The Meeting of the Ways
R: Unknown. D: Maurice Costello, Leo Delaney, Julia Swayne Gordon, Charles Eldridge, Dolores Costello, Helene Costello, Norma Talmadge. P: Vitagraph Company of America. USA 1912
Print: EYE
Dutch titles

“A melodramatic story of two brothers. Their ways parted at college where Dick was expelled for hazing while Tom graduated with honor. At their parting Tom gave Dick a locket with their mother’s portrait in it and this was the means of identification when fate brought them together again after many years. Dick, who had sunk to the underworld, had accidentally killed a man who was attempting to rob him of this cherished locket. Tom, who had become a great lawyer, was assigned by the judge to plead Dick’s case and the locket was handed to him. His plea wins and his brother is acquitted. The picture is competently made, well acted and photographed and is pleasing. It has many good qualities but no special strength. Mr. Costello plays Tom, and Mr. Delaney plays Dick. The rather close resemblance between their profiles makes them convincingly brothers.”
The Moving Picture World, January 27, 1912

“The son of Irish immigrants, Costello ((1877-1950) grew up in Pittsburgh where he worked at various odd jobs before gaining a toehold in vaudeville in 1894 with a repertoire of Irish songs. Soon, he was touring in stock companies and melodramas. By 1905 he was in New York and taking film work by day at the Edison studios to supplement his income. In 1907 he moved to Vitagraph which is where he enjoyed his principal time in the sun. In 1911 he became one of the first movie actors whose name was revealed to the public, and thus became one of the cinema’s first matinee idols. Among his many hits was this 1911 version of A Tale of Two Cities. Adverse publicity from several domestic violence incidents negatively affected his career in the mid teens. By the end of end of the decade, he was more of a supporting player, although he continued to work through the 1920s. By that time, his daughters Helene and Dolores had become stage and screen stars — bigger stars than he was at that point. In the sound era, Costello was reduced to being an extra, literally a spear carrier in some films. His last credit is in 1945. But in the meantime his daughter Dolores had become John Barrymore’s third wife (1928-1935). Through this bloodline, Maurice Costello is the great-grandfather of none other than Drew Barrymore.”
Trav S.D.
Travalanche

Mrs. ‘Enry’ Awkins
R: Van Dyke Brooke, Maurice Costello. D: Van Dyke Brooke, Norma Talmadge, Harry T. Morey, Maurice Costello, George Cooper, Kate Price. P: Vitagraph Company of America. USA 1912
Print: EYE
Dutch titles

“A cheery, wholly commendable picture of costermonger life in good comedy spirit which pleased the audience very much. The character portrayals of every one in the cast, there are only four or five who play roles, is excellent; but that of Van Dyke Brooke, the old, gouty father, is very fine. We didn’t recognize him in this part. Liza, the girl, is played most charmingly by Miss Norma Talmadge. Her two lovers are a costermonger owner of a donkey cart (Mr. Costello) and a pugilist (Mr. Morey). The action is brisk and dramatic. It is well photographed and makes a most entertaining release, a very good feature to brighten up an audience on a rainy day.”
The Moving Picture World, April 6, 1912

The Loyalty of Sylvia
R: Van Dyke Brooke. D: Maurice Costello, Florence Turner, James Morrison, Kate Price, E.K. Lincoln. P: Vitagraph Company of America. USA 1912
Print: EYE
Dutch titles

It All Came Out in the Wash
R: Maurice Costello. B: William Wallace Cook. D: Maurice Costello, Lillian Walker, George Ober, Mrs. B.F. Clinton, Richard Leslie. P: Vitagraph Company of America. USA 1912
Print: EYE
Dutch titles
Engl. subtitles

More Costello films:

>>> The Picture Idol
>>> The Days of Terror
>>> Julius Caesar
>>> A Midsummer Night’s Dream