On the return of the party from the cinema, Mortimer John describes to Anthony the powers of a drug which induces the most vivid of dreams.  He, John, had once been in Anthony’s pitiful case, and through the services of this drug had achieved his quest of the ideal woman. Anthony, greatly intrigued, consents to swallow a sample of the potion.  It is a simple narcotic, and under its influence he is conveyed, in a state of coma and a suitable change of apparel, into the heart of Surrey, where at sunrise he is restored to animation and has the scenes of the evening’s drama re-enacted before his eyes, as originally filmed for exhibition.  Under the impression that this is merely the vivid dream that he had been promised, he himself takes part in the living drama, playing the noble role of an exceptionally white man.  In the course of it he exchanges pledges of eternal love with Aloney the heroine.  Finally, in a spasm of heroic self-sacrifice, he takes poison with the alleged purpose of saving the heroine’s life.  We never quite gather how his suicide should serve this end, but then the whole atmosphere is charged with that obscurity which is the very breath of the film-drama.

[Illustration:  AN IDYLL OF MOVIE-LAND.

Anthony Silvertree MR. CHARLES HAWTREY.

Aloney MISS WINIFRED BARNES.]

The poison is nothing worse than another dose of the narcotic, and under its spell he is spirited back to London, where, on arrival, he is confronted with the lady of his “dream,” and Mortimer John secures a colossal fee.  In addition, for he has had the happy thought of selecting his own daughter for the heroine, he secures a plutocrat for his son-in-law.

The worst of a play in which one is conducted out of ordinary life into the regions of improbability by processes of which every step has to be just conceivably possible, is that the conscientious development of the scheme is apt to be tedious.  And, frankly, the first scene or two, though lightened by expectation, were on the heavy side.

But the film itself, when we got to it, was excellent fooling, and the reconstruction of the original drama at Dorking-in-the-Wild-West was really delightful.  You can easily guess that Mr. CHARLES HAWTREY, as a cinema hero, very conscious of his heroism ("it’s a way we have in Montague Square"), but always comfortably aware that in a dream, as he imagines it to be, he can well afford to make the handsomest of sacrifices, had a great chance.  And he took it.

As the heroine, who has to play a rather thankless part in the mercenary designs of her parent, Miss WINIFRED BARNES contrived, very naively and prettily, to preserve an air of maiden reluctance under the most discouraging conditions.  As Mortimer John Mr. SYDNEY VALENTINE had admirable scope for his sound and businesslike methods.  Of Anthony’s relations, all very natural and human, Miss LYDIA BILBROOKE was an attractive figure, and the part of Herbert Clatterby, K.C., was played by Mr. EDMUND MAURICE with his accustomed ease of manner.