Variety (September 1924)

* MM PICTURES VARIETY 26 THE MAH WHO CAME BACK (Continued from pat* tea- ls a lot la their rotes lost on IS But tbo plctura Itself 1» sure-are at the box office, and It should mat •air make money for Fox. bat tar exhibitors. Tbo chances are that year's . tog; otherwiss tt would be ralrty safe to say that "The Maa Who Cam* Back" oould get imp— y here (or Id ^^TOE FEMALE Uikr Adapted from the Cynthia. Stockier etory. "Delia, the Lion Cub," Into a ananas soar by Johnaan. Betty Htm ill RIvoU. New York, week Am. XL Runntnj time, aboaet "i* ■! »«■, Dalla .........Betty Oases as n Col. Valewtlfc Warner Baxter Barend da Beer Noah Beery Cladah Han-teen .Beret**- Caaaaataai Clon Blrwn .Freeman Wood After seeing "Lily of the Dust" and Its highly sexful theme and now •viewing "The Female- and 1U ta- siaicss auggesUvesess. the auiestion arises whether WU1 Hays merely read the tlMes on Paramount'* "fa- mous forty' or whether he actually viewed the pictures. If he saw the rUms and really meant what he said about suggestlveaess on the screen, then the color In the lumber ia apparent, hut for him to lay * ban ort a serious problem play like "Tarnish" and to permit such flabby pieces ot pernicious trash as the tWo name3 above to s'.lp through la beyond « 1 Banner of reasoning. Unless of course he knew of Tar- nish" and not of toe others. - "The Female" tells the highly im- probable story of a semi-wild girl of Africa who sells her body and soul (possession to be given at the end of three years) to an old Boer of wealth. In reality she loves a Col. Valentla and Is also sought after by Clon Btron, a waxed- mustaehed nincompoop. Time after time the old husband walks into her bedroom—and she draws the curtain. Once he grabs her and tries to take her In his arms—and she threatens to Jump off a balcony. Another time she returns from King- land about two months before the three-year term Is up. and when the old boy asks If she now intends to live with .iim as wife, she tells him that there are yet so many days, hours and miautes before he gets her. And then, on the night before the husband comes Into pasSoartoa of his beautiful chattel, he ia con- veniently kilted during a lion hunt In the Jungle; Result—Cot Valentla sets the girl and her wish about the moon for a light, the sky for a roof and the earth for a be d and alons with the man ah* lo ves comes true. Showing that true love cornea to the patient and that virtue la rewarded, etc, quot erat demon- strandum. Mlaa CompsoB Is the Ctrl and she •pens her act la half-length dresses. Jumping into the big sets she dons a few tight waisted and figure re- vealing gowns. Near the finals a pair of riding breeches enc o mpass her and ons long scene is devoted to ValenUa's fondling of her leg fter she bad sprained aa ankle. larnar Baxter Is the Valentla and th Noah Beery as the rather pa- Btlc. old Boer la the best thing to b whole- piece. LSdiss Compson Is never called pon to do any acting and her nick- i e of "the Hon cub," through her fid early Ufa OB the veldt, seems more phoney than real She never fibks the rote, resembling Instead an Alfred Cheney Johnson portrait ■hakeup rather than a real wild kid. 'The general moral tone of this piece unfits It for family audiences and the long stretches that hold tiring qualities will not help It along with the first runs. In truth. It Is not first-run fodder. The mechan- ical end la perfectly handled, as in all F. P. product, but the mental end of this one went wrong. ■ On entertainment values of this picture itself, tt looks like the "fa- and the days of MB orphan, to to be shipped to Australia from Frisco. as that a wealthy aunt may take ears of him. On the way across a typhoon alts the tramper on which he Is sailing and be, ot all the crew, survives. Ob a raft aad with a oaths sails hrto an ratet of a Island. Attar being ashore far two mlsartss he Is poanced anon bycaanthsss. But becanse he fights back and doesn't seem afraid, they Shortly catch two good specimens of white men and are preparing a barbecue with the gang Invited. Tenng Hogaa. with one fell s noop of Ms heroic tsatsoctsa, wares the white saoa. keeps a buck cannibal from attacking the om w g h ier of one, aad finally, by andlng a radio set shoots out the 8 O a to a V. S. destroyer. This ship does a georgemcohaa with Its flag for the sake of the camera- man and applause, turns around and heads for the Island, arriving fust In time to rescue everyone from the dusky epicureans. .