Picture Play Magazine (Mar-Jul 1929)

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Tke Screen in ReViev? 69 beautiful though it is, tasteful and intelligent, the story is trite, much too long, and not altogether convincing. The result is a film that is moderately interesting, when we who admire Miss Banky had hoped that it would be important. With the war for a background, it traces the story of an innocent peasant girl, Marie Ducrot, of Alsace, who lives with her grandfather, tends his sheep, and is supposed to be betrothed to a wealthy landowner whom she dislikes. The early part of the picture is given over, rather lengthily, to the purpose of registering the beauty of the landscape and the guileless high spirits of Marie, to say nothing of giving the sheep plenty of exercise. However ■ A German regiment is billeted in the village, commanded by Lieutenant Count Karl von Hagcn, whose appearance leaves little doubt of what will happen to Marie when he pays ardent attention to her, and no doubt of his motives in the minds of the townspeople. She visits his room at night, where he is disarmed by her innocence and falls romantically in love with her. But Marie's indiscretion is observed, and the obvious surmise so incenses the villagers that they smear her cottage with pitch and all but brand her with the scarlet letter. Painfully she drags herself home to find her grandfather dead from shock and, half-crazed, she seeks refuge in a near-by convent. At the moment she is preparing to take the veil, Lieutenant Karl opportunely appears to repeat his vows of love and entreaty, and saves her from a bursting shell. The remainder requires no imagination to fill in. Miss Banky is lovely and convincing in all her phases. The purity of her features matches perfectly the innocence of the peasant heroine, and her vivacity is wholly charming. Altogether hers is a lovely performance. Walter Byron, the English "find," is, of course, Lieutenant Karl. He is tall, slim, and his regular features are personable, but it cannot be said that he is more than adequate— in this role at least — for he lacks that spark which distinguishes the exceptional player from the routine one. HoweA^er, in "Queen Kelly," with Gloria Swanson, he may develop it. Louis Wolheim, as the repulsive landowner, is, of course, excellent, and so are all the lesser players. Hark Ye, Gary Cooper Fans. The keen interest felt by many fans in Gary Cooper is due for a sharp rise when he is seen in "The Shopworn Angel." He is not the only high light in the picture, but it is safe to say that his name in the cast will be a deciding factor to those in doubt of its merit. There isn't any doubt at all that he is magnificent as William Tyler, the ingenuous soldier from the country, and that he has the good fortune to win this honor in a picture that is, for lack of a better phrase, a gem of purest ray serene. Like others in this limited category, it is a simple story. But it is told with such feeling, and presented with such artistry, that it is more thrilling emotionally than many a picture with the sweep and surge of armies. Furthermore, the two dialogue sequences really aid the picture, because they occur in emotional crises and do not retard the action. A quiet story, there is nevertheless a great deal of movement from the moment the screen discloses Nancy Carroll, as a predatory chorus girl protected by Paul Lukas, as Bailey. The girl, Daisy Heath, wakened in her luxurious apartment by the sound of military music, is annoyed by the marching soldiers. All this occurs in the early days of the war. Interest focuses on one of the soldiers, who stares at the skyscrapers. He has never seen one before, nor, as it later develops, has he ever had a sweetheart. Cleverly the soldier and the chorus girl are brought together when a policeman commandeers her car to take the boy to the ferry. Boasting of his friendship with a show girl, the soldier's bluff is called by his comrades, who force him to go to the stage door of the theater where Daisy is playing. Though hardboiled, she gets the boy out of his predicament by pretending that she knows him. Out of this grows the love of the Texan for the girl of Broadway. She suspects it as little as he suspects that Bailey is not the girl's guardian. Finally, when the soldier is about to go overseas, he asks Daisy to marry him. She tells Bailey the truth and he decently relinquishes her, without disillusioning the young fellow. The outcome of this should not be told, for it is impressive, poignant, and quite surprising. Enough to say that Mr. Cooper's voice does not disappoint, and its recording has much of the same individuality it has in real life. As mentioned before, he does not monopolize the honors. Nancy Carroll's performance leaves nothing to be desired. She is amazingly expert in achieving light and shade and veracity and her song at the end though a trivial ditty, is heartbreaking because of its implications. Mr. Lukas also is perfect, and Roscoe Karns, in a bit, is equally superlative. Just to heap on praises, the titles, too, are flawless. In short, see "The Shopworn Angel" even at the cost of missing every picture reviewed in this number of Picture Play. Immolation in the South Seas. The professional separation of Ronald Colman and Vilma Banky brings their individual pictures to the screen simultaneously, the latter in "The Awakening," which is reviewed elsewhere on this page, and the former Lily Damita, a glamorous newcomer from Paris, plays opposite Ronald Colman, in "The Rescue."