Screenland (Oct 1923-Mar 1924)

54 SCMEENLAN© When Knighthood Was in Flower, Where the Pavement Ends , and Peter the Great were significant "Covered Wagon" Scores Then the prize picture of this kind appeared. It was Emerson Hough's The Covered Wagon. While everyone in motion pictures seems to be willing to take the credit for this epic photoplay, we strongly suspect it was a lucky shot — and nothing more. One of those chance successes that come once in a life-time. Director James Cruze was sent with a company to Utah to make this story, a romance in the midst of a covered wagon's tortuous passage across the plains from the outposts of civilization to the Pacific Coast. But the slender romance was .swallowed up' in the midst of the panorama of pioneer hardihood. The wagon train had stolen the center of the screen away from an ingenue, much as the French Revolution swallowed up the petty tribulations of the Gish sisters in David Wark Griffith's Orphans of the Storm. History has a way of making mere humans seem very inconsequential. The Covered Wagon turned out to have epic sweep but we wonder, down in our hearts, what the studio staff thought of the picture when they first saw it in California. It is significant that two minor characters, a quaint scout of the plains, played by Ernest Torrence, and a sly old trader, portrayed by Tully Marshall, ran away with the production, along with the very personable wagon train. How many who see The Covered Wagon will remember much of the so-called "love interest" ? But who will forget that wagon train, fighting its way westward? One of the amusing things incident upon the success of The Covered Wagon is the fact that producers look upon it as indicative of a revival of interest in so-called "Westerns." It has given Buck Jones and other celluloid folk new heart. 7. "Robin Hood" 8. "When Knighthood Was in Flower" 9. "Peter the Great" 10. "Merry-Go-Round" 11. "Where the Pavement Ends" 12. "Down to the Sea in Ships" The Girl I Love actually deserves a place in this chosen list of twelve and can well be included, dividing honors with one of those named above. The Year's Best Playing The ten best performances of the year, to our way of thinking, were Florence Vidor in Main Street (although her playing of the title role of Alice Adams wasn't far behind), Ernest Torrence in The Covered Wagon, Mae Marsh in The White Rose, Emily Fitzroy in Driven, Rodolph Valentino in Blood and Sand, Charles Chaplin in The Pilgrim, Emil Jannings in Peter the Great, Charles Ray in The Girl I Love, John Sainpolis in The Hero and Myrtle Stedman in The Famous Mrs. Fair. Second lists are always interesting — and our second list of twelve leading pictures would number: The Bright Shawl, The Storm, Bella Donna, Grumpy, The Hero, Penrod and Sam, Enemies of Women, Mr. Billings Spends His Dime, Kick In, Fury, The Flirt and Timothy's Quest. And our list of the second ten performances of the year would be : Theodore Roberts in Grumpy, Richard Barthelmess in Fury, Florence Vidor in Alice Adams, Laurette Taylor in Peg 0' My Heart, William Powell in The Bright Shawl, Nita Naldi in Blood and Sand, Tully Marshall in The Covered Wagon, Ramon Novarro in Where the Pavement Ends, Erich Von Stroheim in Soids for Sale, and May McAvoy in Kick In. Game of Follow the Leader S o we are getting many Westerns, for the field of motion picture making is one of follow the leader. To this is due the many costume pictures. To this sheep reasoning, and the fact that a costume piece is a marvelous sop to the vanity and ego of an actor. Also to the fact that it gives a new outlet to a producer's propensity to spend money on big sets. But to return to our actual selection of the twelve best pictures of the year ending August 1st, 1923. They are: 1. "The Covered Wagon" 2. "Blood and Sand" 3. "Driven" 4. "The Pilgrim" 5. "Safety Last" 6. "Xanook of the North" I The Directors' Year n a directorial way, Fred Niblo and Rex Ingram alone NITA NALDI, MAY McAVOY, ANNA MAY • aaa—