♦ Back the scone goes to Frisco Word of the story has been wire- lessed ahead. When Mickey arrives, a uniform is dropped aboard the destroyer from at aeroplane and he climbs np the docl: ss a cop in miniature. He la received by the force and put back once more under the guiding wing of his friend. Cap- tain McDavitt' That's all Qf the story, but the action moves with the rapidity of a gold digger and Interest never lags. The Island settings, moreover, are interesting, while Coogaa him- self turns in a corking performance filled with laughs and tears for the audience. At the Capitol Sunday It was eaten up by an audience sweltering with the. heat. Because ft Is such genuine and clean entertainment, there Is every reason to belle-re It will get a good reception all over the country. Its showing at the Capitol this week need not be taken too much to heart, as any picture would be affected by this torrid weather, ort on a normal week It will do business. 8ttk. FLLRTLbIG WITH LOVE fcr nee First National Pictures, Inc. From the •lory by Leroy Scott, directed by John made DUaan. Oeabea K o a la aad Conway TearJa (catered. B a nn i ng time, TS minutes. Shown at tan Strand, N. T., weak An*. SI. IBM. 0114a Lament C a na an Moan Wade Cameron Conway Tearle ■aim i Vaa Antes. Winifred Bryaen Bra. Cameron Francee Bajaeaaid Deck le.Harrison John Patrick Pranktyn Stone Alan Hnecee John Williams William OosM Henderson ...._ Sterna La BaMa spous forty" to reduced to tt disk. Just a llght-walsted story and picture production about on a par with the average run of tbo Unl- al program productions, so hardly worthy of a pre-release showing, if the picture had not Colleen Moore aad Conway Toarte it would not bo worthy ot playing the better houses at all. In this story the heroine Is a tem- peramental actress, risen from a buttonhole maker la a shirtwaist factory to the heights of stardom, but who has had four flops la a row. Her final play, decidedly risque, Is closed on Its second night by the police through the activity of a re- former. The story in reality deals with the actress* plan for revenge en the reformer, but Its final development Is that she confesses her love for Mm Tearle plays the reformer. Alan Roscue as the theatrical manager gives a corking performance. There are times when he even seems to overshadow tbo male lead. They are both of the same type and Ros- cos Is a capable actor. John Pat- rick plays the bubbling press agent convincingly. William Gould stands out as a distinctive typo. With the Moore-Tearle names In connection with It the picture may attract some money. OB Sunday night, the hottest of the year. It filled the Strand for the tee show. Fred. rodeo Hoxle gives a lty by his excellent work. As m QB tojr m the big venture* la outwitting the of 1 and Jack kid- in love. aad to suc- i rural with whom ho falls loves the carl Hoxle riding m the big him arrested tor abdactlsB em day of the r asas. Hoxle perswades the sheriff to troat htm and Is released la dm to start la the race, which ho despite the efforts of the cowponchers to rossgh htm. tbs race Slavtn steals the child and robs the gat*. Hoxle leads a posse In pursuit. Slavtn Is overtaken by Hoxle, who snatches the child from his arms on the edge of s cliff, over which SlavhVs horse plunges, "to allow tha principals to smite for the inevitable clinch and clo s e up . A fair picture for the easily pleased. Con. YOUTH FOR SALE C. C. Burr Production. Story by Bny- anond S. Harris, directed by Wen. Christy Cabanne. At the Broadway week Sent. L lea*. Bunnlnc tun*. 72 minutes Mrs. sunny Alice Cheptn aseUy Matter May ARfaan BUI S SOS e B ............... Tan Blake Connie Sutton sicrld Hnhnqnist Pansy Menra Dorothy Ahen wSBSm Archibald Charles Beyer Ten rowers tCmmett Mack Monty Beeck Btebnrd thSSssB ~ HI talis Hajnld P iahiy Just to time from marriage with the crook. a ngbt in aa automobile between the ascajliar crook (Osorgs Welling- ton) and the hero (Jay Morley) was ridiculous a piece of far-fetched melodramatic thrill h o kum -as tha has reflected ta some time. Both of the combatants are strug- gling furiously aa ever the open cor, neither making any ot- to handle the St soring wheel, the oar takes curves ssd winds road as were aboard. The work of On la a trying rote, and Jay Morley was virile and likeable leading man- cast as a whole Is fairly ade- te. hot the picture Is aa artificial aa near beer. There la nothing about this pic- ture that takes It out of the run of the ordinary. It is an independent production and therefore is entitled for a little more credit than If made by one of the big organisations For a bag organisation It would be ordinary, hot for aa Independent It is above the average. There are three names in the cast that can be played op—Kay Allison. Richard Bennett and SigrWi Hohnqulst. Rented at a price, the picture will get a little' money la the smaller houses, for the title has a box