A Girl of the Timber Claims (1917) User Reviews

The story as told is vague and purposeless

[deickemeyer · 1 February 2015]

"The Girl of the Timber Claims" tries to tell it all in the title. There is a girl on a timber claim, which some political schemers try to steal, and Constance Talmadge is the girl. She shoots one of them, only to discover in the end that he is a government inspector instead of a "claim jumper," and she embraces him in the end. To tell this story a great many characters are introduced, some children and a kitten. So many side paths are followed that the main interest suffers, as it always must when the screen presentation is purely reflective of what has been told on the stage or in a novel. The author has failed utterly to grasp the necessity of straight line construction, with as few side paths as possible. The screen is not an illustrator, its art principles are only akin to those of the drama and printed fiction, with an individuality all their own. The story as told is vague and purposeless, almost a blind alley, beginning nowhere and leading to nothing of definite importance. Stripped of its side issues and more cleverly told it might make a good two-reel story. – The Moving Picture World, February 3, 1917