Variety (September 1918)

49 MOVING PICTURE PECK'S BAD GIRL. Minnie Peck Mabel Norm«nd Dick Earle Foxe Hortense Martlnot Cortnne Barker Miss Olivia Blanche Davenport Adam Raskell Leslie Hunt Peck E. M. Favor Pearson Edwin Biurets "Walker Joseph Granby A capital picture, and one showing Mabel Normand off to greatest advantage Is "Peck's Bad Girl," a Goldwyn feature seen at private showing. It la not only funny, In a healthy, old-fashioned way, but It Is also quite melo- dramatic In spots and then, by way of va- riety, a pretty little love element Is Injected. Minnie Peck Is a very bad girl indeed. She Interferes with tbs hose of the village fire de- partment to the discomfiture of the fire lad- dies, and she puts a sign on the bank which results in a run on that stable Institution. Saved from reform school by the friendly in- tercession of a -kind-hearted woman, she se- cures a position as model with Miss Hortense Martlnot, a modiste from New York. She. makes a comedy model. Indeed, alternately affronting Hortense's customers and falling over ber train. She also engages in a flirta- tion with Dick, a city stranger, who has coma to the village to sell fake Jewelry. Going to the shop one night on a forgotten errand she discovers two "slick" looking men tunneling from cellar to cellar on their way to the vaults of the bank. Hortense enters at this Juncture In a most suspicious manner, and it dawns upon Minnie that shs Is Intent upon making a get-away herself, and is In league wltb the robbers. So Minnie makes her em- ployer s prisoner in the closet, and with the timely aid of Dick captures the men. Dick turns out to have been on the trail of the gang, while Minnie finds herself a heroine. And then Dick puts a ring with a real stone on ber finger. Miss Normand Is one of the best comedien- nes on the screen, and there are few artists who can get a laugh with quicker readiness. In "Peck's Bad Girl" she baa a vehicle un- commonly well suited to ber peculiar talents). Earle Foxe as Dick renders good support, and Corinne Barker as the wily Hortense could not have been better cast. All the village characters are admirably played, and the direction is perfect. The village, built In the Goldwyn yard at Fort Lee, Is a triumph. JUST FOR TONIGHT. Theodore Whitney, Jr. Tom Moore Betty Blake.. Lucy Fox Crandall Henry Sedley Major Blackburn Henry Hallam Theodore Whitney, Br Robert Broderlck Lady Roxenbam Ethel Grey Terry Detective Chase Edwin Sturgls Butler Pbll Ryley Mrs. Blackburn Maude Turner Gordon Theodore Whitney, Jr. (Tom Moore), In "Just for Tonlgbt" (Goldwyn). lets himself In for all sorts of adventures when be goes seek- ing the acquaintance of a pretty girl who lives somewhere near New York In a great country bouse, whisking over the country roads In a rakish looking car. And Theodore should have been trying to recover an old stock certificate, really the property of bis father, ■which decorates the walls of a road house and which has recently recovered Its former value. But Theodore will go philandering and the certificate disappears. These things hap- pen in the picture, and much more. Betty Blake, who young Wbltney admires, lives with her uncle. Major Blackburn. There having been a Jewel robbery In the bouse, and Betty having been seen talking to a strange looking man In the shrubbery, she Is looked upon as the culprit by the detectives. They are immediately dismissed, but an Insur- ance company decides to send a sleuth to tbs Major's house on Us own book, and In the guise of an English lord. Knowing the detective as- signed to the Job, young Whitney pays him one - thousand dollars to let blm bave^the Job. He goes to the bouse as Lord Roxenham and Is cordially received. But the butler soon' de- tects the deception and telephones to New York for a woman supposed to be the real Lady Roxenbam and wife of the man Whit- ney Is Impersonating. Lady Roxenbam comes, but she and Whitney decide to carry on the deception for the evening. In the night Whitney finds his supposed wife stealing a necklace from the safe, and after arous- ing the house discovers that she and the butler are a notorious pair of thieves. And Betty produces the certificate, wblcb ac- counts for her conversations wltb the mys- terious man. And Whitney marries Betty, which all the fans know will happen from the start. Tom Moore is happily cast as the winning, fearless Whitney, and Lucy Fox as Betty Is an admirable foil. Good support and good direction help in making this an excellent picture. BY HOOK OR CROOK. Frederic Prltchard Carlyle Black-well Gloria Ncvins.... Evelyn Greeley Frederic Prltchard, Sr Jsck Drumler Mrs. Prltchard Jennie Ellison Aunt Marie Nora Cecil Smlthson Frank Donne Mr*. NevlnsY...".Tl.'iTiV;.".V.:v.'.Alice Cbapin Henry Arnold... Henry Warwick Amusing five-reel World comedy, In which Csrlyle Blackwell and Evelyn Greeley are fea- tured. These two young stars are always seen to better advantage In this type of photoplay. The story while Improbable Is interesting and there are many laughs distributed. The pho- tography Is clear and sharp, with pleasing ex- teriors, the lndocr scenoa are all that the lis- ture requires. While there are a number of close-ups the pictures of the two start are lot constantly thrown on the screen, merely with the Idea of getting Into tbs "light." Frederic Prltchard (Mr. Blackwell) the son of a wealthy father who bas never had to work and abhors anything which might suggest ex- ertion, Is very funny at times, particularly when his father Is about to cut him off. Toung Prltchard receives the calling down with a mixture of penitence and boredom and takes his father seriously. The result Is he decides to become a burglar. One of the best characters Is Smlthson, the butler (Frank Doane). He Is always at bis ■aster's sail, tad also his partner la hla salt- alght exploits while be Is burglarlag. THE BRAZEN BEAUTY. An exaggerated Universal comedy—almost a farce—featuring Prlscllla Doan, seen at the Circle. The story Is far-fetched, but this does not altogether detract from Its amusing fea- tures. There Is line photograph and the settings are handsome. Miss Dean Is an orphan, left wltb untold millions; her father, a Montana silver miner, having died during ber Infancy. The early scenes show her life In s mining town of which she soon grows tired. From the second reel on, tells of bar efforts to conquer New Tork and Inject harself Into a certain country elub colony. , She Is a wild, untamed creature, but able to get away with some daring exploits because of her wealth. She believes In calling a spade a spads, and when one young man proposes to her, Informs him when she marries she is going to wed a man and not a degenerate. She gives him a right hook and sends him about his business. But Prlscllla Is finally tamed by the man of ber choice and In the final scene they are In a clinch. There are many amusing situations and . "The Braien Beauty" 'should be a good pro- gram feature. It is clean and full of good, healthy laughs. Is Your Mill On a Stream That Never RunsJDrv? HpHE wise miller gets his power A from a stream he can depend upon—one that furnishes steady power in the droughts of summer as well as in the floods of spring. Exhibitors are like millers. They depend upon producers for the power that runs their theatres. To be successful, a theatre must be furnished with a constant stream of uniformly good motion pictures. Month in and month out the stream must continue. An "in and out" stream makes an "in and out" theatre- holding nobody's good will, nobody's steady patronage. The Paramount and Artcraft exhibitor has put his mill on a stream that never runs dry. It's a Niagara of power, unceasing, steadily performing the work intrusted to it The greatest springs combine to feed this mighty stream, thousands of exhibi- tors use its power. at ' *S a , * it *». f 7- v i. twjva -. There's still more room along the bank- Come set up your mill! J7- i FAMOUS PLAYERS -LASRY CORPORATION - ADOlPHZUK0RPr»*JKSSKLIASn^Wc»Prv»C*XJlRr«MILIJEZ?/TVcftrr -v <-N*W YOUIO •