olBce value ta the neighborhood th eatr es and this coupled with the three names mentioned should draw. The production was made and la released by C. C. Burr, directed by Christy Cabanne, which means that tt was turned out la a harry and at a cost that was emits within reason. Raymond Harris, who turned out the story, furnished a script that Is quits stereotyped as to plot. It is the old, old story of chorus girls and Jasxy parties. There are two girls, both working In a department ore, and both live In the same boarding house, which le conducted by one of the girls. It to tbo other girl that first -eta a Job in the chorus, and to convince her friend that "that to the life" she Invites her to a party Where the girl friend takes a drink of hootch and goes blind. Then It la up to the chorus girl to marry the wealthy old John In order to get money enough to cure the blind girl. This brings about a happy ending all around. Not much of a story and not much of a picture aa far aa pictures go In this day of big ones, but a produc- tion that win get by In the smaller houses. May ATflson handlea what she has to do rather well, although she has pretty much lost her youthful fresh- ness. fllgrld Hohnqolst walks away with the honors of the picture easily, while among the men there Is no one except Richard Bennett who stands out. Emmett Mack, who plays the Juvenile lead la tha picture, seems entirely miscast. Frno". PAYING THE LIMIT THE KELLY GANG London. Aug. It. The British Board of Film Con- to supposed to ho strongly against Alms dealing with the lives of fanaous criminals. Having cre- ated a precedent by licensing "The Msua They Couldn't Hang." an abse- nts trite production, they recently declared andar no consideration would they license another "real life" crime film. Thin is probably why "The Kelly Gang" carries BO certificate. Its owners. "United Films and Theatres. Ltd. (Austra- lia)," need nave ao fear. They have a fine showman's proposition, and as the picture is Intended as a rood spow they will probably get away from the censorial authority, al- though managers of popular klnemas will doubtless fight to book It. Made by Harry Southwell for the Australian Players, ths picture Is said to be founded on fact and taken on the exact locations. This "pub- licity" stunt we need not quibble at, but Southwell can be congratu- lated upon turning out a fine dra- matic story and carefully refraining from any temptation to sensational- ism for sensationalism's sake. He has handled his story admirably, and while extenuating nothing by the Introduction of love affairs or the canonization of his bushranger heroes he manages to win the sym- pathy of his audience for the Kellys In their long fight with the police. His production work Is remarkably good and the many really beautiful scenes and "shots" he uses have rarely been equaled. The riding In the feature Is also superb. The in- terior settings are poor and unreal- istic, but the burning of the Ian at Glenrowan Is a fine example of ac- tually doing things without the aid of "close up" models or fake. The light actually rages round the burn- ing Inn, and several quite ordinary "shots" leave no doubt aa to tha genuineness of the conflagration. The story of the Ned Kelly gang Is history, and whoever^ adapted It for the screen has kept close to the known facts. There Is the threat- ened arrest of one of the boys for horse-stealing, his flight with the elder brother, Ned, to the mountains, and their Joining up with ths al- ready outlawed Byrne and ,Hart. The rest of the feature shows the heroism of their womenfolk, the cowardliness of a common informer, the pluck of both police and out- laws, and Ned Kelly's final stand In the armor he had made out of plow- shares and the like. At the end. probably to put a little oil over on the censorship, Southwell tries to kin his picture by the insertion of two trite and tawdry sub-titles pointing a moral lesson. These are easily removed, but their Introduc- tion sends an audience out dissatis- fied. He might Just as well have written In a scene la which a po- liceman gave the outlaws a free par- don and so paved the way to Ned Kelly finding a golden-locked girl "In the summertime." The acting, principally of tha typo order, la exceptionally good man, woman and child la ths pic- ture la perfectly natural and sin- cere. Doubtless the high-brow end ths captious critics will damn the feature whole-heartedly, but their anger will not affect the "hold up" at ths box office. PIXIE AT THE WHEEL London. Aug. M. Controned by the Phillips Film Company, produced by Loo Mor- rison, and featuring Peggy Worth, this series of six two meters are up to the average of their clans. As ths tltls