Review of The Mouse and the Lion

A detective story, by W.L. Tremayne, that, except for one short moment, gets over most effectively. Perhaps it's the best offering of today's regular releases. The "lion" is a detective, played pleasingly but conventionally by Leo Delaney, and the "mouse" (Paul Kelly) is an honest lad whom he has picked up and installed as his hallboy. The "mouse" happens to recognize the woman (Lillian Walker) whom "the gang" send to decoy the detective to where they have cleverly arranged a trap to "get" him. The "mouse" is able to free his patron from the gang's trap and help him bag the gangsters. It ought to have been shown how the boy came to loosen the stones into the cellar; to see him doing it without knowing how he suspected the trap fails to convince us. This is the offering's one weak spot. The picture was produced by Van Dyke Brooke, who plays an unconvincing gangster. George Cooper is not at all unconvincing as a member of the gang, nor is William Shea. The "mouse" also plays naturally. The photography is very good. - The Moving Picture World, March 29, 1913