Not only is this good picture well conducted and (for the most part) convincing, but many surprisingly good things are in it. The producer shows, for instance, a faculty of utilizing, in a scene, a wide background with mountains in the distance, yet holding it well in hand so that two or three players may be photographed in it without being lost or over-emphasized. He does it by using a few trees as a screen that hides nothing, yet sets the figures out. The story is what may be called a realistic romance, the love-story of a cowboy and a very pretty and ladylike waitress. The cowboy, who has come to town with a bunch of cattle, saves the waitress from being insulted. Because of the resulting fight in the restaurant, the waitress is discharged and the cowboy finds her at her home. Her mother has consumption, which gives a very convincing reason for bringing the heroine out to the range, so that the love-story, with its elemental-hearted villain, can be made real. The acting of the whole cast is fine. We see, as the story is unrolled, not only good acting on the part of the heroine, hero and villain, but the old ranch owner, or some of the minor characters doing some human thing as simply as nature itself. The loves scenes are all as fresh as spring daisies. "Poker Ed's" attitude toward the engagement of the hero and the heroine, when it is reported to him in the saloon, is worthy of special notice even in a play as wholly good as this. The characters also looked very much like their parts. Slick, the hero, is a manly looking man; Tillie, the heroine, a charming, simple, young girl; Hoover, the ranch owner is prosperous looking and well content with life. There is only one point which is possibly a slight blemish. The object of the scenario writer seemed to be to make a romantic impression convincing as real life and he has added bits of realism here and there to keep its feet on the ground. One of these is Tillie's drunken father. He soon dropped out of the picture and it is doubtful whether his presence did any good at all. It is usually safer to protect the heroine from drunken fathers and convict brothers, unless the picture is to show the strength of love as able to break through even such hindrances. - The Moving Picture World, August 19, 1911
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