User Reviews

"The Crab" by Gardner Sullivan, is chiefly remarkable for the strong characterization of the two leading roles. The little girl, Thelma Salter, is a perfect little actress, quite capable of conveying thought and feeling by silent and subtle methods, far better in some respects than older people of the pictured story, very sweet and charming to the eye, and bound to win as she is, but her methods will improve with experience. They are not quite subtle enough; she is obviously acting. Her role is well devised by the author to draw sympathetic interest. It is that of a homeless child sheltered by a hopeless and bitter cynic whose heart was buried in the grave of his wife, the only creature who had ever sounded its depths. Frank Keenan handles this hard and unsympathetic part with such skill that a powerful contrast is set up. The opposition of coldly selfish egotism to the impulsive natural affections of a little girl sweet to the core. His role is a disagreeable and a difficult one, but he is too much of an artist to offer a moment of relief until the proper time, when the little girl goes on the witness stand and tells a noble lie in his behalf. A cold-blooded liar himself, like most financiers, the almost dry well of his affections is reached and set flowing through admiration for the plucky little girl. She lies to save him from the consequences of cruel treatment. Something in his silent sorrow has appealed to her sympathies, and she has learned to love him with adoration. As a character study the story ranks very high. – The Moving Picture World, January 27, 1917