Exhibitors Herald (Dec 1919)

EXHIBITORS HERALD A scene from D. W. Griffith's "Scarlet Days," a Paramount-Artcraft Picture. A word of praise !s deserved by Leonce Perret for splendid direction and by the producing organization for optically pleasing and altogether appropriate settings. SYNOPSIS: Kate, a daughter of the tenements, is taken into the home of Harry Bryant, playwright, trained in the things that she has been denied and brought to his intellectual level. Their marriage follows almost as a matter of course. For a time they are happy, until the leading lady of a new play which Bryant has written wins his attentions away from his wife. How she brings about his recognition of the wrong done and paves the way for the happy ending makes up the dramatic portion of the picture. Ora Carewe in LOOT Five-part drama; Universal. Directed by William Dowlan. Published in December. OPINION: Perhaps the best way to give an impression of the story value of "Loot" is to give brief chronicle of its purely story history. Arthur Somers Roche wrote it. It was not the first story that he had written. But it was his first "hit." It made the man. Before its publication his name, when it occurred in magazines, was included in the list of contributors well down toward the bottom in type of the usual pointage. Today his name is scrawled across the front page of the magazine lucky enough to carry one of his stories or serials. There are those who call it the best crook story ever written. Only one who had read them all could make that statement with finality. It is safe, however, to make it with a qualifying "one of." It certainly deserves that rating. The Universal picturization, if its entirety may be judged by the censored Chicago version, does the story justice. A crook story, a portion of it naturally went "by the board" when the whole was passed through the Chicago municipal machinery. Therefore, because the original print was not available for purposes of review, readers guided by these columns must be asked to accept a circumstantial estimate. The picture that Chicago may see is a good one. It has the little gaps and inconsistencies common to productions faring similarly. But the gist of the story is the same as in the original, and it must follow that the unmutilated print is a fine crook drama. SYNOPSIS: One Williams, in the employ of F. Aarbin, prominent New York jeweler, is in the power of "the Shadow," the real name of which powerful criminal is Atkins. When Bremer Carlow orders a valuable necklace for his fiancee and commissions Hildreth Wade to bring it to London Williams and Atkins determine to gain possession of it. Morn Light, a musical comedy star, is depended upon to help them in their plans and promises to do so, but an opportunity presents itself whereby, by betraying her confederates, she can wreak vengeance upon, informs Wade of the plot. Atkins gains the upper hand and, passing for Wade, secures the necklace. But Morn Light has had a chance to inform the authorities of the plot and the necklace finally reaches its proper destination. A Griffith Cast in SCARLET DAYS Six-part drama; Paramount-Artcraft. Directed by D. W. Griffith. Published in December. OPINION: "It's not what the man does, but the way he does it," the comment of a citizen of Chicago who had paid the stipulated admission fee to see "Scarlet Days" during its run at the Rose theatre, comes very close to telling the whole story for D. W. Griffith. It tells the story of "Scarlet Days," the picture, completely. Not that the story itself is an inconsequential thing. It is not. It is an actionable, logical, believable story. Its people are real people and its motivation natural at all times and interesting. It differs from the majority of the Griffith creations chiefly in that it deals with no vital subject and exerts no great influence for the correction of an existing condition. "Scarlet Days" is just fiction. There is no great moral purpose in its telling. It is meant simply to entertain. That it does. And when Griffith's aim is to entertain, Griffith's picture is entertainment. Richard Barthelmess, Clarine Seymour, Carol Dempster and George Fawcett have principal roles in the production. Ralph Graves, Walter Long and Eugenie Besserer also figure prominenly in its make-up. The locale is California in the sixties. The characters are characters that lived at that place and time, and the action involves the things that those people did. Place and people were interesting. So is the picture. SYNOPSIS: Rosy Nell, woman of the dance halls, in California during the early lawless days of that community, is wrongfully charged with the murder of one of her fellow entertainers. Because her daughter, who knows nothing of her mother's station in life, is to return the next day from her school in the East, Rosy Nell is granted three days of grace, the time to be spent in company with her daughter in a cabin near at hand. The three days pass happily, but the manager of the dance hall has seen the daughter and determined to have her for his own. The women barricade themselves in the cabin to resist capture, Alvarez, a young outlaw who has considerable local prestige coming to their assistance. John Randolph, who also loves the daughter, joins their side of the fight. The timely arrival of the sheriff brings about, after many complications, the happy ending. Lucy Cotton in THE MIRACLE OF LOVE Seven-part drama; Paramount-Artcraft. Directed by Robert Leonard. Published in December. OPINION : There are several good reasons why "The Miracle of Love" should leave in its wake a series of prosperous box offices and satisfied exhibitors. It is a business picture. In the first place, it is> a lavishly made and finely finished production. The story demanded extraordinary background and careful technical equipment. These have been provided without regard to expense or time. The optical aspect of the composition is all that can be desired. The story, a drama of English nobility and American money, is by Cosmo Hamilton, whose specialty is precisely this field of literature. His novel by the same name, aside from its popularity on the news stands, is being published serially in the Hearst newspapers. No medium of publicity covers a wider field. When the title of the picture appears in the advertising matter of a theatre, the majority of the persons who read that advertising will at once connect it with the novel. A great many of them will decide instanter that they want to see the picture. Lucy Cotton, the featured player, lacks the drawing power that will doubtless be hers after the circulation of the attraction throughout the nation. She is a talented young lady, good to look upon and skilled in the things that a star must possess to make her screen personality impressive. She is a valuable acquisition to the ranks of stardom. 71