Universal Weekly (1924-1936)

October 30, 1926 Universal Weekly 15 )n, Director Extraordinary Mrs. Emilie Johnson, who wrote "The Fourth Cwnmandvieni." one of the most popular English stage and screen stars and known in this country for his work with Barbara La Marr in "The White Monkey," and with Rod La Rocque in "Braveheart," Robert Agnew, one of the most popular juveniles in pictures, beautiful June Marlowe, who achieved so great a success in "The Old Soak," Wendell Phillips Franklin, one of the most remarkable child actors on the screen, Kathleen Meyers, Frank Elliot, Leigh Willard, Brady Cline, Catherine Wallace, Knute Erickson, Lorraine Rivers, Malcolm Jones and Stanley Taylor. Mother Love His Theme "The Fourth Commandment" deals with one of the most moving themes in drama — mother love. There is the love of the older mother for her son which arouses the jealousy of the son's wife. The wife leaves her husband's home when he refuses to put his mother out, and she in turn, when her son is grown, is faced with the cruelty of a jealous wife. With this theme Emory Johnson has worked out a powerful picture drama. It pulls at the heartstrings and drives home its message of "Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother." It will send everyone away resolved to be a little kinder and more thoughtful of his mother. The power of the message of "The Fourth Commandment" lies in the personal application of the story. "It might happen to you," points out Emory Johnson. So true to life is it that every spectator may find something of his own experiences in its smashing scenes. Its message to wives and mothers is sure to create wide discussion, more perhaps than any picture of its kind in recent years. The problem of the wife and the mother-in-law sharing the same home has proved one of the eternal problems of the human race. "Don't Cut a Foot" Said the Critics Those who have had the privilege of seeing the picture have been tremendously moved. When Emory Johnson prepared to show his work to a selected group in Los Angeles, after spending many hours editing and cutting it, he found that his total footage was considerably over the length required. Confronted by the problem of cutting out many of the scenes he was at a loss to choose which ones to eliminate for every foot of film seemed to have value. By careful selection, however, he at last had the picture titled and ready to show. Just before the screening an excited film editor whispered to Mr. Johnson, "There is still eight hundred feet more than the schedule." Johnson told him it would have to be run as it was and at the conclusion of the showing, he asked the reviewers what he should cut out. "Nothing," chorused the critics. "It's the best picture of its kind in years. Don't touch a foot of it." That was the verdict of Hollywood's professional critics, men and women who see the best pictures produced in the world each year, and that has been the verdict of the trade paper critics in New York who have recently seen the picture in the projection room of the Universal Home office. On page 39 you will find what the editor of the Daily Review thinks of it. Backed by Exploitation and Publicity "The Fourth Commandment" as well as being an artistic and dramatic triumph will prove a showman's picture. Mr. Johnson's sure-fire direction and Mrs. Johnson powerful story backed by an advertising, exploitation and publicity campaign worthy of the greatest super production will make this picture known to every moviegoer in the country. Once the picture is shown in a town, the discussion which it will start with publicize it far and wide. Emory Johnson, Belle Bennet and Arthur Todd, the cameraman, shooting a scene for "The Fourth Commandment" at close quarters.