Canadian Moving Picture Digest (May 1925-May 1926)

TORONTO, ONTARIO. Pictures in Toronto By HECTOR CHARLESWORTH Wr will producers stick meaningless titles on otherwise excellent screen plays? For instance there 1s “The Confessions of a Queen,” in which the leading female character confesses nothing because there is nothing to confess. Can it be that despite Mr. Hays’ moral ideals, producers still like to rouse public interest with a hint of something “spicev” where nothing of the kind exists? Apart from its fool title “The Confessions of a Queen” is one of the best movie plays that has been seen here in a long time. It was made by Victor Seastrom, who did excellent work in adapting the actual idea and atmosphere of Andreyev’s famous tragedy “He Who Gets Slapped” while departing widely from the original episodes. This time he had another fine original.on which to exercise his talents; Alphonse Daudet’s famous romance “Kings in Exile.” Long before the great war was thought of, Paris and Switzerland were refuges of many deposed potentates from Eastern Europe; and though the novel was written forty years ago the condition prevails more extensively than ever. Illyria, which is the ancient name of a portion of the territory now known as the Balkans, is an excellent choice for the name of the imaginary land in which the revolution which plays so important a part in the action is staged. In this case the dissolute King Christian richly deserves to be deposed from a throne which he dishonors by outrageous misconduct , and his queen, Fredericka, has much to bear. Very skilfully however it is revealed that as a private gentleman with none of the cares of a petty state, Christian can be a better man, and the climax comes when he is reallv master of the affections of his patient wife. ‘The tale is full of interest and is unfolded in a most admirable way, with little or none of the hokum which sometimes makes stories of mythical monarchies mawkish. The real strength of “The Confessions of a Queen” as a public attraction, lies in the fine and distinguished acting of Lewis Stone who plays the exiled King. Always excellent, Mr. Stone surpasses himself in the subtlety and distinction with which he brings out the human traits of this weak but loveable character. Moreover, he really suggests a prince of the blood. Alice Kerry is tender and gracious as the Queen but is rather overshadowed by brilliance of her screen partner. Many of the minor roles are excellently played. John Bowers gives the requisite suggestion of caddishness to the intriguing Prince Alexei without diminishing his dignity; and Helena d’Algy is admirably sinister as an agent of the revolutionists. Good direction is in fact apparent everywhere. x ok OF Ok Domestic infelicity has furnished material for hundreds of film dramas ; but in “Playing with Souls” the theme is given a new twist: and one of extreme importance in all considerations of the subject; the effect of such a situation on the offspring of a marriage. The creators of the picture stick closely to this idea from first to last and it gives interest and consistency to the action. Matthew Dale, senior, and his wife Amy, quarrel and separate when the boy is a mere babe. Both are selfish and the mother is thoroughly irresponsible. Their boy, Matthew, jr. is sent abroad to school, provided with plenty of money but deprived of the home influences that might have been a corrective on dlissolute self-willed tendencies he naturally inherits. The youth grows to manhood, embittered by loneliness and naturally at the age of twenty sets out to be as dissipated a young bounder as the American colony ‘n Europe can produce, though he finds little pleasure in this life because of his rooted bitterness. The father, when he learns that his son is going to the bad, suffers a revulsion of feeling. His nature is stirred into an effort to reclaim the neglected youth; though the mother 1s still worthless. There is a stirring climax when the mother who in her search for excitement has become a habitue of a gambling hell, starts a flirtation with a gilded youth she does not know to be her own son. The arrival of the father on the scene brings about mutual recognition and a realization of the abyss which opened before everybody in the family. We are asked to believe that the effect en both was reformatory as indeed it ought to be. Three different actors show the successive stages of young Matthew Dale; the child of four, Helen Page; the school boy of 12, Don Marion, and the wastrel of 20, Buster Collier, who is excellent. The father and mother are acted by Clive Brook and Belle Bennett, and Jacqueline Logan and Mary Astor have important roles. x ok ok OX “Secrets of the Night’ has a title Page Vive which many lead some playgoers to think that it deals with the slums and what George R. Sims used to call “the roses and raptures of vice.” It is nothing of the kind. In reality it is a mystery play with a comic twist to it. It is based on a play called “The Night Cap” written five years ago when the success of “The Bat” had created a vogue for such plays; and many pieces including “The Cat and the Canary” as well as “The Night Cap,’ were concocted to meet the popular theatrical fashion. The screen version has a great deal more farce interpadded into its development than had the original but the basic mystery is very well sustained until a surprise ending brings an effective climax. At the outset a group of financiers who have reason to think their bank is about to fail and that they will be sent to prison, is introduced. The death of one who is insured for half a million would be a solution of the difficulty and he challenges his partners to kill him and get the money. Presently the rumor spreads that he has been shot and when a squad of detectives, not particularly intelligent, start to investigate, they are embarrassed with a multitude of suspects. It turns out that there were plenty of people that had reasonable motives for putting the victim out of the way, apart from the bank trouble. At one time or another half the characters in the cast seem to be probable murderers and are placed under arrest. In the further developments the morbid elements of such a story are evaded and the fun is stressed so that it proves very entertaining. James Kirkwood plays the character around whom the chief interest hangs interestingly, Madge Bellamy is a pleasing heroine and good acting 1s provided by Tom Ricketts, Tom S. Guise, A.S. Hull and others. * * * “The Denial,” in which Claire Windsor is the featured actress, is a truly romantic love story of a type which always brings enjoyment to a majority of people. It has a feature which always provides fascination, for it first provides a love story of thirty years ago and then shows its reflex at the present time. The love making of the mothers of the girls of to-day is presented with taste and sincerity in contrast with the modes of courtship in 1925. but the old instinct and the wav of a man with a maid, are shown to be unchangeable. Though pleasant in sentiment “The Denial” is not mawkish. Claire Windsor is always pleasing, and there is another member of the cast not so widely known, Lucille Ricksen, who is clever and attractive. The male contingent including Robert Agnew, Bert Roach, William Haines and Edward Connolly are also magnetic and efficient. Before_Buying Pictures Read The Digest Advertising Pages. eueat