Moving Picture World (Jun 1919)

June 7, 1919 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 1527 ,1111111 IfllBIMllll .,.,.;,' „,;;,;! Reviews and Advertising Aids Conducted by Edward Weitzel, Associate Editor Moving Picture World _ , _ Sidelights and Reflections THE week of May 25 saw a great line of attractions at the Times Square film theatres, New York. "Broken Blossoms" at the George M. Cohan, "The Unpardonable Sin" at the Broadway, Douglas Fairbanks in "The Knickerbocker Buckaroo" at the Rivoli, Madge Kennedy in "Leave It to Susan" at the Strand, and Charlie Ray in "The Busher" at the Rialto, offer a high artistic standard that is making new friends for the screen among people who have long regarded the moving picture with indifference. An indication of the size of the hit that "Broken Blossoms" has made in New York is the cheerful news that one of the largest ticket agencies in New York has taken 400 seats a night for the next eight weeks. The seats sell at $1.50 apiece and would easily bring $2.50 if the law against speculators were not in force. From present indications the author has decided to get into the game himself and see to it that his stories are turned into photoplays that will meet his views of what he intended when he agreed to having his work put on the •screen. This is good news. The complaint that the continuity writer and the director are often guilty of leaving out the best points and lowering the tone of a celebrated novel or famous play is founded on good grounds, but the most promising aspect of the matter is the coming together in a practical way of the man who writes the story and the man who directs it. Each will help the other. The author is going to have new and unexpected angles of the difficulties in the producing of pictures revealed to him and will learn to regard the director with a much greater degree of respect. He will find out why it is that actual experience is the only teacher and that the man who bosses the making of a photoplay has the control of the situation possessed by an aviator who did not learn to fly at a correspondence school. The director will gain an equal amount of new light through Tiis association with the writer. The combination means better pictures. The excellence of a number of the recent pictures shown here has had practical effect on the longer run. "The Red Lantern," which was booked at the Rivoli with the understanding that it would fill a return date if the business went above a specified figure, far outran the amount and is coming back June 1. Douglas Fairbanks's last Artcraft picture, "The Knickerbocker Buckaroo," is booked with the same clause in the contract. WEITZEL. IN THIS ISSUE. The Lady of Red Butte (Paramount) Rowdy Ann (Christie Special). The Busher (Paramount). When Fate Decides (Fox). Leave It to Susan (Goldwyn). Playthings of Passion (United Picture Theatres). Full of Pep (Metro). The Bishop's Emeralds (Pathe-Pearson). Perils of Thunder Mountain (Vitagraph). Love's Prisoner (Triangle). Break the News to Mother (Select). The Knickerbocker Buckaroo (Artcraft). Modern Husbands (Robertson-Cole). The Divorce Trap (Fox). Phil-for-Short (World). Beauty Proof (Vitagraph). THE stories of the pictures reviewed in this department are written from the pictures themselves and not from the press books, and are correct in every case. "The Lady of Red Butte" Paramount Presents Dorothy Dalton in a Frontier Story of Religious Fanaticism. Reviewed by Louis Reeves Harrison. THE main line of action in "The Lady of Red Butte" centers around an evangelist, who goes mad from overstudy at a theological seminary while attempting to make an address, and runs amuck, finally turning up in an exhausted condition in what is know i as "Suicide Paradise," a forlorn prairie group of shacks inhabited almost entirely by rough characters. The role of the evangelist is interpreted with energy by Thomas Holding, especially after his failure of mind, during a subsequent gloomy delusion that he is to redeem the world by haranguing all he meets with wild imprecations, invoking the curse of calamity upon those who refuse to become sanctified under his guidance. Subtitles are profuse with his biblical quotations prophesying that the days of visitation are come upon "Suicide Paradise." Following his wild predictions come fire, pestilence and death, and his prayer that the gambling joint may be destroyed is almost answered when a prayer by a very sweet girl, who owns the joint, having inherited it from her father, a gambler, brings rain, and her property is saved. The proprietor of the establishment, Faro Fan, is impersonated by Miss Dalton. Her role is that of a very good girl, who stakes a poor old rummy and is kind to children. She is not only a good girl, but a brave one during the fire, which burns several of the shacks, the pestilence brought by a diseased Mexican, the drunkenness of low characters and the scenes of death and attempted killing, which follow the evangelist's appearance at /'Suicide Paradise." Compensation for six reels of dark mood is found in the recovery of the evangelist's senses from a blow on the head the heroine gives him, and in a fondness she 'develops for him immediately thereafter. Cast. Faro Fan Dorothy Dalton Webster Smith Thomas Holding Spanish Ed Tully Marshall Hoodoo William Courtright Delicate Hanson Joseph Swickard Sugar Plum May Garcia Story by C. Gardiner Sullivan. Directed by Victor L. Schertingzer. The Story. Living among a lot of rough characters in forlorn "Suicide Paradise," Faro Fan, proprietor of the gambling house, is known as "The Lady of Red Butte," her kindness to children and forlorn men winning respect. Then comes out of the desert a self announced "Man of God." an evangelist crazed by over study, Webster Smith by name. He invoked the wrath of the Almighty upon the town, and particularly upon Faro Fan. He exhorts all to repent and bids the lame and halt come to him and be cured. Faro Fan decides he is an impostor when he fails to cifre a little lame girl. He pronounces a curse upon her and her saloon. He prays that the wretched place shall be purged by fire, and fire starts when a saloon-keeper attempts to fumigate his place after it has been visited by a diseased Mexican. The fire destroys a church the evangelist has attempted to build, but Fan prays for rain, and it comes in time to save her gambling house. The fanatic becomes enraged, and invades her place to destroy her. She hits him on the head in self-defence and restores his reason by the blow. He then redeems himself by starting across the desert for supplies for the children. Fan is attacked during his absence by the Mexican, who is half crazed for water. She repels him. In a second attack he is accidentally killed by a fall. Fan and Smith eventually learn to love each other. Program and Advertising Phrases: Dorothy Dalton as Star of Exciting Western Drama. See Dorothy Dalton as "The Lady of Red Butte," Keeper of a Gambling House. The Story of an Unusual Romance Between a Woman Gambling House Keeper and an Insane Minister. Unique Story of How a Gambling Queen Became a Minister's Bride After He Had Called Down the Curse of Heaven on Her. Advertising Angles: Give prominence to Miss Dalton and then seek to connect her with her new character of Faro Fan. Hammer on this and the various things she does to gain interest. Advertising Aids: Two each one, three and six-sheets. One 24-sheet. Lobby displays, 8x10, 11x14 and 22x28. Cuts from one to three columns on star and production. Advertising layout mats. Slides. Press book. Released May 11. v (Continued on Pave 1529.)