A Royal Outcast (1909) User Reviews

There is plenty in it to make the audience want more of the same sort

[deickemeyer · 29 December 2014]

A Selig which tells an interesting story, something on the Moses order, of a royal child who was set adrift in an open boat to save him from the machinations of a relative who wanted his throne. Of course the setting is different, for it is not the king's daughter that finds this outcast. On the contrary, it is a peasant, but she is motherly and the little one is taken in and cared for until he is asked for by proclamation and goes back to his royal robes and rules with firmness and love ever after. The interest in this story is chiefly in the fact that the royal child undergoes numerous interesting experiences, which, perhaps, fit him for the life he is to lead in the future. It is sometimes worth while for rulers to understand the needs and desires of their people and here is an instance where this occurred. The melodramatic features of the picture are well worked out and there is a snap and go to the piece which adds to the interest and makes the audience look with favor upon it. One may not criticise this picture too severely. It is a well told story, though perhaps as improbable as such stories usually are. However, there is plenty in it to make the audience want more of the same sort. The acting is satisfactory and the technical quality of the film is quite up to Selig standard. Such stories are better than funerals and other lugubrious experiences, of which there are too many for the good of the silent stage and the enjoyment of its patrons. - The Moving Picture World, September 18, 1909