Photoplay Magazine, January 1921 (anuary 1921)

64 Photoplay Magazine "Nomads of the North" is the newest of the James Oliver Curwood series of Northwest stories. Lon C taney and Betty Blythc carry the dramatic burden, while Lewis Stone is more incidental than he was to "The River's End." "Behold My Wife." screened from a Sir Gilbert Parker novel of another name, is the sort of romance that appeals to the prim- itive story-loving instincts. Elliott Dexter and Mabel Julienne Scott play the leading roles. "Once to Every Woman" is a story of a small town girl who achieves fame in opera abroad and then loses it back home, thanks to the persistence of a foreign suitor with a gun. Dorothy Phillips, as the star, is interesting. little lady who had married into the aristocracy from the stage, and wandered back for a week's trouping with her old compan- ions, just to revel again in the smell of the grease-paint and the excitement and fuss and muss of the theater—it has its moments. The scenes of Conrad's renewal of his acquaintance with Mrs. Adaile, and her discovery of him dozing in his chair the night which was to be devoted to the renewal of their most ardent youth, are splendidly done. There is much beauty in the pictures, and distinction in the playing. The cast in- cludes Margaret Loomis, Sylvia Ashton, Kathlyn-Williams, Mabel Van Buren and Mayme Kelso. THE SONG OF THE SOUL—Goldwyn THE pathos is a little strained in "The Song of the Soul," and not always logically achieved, but it is in many respects a beautiful picture. The assumption that a blind mother, after looking upon the face of her child, would voluntarily return to blindness to save her husband the shock of having her see his scarred features, or that because his features were marred she would cease to love him for the noble qualities of heart and soul he commanded, is not a convincing denouement. Nor is the husband's frequently reiterated fear that with her sight restored his wife would immediately be impelled to leave him inclined to strengthen one's admiration for his character, But the scenes in themselves are holding and well played, especially by Vivian Martin as the blind girl. The background, which is that of the everglades of Florida, is picturesque but excessively damp. It is not, as the camera catches it, either an attractive or a healthy place to live. Were I a Florida real estate agent I should feel like bringing suit for damages against the pro- ducers. This swampy, alligator-infested setting, combined with the uncomfortable feeling one gets from constantly visualizing the hidden scar on the hero's face, does not provide a happy evening in the theater, but it does strengthen the actuality of the proceedings. A trumped-up charge on which the neigh- bors threatened to lynch the hero is also a dragged-in incident that fails of its intended dramatic effect. John Noble is responsible for both the scenario and the direction, the story being taken from William J. Locke's "An Old World Romance." The cast is adequate and the baby a delight. THE SINS OF ROSANNE—Paramount-Artcraft THIS new Ethel Clayton picture varies the monotony by be- ing unusual—unusual in locale, which is that of a diamond mine settlement in Kimberley, S. A.; unusual in story, which relates the adventure of a young woman who was brought under the influence of a Malay "witch doctor" in her infancy, cursed with a love of diamonds and given an abnormal power of hating and hurting her enemies, and unusual in the "sins" of the title in that they do not refer to the lady's lapse of morals in the accepted or cinematographic sense. Rosanne thus becomes an interesting study in heroines, and though you rn.ay greet her spells under the baleful influence of the voodoo lady as a little extravagant you are always interested in the outcome. She is impelled to become the assistant to a diamond smuggler and acts as the go-between who carries the stones from the place where the kaffir boy hides them to the jewelry shop of the merchant w r ho sells them. He, naturally, is a bad boy, and though his advances are restrained until the last two reels, when he does make up his mind to have Ethel—he is most determined. Fortunately Jack Holt arrives on the scene in the well-known nick of time, gives the villain a good beating, and, the witch doctor having died and lost her power over the girl, carries her triumphantly to the altar. There are good performances by Miss Ethel, who is intense: by young Mr. Holt, Fontaine La Rue as the witch, and Mabel Von Buren as the mother. Tom Forman directed. NOMADS OF THE NORTH—First National IT is a well-named picture, this newest of the James Oliver Curwood great outdoor series. The seven tribes of Israel never did a better job of wandering than do the principal char- acters in "Nomads of the North." Corporal O'Connor of the Royal Mounted wanders in from 'way off yonder, thinking to marry Nanette, the storekeeper's daughter, but he dis- covers that Nanette is engaged to Raoul, the trapper, just then wandering the northern snows in search of pelts. So the