The Moving Picture Weekly (1917-1919)

JF the manager of William Fox's Bedford Theatre over in Brooklyn, instructed all of the trolley conductors in the City of the Trolley Dodgers the kid was clever, that's all. But whether he did or not, the conductors on the St. John's Street line, which runs by the Bedford Theatre, did an unprecedented thing. When the car stopped at the corner the conductor shouted, "Bedford Theatre 'Blind Husbands,' all out." The manager was watching to see how the stunt worked and he says that in almost every instance everybody got out and bought tickets. There is nothing very strange about this. The long standing record at the Academy of Music, Fox's biggest house on Manhattan, was broken by "Blind Husbands." It has been playing all over the Fox circuit with the same phenominal success. It always gets a great deal more applause than the vaudeville acts. They went wild over the picture at the Audubon Theatre. "Blind Husbands" is a picture that even the hard boiled exhibitors come into the exchange and brag about. It takes a pretty good picture to make an exhibitor, whose instinct is to say his business is rotten so that he will not have to pay so much for his rentals, to come into an exchange and tell the manager what a wonderful business he did. That's the kind of picture "Blind Husbands" is. Brings Out First Success on Screen By POLLY PRINCE in The Boston Evening Record of Jan. 22, 1920. "Blind Husbands," which is heralded as "von Stroheim's wonder play," and now being shown at the Boston Theatre, is one of the very few pictures that live up to its billing. It is the tale of love, life and death in the Austrian Alps, and features Erich von Stroheim and Francelia Billington, who looks a great deal like Lillian Gish, in the leads. They are ably supported by Sam de Grasse and H. Gibson-Gowland. The director himself is Austrian by birth. He has the continental viewpoint. The screen needs more of this sort of thin«r to save it from puerility and futility. i |i I Polly Prince He brings to the screen, also, a new sort of villain, which try as hard as you will, you cannot get very mad at and you feel awfully sorry when Dr. Armstrong leaves him on "The Pinnacle," where he finally plunges to his death. There are some very delicious human bits, one, when Dr. Armstrong and Lieut, von Steuben, played by von Stroheim, have just successfully climbed over a very dangerous part of the mountains. Both men, quite elated, throw their arms around each other's neck, like a couple of youngsters. Another, when, after they have reached their goal, von Stroheim flops over on the ground and refuses to enthuse over the glories of nature. The story, which was originally called "The Pinnacle," tells of a very unwise American doctor who did not know women, and a very foolish young Austrian, who did. The American's wife hungers for the caresses of their pre-nuptial days. The young Austrian is her shadow, attending her with shawls and pillows, and presenting expensive gifts that her husband would not buy. He manages to get into her room and she promises that she will yield to him, that evening. The promise is made to save herself, then, which she later tells him in a note that her husband discovers in the lieutenant's coat when they are on the mountain top. Von Steuben snatches it from him and throws it away. He demands an explanation, and the frightened soldier lies, saying that Mrs. Armstrong had accepted his advances. The doctor starts to make the descent alone, telling von Steuben that "no power of man or God could make me take you down." Descending he finds his wife's letter that von Steuben had dashed out of his hand. He now knows that the pair are innocent and the Austrian had lied to save his life. A searching party goes to rescue the young man, but it is too late. Von Stroheim is to be congratulated, as this is his first picture. If the stories we hear from the coast are true, he has not had a path of roses. "Blind Husbands" is one of the finest photoplays that has ever been on the market. Direction and acting are perfect. One forgets that one is watching a picture, which is the best compliment we can pay the young author — actor-director.