Exhibitors Herald (Apr-Jun 1922)

66 EXHIBITORS HERALD May 20, 1922 EARLE WILLIAMS IN RESTLESS SOULS (VITAGRAPH) Adapted from a Richard Harding Davis story, "Playing Dead," this excellent little comedy furnishes Mr. Williams with an ideal vehicle. The story, while slight, provides the star with a role well suited to his talents, and he is ably supported by a very good cast. Directed by Robert Ensminger. Five reels. This is a whimsical little comedydrama concerning a man who plays dead in order that his wife may marry another with whom he believes she is in love, and then learns that his will is missing and an aunt has inherited his wealth through an old will. He returns to life in order that his wife may come into her inheritance. The role of Jimmy Parkington provides Williams with excellent opportunities to display his skill as an actor. Fine support is given him by Francelia Billington. as the feather-brained wife; Arthur Hoyt who is Swetson, the neo symbolist; and Martha Mattox. as the aunt. Nick Cogley made an excellent colored servant and another actor who dominated many of the scenes was a Boston bull terrier, "Pal," who showed almost human intelligence. The picture met with approval and held the attention of audiences at the Orpheum theatre, Chicago, where it had its premier. James Parkington finding his \vife Lida deeply engrossed in occult science and Edgar Swetson. a lecturer on the subject of neo symbolism, plans to drop out of her life, that she may marry Swetson. He disappears from his stateroom while en route from New York to Boston one night and takes up his abode in the mountains. Returning to his home a little later he is astounded to find that his aunt has inherited his property, through a former will, and that his wife is practically penniless. Swetson has transferred his affectons to Mrs. Fortescue, the aunt, and married her. Then he returns to his home, finds his last will and is discovered while hiding in a closet, by his old servant and his dog. There is a happy reunion between husband and wife, and the aunt and her simpering husband are ordered out. GLADYS WALTON IX SECOND HAND ROSE (UNIVERSAL) A story of the Ghetto, suggested by the title of a popular song. Miss Walton is an appealing and pathetic little figure around which the story revolves. Plenty of opportunity for tie-ups here. Directed by Lloyd Ingraham. Five reels. That most ingenuous of ingenues, Gladys Walton, walks away with the honors in "Second Hand Rose." The story will appeal to most picture-goers because of its simple directness and several excellent characterizations. The production is good; the story clear and well told and aside from a somewhat draggy introduction, will doubtless please the majority. George Williams furnishes an ideal character sketch as the old pawnbroker, Isaac Rosenstcin. Grace Marvin, Eddie Sutherland, Wade Boctler, Max Davidson and Virginia Adair were also well cast as was Jack Dougherty, Walter Perry and Bennett Southard. Rose O'Grady. an Irish waif, has been adopted by a kind-hearted Hebrew pawnbroker, and when Mama Rosenstein die* Rose assumes the duties of housekeeper. Xat. the son, employed in a silk factory, is robbed of some waybills and is sentenced to jail. He is released from prison through the political influence of Tim McCarthy, who wants to marry Rose. Nat aids the police in catching other thieves, and Rose confesses her love for Terry O'Brien, who takes her away from the second-hand store and her secondhand father and establishes her in a new home. WILLIAM FARNUM IN SHACKLES OF GOLD (FOX) An intensely dramatic and interesting story of the stock market. Adapted from Henri Bernstein's famous play "Samson" and directed by Herbert Brenon. The screen version was furnished by Paul H. Sloan. It is six reels in length. William Farnum is particularly well fitted for the role of John Gibbs, the main character in this screen play. The story has plenty of suspense and grips one from the start. It is artistically produced and convincingly told. The scenes where Farnum invites his erstwhile friend to his office and breaks him financially, while facing ruin himself, is as dramatic a piece of acting as has been presented in some time. The stock exchange scenes are also interesting and realistic. Chief in Farnum's support appear Al Loring, Marie Shotwell, Myrta Bonillas and Elliott Griffin. Wallace Ray, Ellen Cassity and Henry Carvill complete the cast. Miss Bonillas gave a well modulated performance as the wife and Griffin was equally effective as Valentine. Artistic sets and excellent photography marked the production throughout. John Gibbs is a dock laborer but rises to wealth by shrewd speculation in oil. He marries Marie, daughter of Charles V an Dusen, she having consented to become his wife merely because the family fortune was depleted and to maintain WILLIAM RUSSELL in the leading role in "The Men of Zanzibar," a Richard Harding Davis story presented by Willir.m Fox. their social standing. Gibbs bears his position patiently until he learns that his wife has eone to a cabaret with another man. He then turns upon his former; friend. Valentine, and while breaking him.j ruins himself. But through the strange workings of the human mind he wins the very thing he thought impossible— the love of his wife. AGNES AYRES IX THE ORDEAL (PARAMOUNT) A swift account of dire developments attendant upon a marriage for money, strained as to logic, ineffectually depicted in spots and only mildly satisfying. One of those expensively produced pictures that should have turned out great but, somehow, didn't. Directed by Paul Powell. In five reels. Swift action, lavish settings and individual bits of good acting are the assets of "The Ordeal.'' A story that may not be improbable but is. improbably picturized. is its chief liability. Subtracting the later from the former an average program picture is arrived at. Agnes Ayres enacts the leading role capably, but the role is not impressive. Others in the cast, save the badly handicaped Conrad Nagel, give less efficient performances and add to the star's difficulties. Possibly loose direction is in some degree at fault. The story opens with a drunken husband making life miserable for a wife who has married him to assure her invalid sister and young brother of support. The husband's physician is regarded as a rival and forbidden the house. A will is made which stipulates that the wife forfeits her claim to his wealth ii she marries after he is dead. Then he dies, his wife believing that in failing to give him his medicine she had murdered him. The money she inherits enables her to pay for an operation which restores her sister's health. Thereupon the girl becomes headstrong and wasteful, the boy following the same path. The young physician returns, but the boy and his sister prevent the natural marriage. A big scene in a roadhouse. where an aged negro mammy saves the younger sister and explains that she poisoned the deceased husband, is followed by a happy ending. CHESTER CONKLIN IN HIS WIFE'S SON (FOX) This is the usual plot of the husband who likes to "step out" and the ever watchful wife. Chester Conklin tries to vary his antics by putting on roller skates and going in bathing, but there is not much that is new in "His Wife's Son." An overgrown boy in a Lord Fauntleroy suit plays the son and follows him wherever he goes, finally stealing his father's clothes and leaving his own suit in the place. A hired kidnaper grabs Conklin as he is sneaking home in the boy's suit and the end shows him swathed in bandages as a result of a beating from his wife. Frothingham to Direct J. L. Frothingham has announced that he will personally direct his next production, "The Vengeance of the Deep," i» which Marguerite De La Motte will he featured.