Exhibitors Herald (Dec 1921 - Mar 1922)

54 EXHIBITORS HERALD January 21, 1922 SPECIAL CAST IN JACK O'LANTERN (HODKINSON) Pleasing little comedy-drama adapted from Myrtle Reed's story "At the Sign of the Jack O'Lantern." Made by Renco Film Company, and directed by Lloyd Ingraham. Five reels in length. A scene from "Jack O'Lantern" (Hodkinson) There are many amusing moments in "Jack O' Lantern" — the story of a newly married couple who are harassed by a group of unwelcomed guests in their newly acquired home — and though slight of plot, it makes an acceptable hour's entertainment. It is well directed and the interest is never allowed to lag from the novel introduction, disclosing a cottage looking like an immense jack-o' lantern outlined in the storm, until the final scene where the happy couple gets rid of their "sponging" boarders. Earl Schenck has the principal role, that of a would-be writer, and Betty Ross Clark as the wife; Victor Totel, Wade Boteler, Clara Ward and others lend valuable assistance. Good subtitling and excellent photography are a strong point of the feature, although it is regrettable that the letters flashed upon the screen, of which there are quite a few, were not made more legible. Harlan Carr and his bride take up their home in a cottage left to them by Mr. Carr's uncle, Ebeneezer. Carr is engaged in the task of writing "the great American novel." The arrival of relatives and former friends of Uncle Ebeneezer's and his wife, hamper the work considerably and almost bankrupt the young couple. The family lawyer, as each guest arrives, delivers a letter of instruction to young Carr, and he is led to treat his unwelcome guests with deference until the worm turns and he orders them all out of the house. It is then he learns he has inherited an estate of $10,000 because he has done what his old Uncle never had the nerve to do. WILLIAM S. HART IN TRAVELIN' ON (PARAMOUNT) Just an average Western melodrama. Interesting at times but the action drags and the climax is most conventional. Director Lambert Hillyer made the most of a weak story. It is a seven part feature. There appears something a little unnatural in the forced situations in "Travelin* On," William S. Hart's latest opus, in which he plays the role of an itinerant Western cowboy who covets the wife of a traveling parson. The story (Til written by Mr. Hart, and while it has been given an artistic production, there is little or no appeal and the dramatic climaxes are long drawn out and do not come until the last reel. This is especially true of the storm scenes, where Hart, or "J. B.," as he is known, goes in search of Jocko, a monkey, who has strayed from the barn. There are the usual number of closeups of Hart in the half light, with eyes partly closed, peering quizically into the darkness or facing the town bully and telling him it is their "fourth and last meetin'." The Westerner is practically the whole picture, quick on the trigger and who finally rides into a saloon and cuts down the minister with his trusty six-shooter as he is about to be lynched. Ethel Grey Terry appears opposite him, together with a small but competent cast. "J. B." rides into Tumble Bluff and at once gets into an altercation with Dan Allen McGee, the proprietor of the Palace dance hall and saloon. McGee is determined to drive the new minister, who is erecting a church, out of town, and attempts to force his attentions on the minister's wife. She is saved by J. B. — not alone for social reasons but because he wants her for himself. He becomes friendly with the minister's child, and learns to spell from her primer. The minister's wife sells him a Bible and asks him to read it. The stage coach is held up and robbed and the criminal escapes on a "painted" pony belonging to J. B. The minister is accused of the crime by McGee, and is about to be hung, when J. B. rides in, cuts the minister down, and after "confessing" he held up the stage rides off into the desert, reading his Bible. Previously he had determined to abduct the minister's wife, but became conscience-stricken when he discovered McGee in her house on the same errand. WILLIAM RUSSELL IN THE ROOF TREE (FOX) Slow moving story of Kentucky and Virginia mountain country in which a brother assumes the blame for his sister's crime. There is a pleasing love story interwoven with the beautiful Sylvia Breamer in the role of Russell's sweetheart. Directed by Jack Dillon. Five reels. There was a woeful lack of story material here to build up an interesting fivereel feature and although William Russell, Sylvia Breamer, Florence Deshon, Robert Daly, Arthur Morrison and Al Freemont attempt to put life into the tale it drags lamentably. The story concerns a murder committed in Kentucky. A brute of a husband attacks his wife with a club and she shoots him. Her brother, Ken Thornton, the A Scene from "The Roof Tree" (Fox) part played by Russell, assumes the blame and flees to Virginia, where he takes another name. He falls in love with Dorothy Harper, who lives with her old grandfather in a cabin beneath the roof tree planted by Ken Thornton's grandparent, years before. A mountaineer in love with* Dorothy attempts to kill Ken, and. failing in this, tips off the authorities in Kentucky, who come and arrest him. Ken is freed from jail when his sister confesses that she shot in self-defense. He returns home and under the "roof tree" administers a good thrashing to Bass Rowlett, the mountaineer. Most of the action takes place beneath a prop tree about six feet thick. The storm scenes with the forked lightning effects were poorly done, and there was considerable footage devoted to minor bits. SPECIAL CAST IN THREE LIVE GHOSTS (PARAMOUNT) "Three Live Ghosts," the first Paramount picture made abroad by George Fitzmaurice, provides six reels of good entertainment. It tells an interesting post-war story in a humorous way. Photography is exceptional. Frederic S. Isham's big Broadway stage success, "Three Live Ghosts," shows improvement as an entertainment feature by its transformation into a photoplay by George Fitzmaurice. The adaptation was made by Ouida Bergere, and the clever manner in which she has injected new melodrama and motion picture lore, for the original dialogue, has added much to the picture. The locale of the story is in London and its environs and deals with the return of three "missing" soldiers who have escaped from a German prison, arriving as stowaways in London on Armistice night. Of the three returned soldiers one is an English nobleman, one a Cockney and the third an American. The English nobleman is suffering from loss of memory as the result of shell shock; the Cockney, who has been listed among the fatalities, must remain "dead" owing to the fact that his mother had collected his insurance money; and the American decides to remain "dead" because of trouble with the girl he loves. Hence the three live "ghosts." The unusual conditions are prolific of many interesting and humorous entanglements, and none of the possibilities have been overlooked by the director. The nobleman, suffering from shell shock, is given to fits of kleptomania, and during one of these, enters a mansion, attires himself in fine raiment and jewelry, and then carries off a baby in a perambulator. With this and a lamb he has gathered in while crossing Hyde Park, the nobleman returns to the Whitechapel home of the Cockney, where the three soldiers arc stopping. There more complications ensue, involving the American and the Cockney, and the unscrambling of the entanglement brings about a happy ending for all. The Englishman learns that he has robbed his own home and stolen his own baby, the American and his sweetheart are reconciled and he is freed of a charge made unjustly against him, and the Cockney and his insurance matters are squared up. The picture is happily cast with Norman Kerry, Edmund Goulding and Cyril Chadwick as the returned soldiers. Others in the cast are Anna Q. Nilsson, Clare Greet, Annette Benson, Dorothy Fane, John Miltern and Windham Guise.