Exhibitors Herald (Dec 1921 - Mar 1922)

January 28, 1922 EXHIBITORS HERALD 69 MARIE PREVOST IN DON'T GET PERSONAL (UNIVERSAL) A clever little comedy with Miss Prevost its particularly bright and scintillating star. Many laughs tucked away in the well-written subtitles. A picture that will please and build business for any house. Five reels Marie Prevost in "Don't Get Personal" (Universal) Universal has started the new year off with a new writer, I. R. Ving, who has furnished an amusing, though light comedy for the trim Miss Prevost, and Clarence Badger has given it his best in the way of direction. And there is the added attraction of T. Roy Barnes in her support, who in turn is supported by George Nichols, Daisv Robinson, Rov Atwell, Ralph McCullough, Del Lorlee, Sadie Gordon, and Mack Sennett's famouse dog, "Teddy." In fact "Teddy" romps off with part of the honors and his screen work will tickle the kiddies. It is well photographed and the sets are sumptuous and well arranged. | The story concerns Patricia Parker, a Broadway chorus girl, who is sent to a small town to visit the Wainwrights. Here she finds an old-fashioned daughter, Emily, and John Wainwright, a studious son. She amuses herself with her ukulele and flirts with the daughter's beau, Horace Kane. Finally young Wainwright falls in love with Patricia but does not • disclose his feelings toward her until he suspects she is in love with young Jim1 mie Barton, a chap whose sister is trying to interest Kane. Patricia saves Kane . from Barton's sister by breaking up a wedding and brings him back to Miss Wainwright. She also wins John for herself. The title, "Don't Get Personal," doesn't mean much as far as the story is concerned. "Patricia Patches It Up" or "Keep Them Guessing" would have fit as well. But it's a corking good little comedy nevertheless. Don't miss. it. WILLIAM RUSSELL IN STRENGTH OF PINES (FOX) Story of the lawless days of the West in which the plot proves complicated and somewhat unconvincing. Several fights in which Russell demonstrates his ambidexterity and the forest backgrounds are its best features. Directed by Edgar Lewis. Five reels. An abundance of explanatory subtitles are used in "Strength of the Pines," but in spite of this the Edison Marshall story proves difficult to comprehend for a great part. Russell is good in the two parts in which he is cast, although the picture does not offer him an opportunity to display his best efforts. Irene Rich has the leading feminine role. Others in the cast are Lester Bates, Lulu Warrington, R. Lee Hough, and Arthur Morrison. The story opens in an orphan asylum, where a boy is adopted by a wealthy man, separating him from his sister. Years later he receives a message from the west that his sister is in distress. He goes to her and learns that she is being harrassed by the Turners, an unscrupulous family with whom her father had previously had trouble. He hears her story and learns that she is not his sister as he had supposed. It develops that when both were young her father had entrusted to his father a deed to his property before going out to fight the Turners. He had been killed in the struggle. Later the boy's father was also a victim of the lawless Turners and the two children were placed in an orphan asylum. He sets about to discover the whereabouts of the deed to the property, which no one has been able to locate. The Turners thwart him in his plan and use every means to drive him out of the country. Finally, on a stormy night, the Turner clan goes in force to the cabin, where he and the girl are staying, determined to kill him. During the shooting, lightning strikes a tree, in the midst of the Turner tribe, in which the missing deed is found and the two start out for the sheriff's aid to rid the country of the Turners as well as to employ his services for their marriage. SPECIAL CAST IN THE JUNGLE GODDESS (EXPORT & IMPORT) This is a thriller of thrillers in the way of a wild animal jungle serial. Col. Wm. N. Selig's trained animals are utilized in providing hair-raising escapes of a pretty heroine and a capable hero. Should be a big winner where serials are liked. Probably few of even the wildest flights of fancy by writers of thrillers ever conceived as many or more intricate neardeath situations as did Agnes Johnston and Frank Dazey in preparing the script from which Colonel Selig made "The Jungle Goddess." Impossible situations, from which the heroine is always rescued in the nick of time, by the bravery and resourcefulness of the dashing hero, is meat and drink to the lovers of serials. In "The Jungle Goddess" they have many a full meal, with several kinds of dessert thrown in for good measure. The story is of the heiress of a wealthy English nobleman, kidnaped throgh the connivance of an avaricious uncle, thrown into the basket of a stolen army balloon, drifting for days and finally landing in the heart of the African jungle. There she is found by the friendly chief of a tribe of savages and grows up to the "The Jungle Goddess," causing the savages to substitute kindliness for the wicked and idolatrous worship taught by the native witch doctors. This, of course, gains her the enmity of the witch doctors. Her boyhood sweetheart, now grown to manhood, sets out in search of her, and finds her with the jungle tribe. After a series of thrilling adventures he rescues her and they escape through the jungles of Africa, during which they have encounters with wild animals and savage tribes, the witch doctors being responsible for much of the trouble. Elinor Field and Truman Van Dyke have the leading parts and acquit themselves more than favorably. Probably as interesting as the work of the human actors is that of many of Colonel Selig's remarkably trained animals. Judging from the three episodes shown "The Jungle Goddess" should prove a highly lucrative booking attraction for exhibitors whose patrons are keen for the thrills of the serial. MARION DAVIES IN THE BRIDE'S PLAY (COSMOPOLITAN-PARAMOUNT) A highly artistic production of Irish life and people woven around an ancient legend. Appears to drag in parts but quaint mannerisms, striking costumes and scenery, with an effective climax make it a thoroughly pleasing and worth while entertainment. Directed by Gecrge Terwilliger. "The Bride's Play" was adapted from a story by Donne Byrne. Its theme is an ancient Irish legend in which the bride on her wedding day asks the guests present the question "are you the man I love?" The answer is negative in each case, until the question is put before the groom who answers in the affirmative. The Cosmopolitan production of the legend embraces the case of a modern Irish girl at whose marriage to a nobleman the ancient custom is revived— but under new and novel circumstances. Considerable footage has been used for incidents which are not especially dramatic to work up to the climax of the occasion, but this has been offset by the artistic embellishments of the production and the refreshing Irish character portrayed by Marion Davies. The production has enjoyed unusual care in direction and detail, and its quaint appeal, continuity and atmosphere lend it unusual charms as an entertainment of distinct merit. Marion Davies portrays two roles in the picture, that of the present girl in The Bride's Play as well as the one in the more ancient affair which has a significant bearing on the modern one as told in the story. Aileen Barrett and Sir Fergus Cassidy have been neighbors for" years. He loves her but Aileen has become enamored of a poet. When she learns that he regards her love as but a passing whim she realizes that it is Sir Cassidy she really cares for and their wedding is arranged. The Bride's Play, which has been a custom with the Cassidy family for years, it is announced, will be revived at the wedding. The former lover learns that several hundred years ago during the progress of the play at the wedding of a member of the family of Sir Cassidy the bride was carried away by an old lover who arrived on the scene during its enactment. He attempts to do the same thing but the modern girl, confronted with the crisis when he maliciously answers her question in the affirmative in the presence of the many wedding guests, strikes him heavily across the face with her wedding slipper. Wyndham Standing plays the part of Sir Fergus Cassidy and Carlton Miller the role of the poet. Others in the cast are Frank Shannon, Jack O'Brien, Richard Cummings and Eleanor Middleton.