denotes, motoring pro- vides the basis of ths stories which, however, do not rely solely upon motoring stunts for effectiveness. The sto ri es are an capital aad the continuity Is fair, although a little Judicious cutting would be a great Improvement. The direction hi. on the whole, good aad cars has been taken to give a beg diversity of scene. Tbo producer g oes astray, however, whoa ho allows a speed- ometer to register a mile a minute aad shows ths oar traveling at half the speed or teas. This, however. Is probably filmic license. Tbo s to r ies ton of ths adventures of Pixie OHara an tmsrlraa girl racing m ut e s 1st who, throogb finan- cial reverses, has bean compelled to become a Journalist Aa a new- comer to Journalism aha Is naturally assigned to Interview the Prune Minister who la, however, out of town. Being a "special" oa aa Important paper she Is beatea by this information and te ruminating on ths general rottenness of things whan she moats Charles Mgbert Cromwell, a nephew of a Bishop. whose natural aptitude for "speed- ing" has been hampered by having his license taken away for It months and a $150 fins. They be- come acquainted through 'Charles' oar and he suggests sbe drive him back to town. She agrees. On their way they see an aero- plane descend aad to Plate's sur- prise the passenger to the Prime Minister. She remembers her Job as a Journalist aad makes him con- sent her paper ahail have the ex- claatve story of the negotiations hs to carrying through. Than she drives htm to the Foreign Office. True to tha word of a P r im s Min- ister (no P. M. ever makes prom- ises he cannot or won't fulfill) bo gives her the story and she tears off to her paper. Arriving at the office she learea Charles outside while aha gets on with her Job. Finishing she finds Charles has gone but has left a note giving her the use of the car for ths IS months he te barred from aaing «. With ths aid of tha ear Plxis achieves wonderful feats far bar paper white the dawa of true love takes Its usual screen course. Much of the attractiveness of this series win bo found to sxlst in ths beautiful scenery used up In ths adventures. The hstasra work te very good. . Peggy Worth to quits acceptable aa Plxis aad without reaching stoJter distraction nuts the part over won. Walter Tennyson to ex- \ All Exhibitor* in Michigan Read our magazine _ Tuesday If you waat to reach this there te no Rates MICHIGAN FILM REVIEW JACOB SMITH, Publisher 416 Free Press Bldo, OCTROfT NEW ADDBBBB Oereoa Meter** Corporation Produc- tion, written and directed by Tarn Olbscn Festering Ore Cerew. At Lowers, Hew Tork. Ana. M, aa half a* double bill, i COMING 800N DARING CHANCES TTntTtCwsml aPre^octlrwi, ewtdtfTsflifr efaatflk Hoxle. HaK «/ a deebte tenters kill el Loew'e, New Tork. An*. 3S> Banning eirae 40 mine. EOBIKSOIi CEUSOE, JR. Mctro-Oeldwyn pkotara aturias Jackie Coog&n. adapted tram a story by WUlanl Mack. Isweatli by Bdweraf Cttae and eupervleed by Jack Ooogan, Br. At the CspUol, New Tork. week An*, tl. Run- nine; tune, U minutes. Captain McDeuriet Caputs Dynes Mlraman ....Noble i Ussnitl ..............Tola Adolpha Bchmidt Bart Sprotta Qretta Schmidt dlorta Orey SBckey llogan Jackie OSosnn 'Since the dop of "A Boy of Wanders." some doubt had been ex- ressed as to whether young Dogan's life aa a b. o. attraction is over, but_arlth the showing of .•lttte Roidnson Crusoe" tt is a safe it that as long as the kid keeps lall and la fed a few more stories <e this he'll be as good ss he was ths' start. ^ This one Is wild, improbable, be- iBolc and melodramatic and with Coogan as Mickey Hogan, the aop Of a acrappint, Irish policeman, *terx*jjuau;tPKKbeKi«.tJaL»f« Just as nicely as It ased to ia bV A fair program addition featur- ing Jack Hoxle. who has become liaasttgad v uh Westerns. Hoxle is a wen-built hard-riding, athletic leading man and in this picture Is given many opportunities. Ths story Is far-fetched and the dramatics as overdone as In the usual picture of tins type, but Banal ng Tha air.. The Man. Lewden... May. Davis..... Boden.... Ole Be Jean.. U minutes. ................ .Ore Carew Jny Mcrley ..••..•••... .Bddle ryBnen Helen nbwell .— Geirse Welllnjr;.in >.......... Dick La Ileno Stanley Saatord Btephe .Hal Another bokey pokey picture with a rambling plot technically all wrrmr and for the peasants strictly. The story concerns the stre ets of aa ex- convict (Ora Carew) to live down her past. . She becomes a domestic in a wealthy lumberman's house. Thers Is a -heft by the lover -croolt of the daughter of the house. Her past is disclosed and she is sus- pected. Sbe follows and exposes the J real culprits, saving ths daughter I u 8eaaon 1924-1925—Thirty First-Run Pictures"