Pictures and the Picturegoer (Jan-Dec 1924)

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12 Picture s and Pi chare pver JANUARY 1924 Above : Panniers and a picture hat turn pepful Priscilla Dean into a very grande dame indeed. Right : Burly Victor MacLaglen carries off this sort of thing as though to the manner bom. of hers when she dons long skirts and trains, which is all too seldom. Reputation showed her in Gainsborough garb, a veritable " Lady of Quality." Yet now that this story has been filmed by Priscilla's late Company, the role is filled by Virginia Valli. A movie-maker's mistake which will cause much indignant ink to flow. Marguerite De La Motte, Pola Negri, both Gish girls, Alice Terry, Alma Rubens, Barbara La Marr, and many of the younger stars make delightful " oldtimers." But Patsy Ruth Miller makes just an American flapper of " Esmeralda." My tastes may be low but I honestly liked the old Fox fourreeler better than the mammoth Universal production extant to-day. Lon Chaney's " Quasimodo " is a triumph of make-up rather than of miming, Cesare Gravina was a more human " Hunchback," if less meticulously correct to the last twist. On the whole, British stars wear the finery of a far off era more convincingly than Americans. Too convincingly at times, like Gladys Cooper who complains that they won't let her be a serial star or even play a modern heroine in movies because she looks so romantically beautiful. So does Fay Compton, but Fay is Eve incarnate, and would cast a glamour of romance over a red flannel dressing gown and carpet slippers should she Romantic raiment and Ramon Novarro reign supreme in " Scaramouchc." -Top left: A far cry from "I Will Repay," is Flora Le Breton's " Maggie " in "A Soul's An-akening." Above: Madge Bellamy as " Lorna Doone." ever be called upon to publicly appear in them. Wearing ancient costumes well is not solely confined to stars, on this side of the herring pond, anyway. Extra ladies and gentlemen in British films deserve special mention, especially those in Mary Queen of Scots. It seems that the whole movie world is engaged in the fascinating pastime of turning Time's wheel backwards. Jerkins, doublet and hose, crinolines, bustles and all the romantic regalia run riot in every Hollywood studio. Probably Passion, which arrived in America in December, 1920, gave the old wheel the first push, and it has been rolling faster and' faster ever since. However, America has made money out of costume stuff, although Europe found it unprofitable. It is a significant fact that Griffith, who did this sort of thing long ago, and had made only one costume romance since 1920 (Orphans of the Storm), has now reverted to it again in America. And Marion Davies will probably go on playing medieval maidens for the rest of her celluloid career. Because the kinema is still a child, although it has outgrown its swaddling clothes, it is playing with its new toy for all it is worth. And the game is so fascinating that it will be some time yet before it is relegated to the attic and filmland favours the new above the old. Josie P. Lederer.