "Aladdin's Other Lamp". American Film Institute. Retrieved February 18, 2015.
  4. Hal Erickson. "Aladdin's Other Lamp (1917)". The New York Times.
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