Camera (May 1922-April 1923)

CAMERA'S Weekly Wake-em-up SPECIAL NEWS SECTION SATURDAY, FEB. 24, 1923 PETER, THE HERMIT, STARS IN PICTURE WHICH PROMISES TO MAKE HIM A SECOND COUE By Charles Furthman That Emile Coue, the eminent French scientist, may have sharp competition in America was indicated to many people who attended the pre-view showing at Hollywood's Apollo Theatre of "Follow Me," a feature photoplay in which Peter the Hermit, the film colony's most unusual character, in a stellar role essays to visualize a message bidding all the sick and maimed to be well again. It is not beyond the range of possibility that this picture might bevelop into a veritable sensation, because there will be countless hundreds of men and women who will probably find it beneficial to mentality and physicjue to behold the unfolding of a story in which an extraordinary man divests himself of extraordinary ideas concerning the highest ideals. W. H. Clifford wrote and directed this pictureplay and It Is evident the real life of Peter, his central character, gave him his inspiration. To a good picture three things are very essential — a good story, a good story and lastly, a good story. It has been proved day after day in every possible way that nothing else is of much account. No good story can be so badly told as not to be better than a bad story told in any fashion. That is why there is still hope for the novices and less for the exhausted experts. "Follow Me" Is from the novices. If it were not for the fact that religious pictures are to be the coming thing for a while on the picture market, one would not have much to say about "Follow Me." The one subject upon which the whole human race is constantly concentrated is the matter of what is right and what is wrong. This picture teaches faith only and that alone. It gives no quarter to anything else. Science is cast abruptly aside. Every human being from the bishop to the bum, from the saint to the outcast, is concerned in one way or another with the theme of this simple, soulful little production. This picture, as a production, is a fair example of what the screen can do toward the interpretation of a real life theme. Peter Howard, who plays the part of Peter the Healer, depicts a good man both in soul and body and he is not in the least sorry for himself nor his calling, the story surrounds him with littleness, meanness and fakes, every form of trickery and selfishness comes in contact with him. The bright flame of his | laith in his God and everybody burns without a flicker. The whole thing with its simple conflict and romance is quite amazing, yet so self-evident, so utterly noble and yet so absolutely unconscious of its nobility that it grips you more gently but firmly than melodrama and squeezes your heart and soul and awakens your interest toward tlie divine more than pinch-back tragedy of the weak and helpless. It illustrates amateurishly how the screen ought to get over a preachment to the young and unsophisticated. There is no foreign tongue, medievalism, maudlin advertisement of piety, no suggestion of any peculiar fad or cult or church or creed. Just that there is a Supreme Being — nothing more. The titles have been echoed through the foothills of Hollywood by Peter the Hermit for some time. The part was nothing new to Peter, as he lives it in real life and he is looked upon by many of the natives as God's representative in the Movie World. He plays his part with an art that is little short of perfection. Pat O'Malley gets over his usual good work and nothing that we could say could hurt or help or help him with his large following of picture fans. The pulling back of the curtain after the showing of the picture gave one Irishman sitting next to me the idea that the production was being hissed, but we quickly informed him before he had time to kill anyone tliat it was the curtain rings that made the hissing sound. He then informed me he thought those Coo-Coo Clans were in the house and were up to some of their dirty work. One lone jealous writer even went so far as to volunteer to wager that the author of "Follow Me" had not seen the "Miracle Man" more than — twenty times or more. But no one is a fit judge to say what this picture will do or is going to do. One thing sure is Peter gave it his remarkable personality with a high ideal. "COVERED WAGON," DESPITE SURPRISING DEFECTS, BIDS FAIR TO PROVE SENSATION "The Covered Wagon" covers a multitude of elements which go to make up a great photoplay success and there is every indication it will be just that. Yet, the first three reels are marred by flat photography, the continuity is not up to standard and the construction is faulty to the extent that it failed to "get thoroughly under the skin" of its pre-view audience this week. This was partly due, no doubt, to the long, draggy titles and the further fact that they were too explanatory. Two reels could be cut from the picture to an advantage and the avidity with which Johnny Fox, the boy, is shoved into every scene possible should be made less prominent. The great outstanding saving grace of "The Covered Wagon" is the performance of the four male members of the cast. Particularly remarkable is the work of Alan Hale as the bad man, the Alan Hale, who scores a personal triumph in "The Covered Wagon." creator of ttie main piece-de-resistance. If anyone needed any convincing of Mr. Hale's consummate skill as a delineator of a breathing, living character of fiction to the maximum degree of perfection, that conviction is assured in this sterling artist's dramatic interpretation in this I)icture. Ernest Torrence, with a wonderful line of comedy relief, also scores a personal triumph. He proves he can do other tilings as well as he can perpetrate unprecedented villiany. And, Tully Marshall was not (railing far be hind as a pal to Torrence. J. Warren Kerrigan, who is the hero of the story, makes an auspicious "come-back" to the screen and one of the first impressions he gives you is, he has aged for the better. Of the women members of the cast, Lois Wilson is the most important and yet she has not anything to do except to walk in and out of close-ups. However, despite its surprising defects, many of which will undoubtedly be remedied before its release, "The Covered Wagon" bids fair to be a sure-fire attraction with the masses. The last half of it moves so swiftly and is so exciting that one is prone to forget those first three reels. The several scenes between Hale and Torrence are classics with both artists at their best. The big fight between Hale and Kerrigan is a marvel of realism. The prairie fire is aweinspiring and the buffalo hunt is one of the greatest achievements of the contemporary screen. The William Tell sequence between Torrence and Marshall deserves special mention and the attack by the Indians is a genuijie thriller. Events coincident to all of these high spots grip and hold fast, and cause you to bieath admiration for the director, James Cruze, whose tasks were .so obviously herculean. One of the inexplicable things about the whole thing is, why do they give the late Theodore Roosevelt all the credit for blazing the trails to the great Northwest? What about Fremont, who made five i)erilous expeditions and finally made the great survey for the Government. Why forget Daniel Boone and many others equally courageous trailblazers of days before the revered Roosevelt's time? Fight Stadium Much Filmed Tlie Hollywood Stadium, better known as "Hollywood's Friday evening retreat," is being figured in film production.^ regularly these days. Director Tom Mills, who is producing a scries of pictuics for Clioirc Productions, used the Stadium as a "location" last week, using twentytwo World War Veterans. The outstanding mystery of Hollywood: Who the dickens is the "Look-Out" on Graunian's Egyi)tian Theatre?