The Film Spectator (Mar-Dec 1928)

Page Twelve THE FILM SPECTATOR December 15, 1928 piled a hay stack on her head. When she has it cut, and puts on a little clothing, I'm going to enjoy her pictures a great deal more. There is no fault to find with the Bow acting, however. She has one little scene, a shot of her face as she buttons up her dress, that is splendid. The buttons or hooks are in the back, and every expression of her face is artistic. She ought to be given something sensible to do for a change. Neil Hamilton, of course, played opposite her. They are just beginning to let him loosen up and bring his sense of humor to the aid of his really excellent acting. As a result his work has gained a human quality which has made it more complete. Harrison Ford does well as a rather mild heavy, and Guy Oliver and Edythe Chapman made a good pair of parents for the star. Reviewed in this Number HAUNTED HOUSE, THE— A First National picture. Directed by Benjamin Christensen; story by Owen Davis; photographed by Sol Polito; produced by Wid Gunning. The cast: Chester Conklin, Thelma Todd, Larry Kent, Eve Sothern, Barbara Bedford, Flora Finch, Edmund Breese, Sidney Bracy, William V. Mong, Montagu Love, Johnnie Gough, Erville Alderson. OUT OF THE RUINS— A First National picture. Directed by John Francis Dillon; from the story by Sir Phillip Gibbs; continuity by Gerald C. Duffy; photographed by Ernest Hallor; art director, John J. Hughes; costume director. Max Ree; film editor, Cyril Gardner; produced by Henry Hobart. The cast: Richard Barthelmess, Marian Nixon, Bodil Rosing, Robert Ober, Emile Chautard, Eugene Pallette. OUTCAST, THE— A First National picture. Directed by William A. Seiter; from the story by Hubert Henry Davies; continuity by Agnes Christine Johnston; photography by John Seitz; art director, Horace Jackson; film editor, Hugh Bennett; costume director, Max Ree; titles by Forrest Halsey and Gene Towne; produced by Walter Morosco. The cast: Corinne Griffith, Edmund Lowe, Louise Fazenda, Jimmy Ford, Huntly Gordon, Kathryn Carver, Claude King, Sam Hardy, Patsy O'Byrne, Lee Moran. REVENGE— A United Artists picture. Directed by Edwin Carewe; from Konrad Bercovici's story The Bear Tamer's Daughter; screen play by Finis Fox; photographed by Robert B. Kurrle and Al M. Greene; chief aide, Wallace W. Fox; assistant director, Richard Easton; technical advisor, Dr. Alexander Arkatov. The cast: Dolores Del Rio, LeRoy Mason, James Marcus, Rita Carewe, Jose Crespo, Marta Golden, Sam Appel, Sophia Ortega, Jess Cavin. SYNTHETIC SIN— A First National picture. Directed by William A. Seiter; from the play by Frederic and Fanny Hatton; adapted by Tom J. Geraghty; titles by Tom Reed; photographed by Sid Hickox; art director, Max Parker. The cast: Colleen Moore, Antonio Moreno, Montagu Love, Gertrude Astor, Edythe Chapman, Kathryn McGuire, Gertrude Howard. SHADY LADY— A Pathe picture. Directed by Edward H. Griffith; author. Jack Jungmeyer, scenarist. Jack Jungmeyer; \ First National's Talking Picture With Milton Sills. Dorothy Mackaill, Betty Compson and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. The Barker ^^^^^^y Circle Theatre Daily 2:15 — 8:30 from a title suggested by Leonard Praskins and Richard Sharp; assistant director, E. J. Babille; production manager, Harry Poppe; photographer, J. J. Mescall; art director, Edward Jewell; film editor, Doane Harrison. The cast: Phyllis Haver, Robert Armstrong, Louis Wolheim, Russell Gleason. THREE WEEK-ENDS— A Paramount picture. Directed by Clarence Badger; story by Elinor Glyn; adapted by John Farrow; screen play by Louise Long, Percy Heath and Sam Mintz; photographed by Harold Rosson; assistant director, William Kaplan; film editor, Tay Malarky; titles by Herman J. Mankiewicz. The cast: Clara Bow, Neil Hamilton, Harrison Ford, Edythe Chapman, Guy Oliver, William Halden, Julia Swavne Gordon, Lucille Powers, Jack Raymond. WIN THAT GIRL— A William Fox picture, directed by David Butler; from the original story Father and Son by James Hopper; assistant director, Leslie Selander; cameraman, Charles Clark. The cast: David Rollins, Sue Carol, Tom Elliot, Roscoe Karnes, Olin Francis, Mack Fluker, Sidney Bracy, Janet McLeod, Maxine Shelly, Betty Recklaw. THE LAUREL GROVE By FRANK T. DAUGHERTY LOUIS Bromfield, presumably from the earnings of his three successful novels of American life, took a holiday in Italy — and the result is The Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg (Stokes). Now a holiday in Italy may do many things to many people. It may overawe some, as it did most of the early American writers; or it may tend to give greater contentment and more tolerance, as it did Leigh Hunt and Goethe and Frederick the Great and Gorky. Or it may make one WTite of Dionysian love, as it did Gerhart Hauptman and Bromfield. No doubt there are many of Bromfield's admirers who will backslide when they read the present volume, for he is one of the prophets whose voice has been listened to in his own country, in this case New England — and it isn't likely that said Boston will be pleased with this deification of Pan. But even if one can't go all the way with this story, one should retain his allegiance to Bromfield. It may only be (and I am one of those who hope so) that "Miss Annie Spragg" is his way of casting down his rod, and that seeing it become a serpent, like Moses he will go back later and pick it up, stronger for the experience. In the lives of most of us there seems to come a time when we feel that we will not have lived unless we can say we have experienced everything short of death. And when we remember that Bromfield is still a very young man, we can solace ourselves by reversing the popular adage "Art is long, life is short" — and hope for what the years will bring forth. ■i * * NOT that I think Bromfield will ever be less frank in his handling of what he sees. Or need be. Only, perhaps, with riper years he will see less of the things he sees now. He is an artist of bold strokes and NEUMODE HOSIERY Specialists Selling Nothing but Perfect Hosiery NEUMODE HOSIERY STORES 6429 Hollywood Boulevard Warner Bros. Theatre Bldg.