Exhibitors Herald (Oct-Dec 1922)

60 EXHIBITORS HERALD November 4, 1922 Wallace Reid, May McAvoy and Kathryn Williams in the "harmony" scene from "Clarence" (Paramount) WALLACE REID IN CLARENCE (PARAMOUNT) Here's a real all-star cast in a surefire comedy. This picture is guaranteed to keep any audience thoroughly well amused for one solid hour. One of the best adaptations of a stage play ever presented upon the screen. William G. deMille should feel proud of his work. Six reels of excellent, clean comedy. There have been many so-called all-star casts foisted upon us but there's no question about this one. Read 'em and ponder— Wallace Reid, Agnes Ayres, May McAvoy, Kathlyn Williams, Ed Martindel, Robert Agnew, Adolphe Menjou, Dorothy Gordon and Maym Kelso. And every one delivers with telling effect in this splendidly adapted Booth Tarkington play. Credit must go to William deMille for the masterful way in which he put over the delicately shaded humor of the Tarkington opus. Not a single situation or humorous line of the original play was missing and with the added scope of the camera he made it doubly realistic and enjoyable. The Paramount screen version is going to give the same enjoyment to its beholders that the stage success did and to an infinitely greater number. Reid plays with marked restraint the. role of Clarence and gives it the clumsy, appealing touch that Alfred Lunt and Gregory Kelly did in the New York and Chicago stage presentations. His tilts with the fortune-seeker Stem are a real joy, especially where he forcibly separates Stem from Cora and gives the former a good shaking. May McAvoy was made for the role of Cora, and Agnes Ayres made a splendid Miss Pinney. Another difficult role which was handled well was that of Bobby, deftly played by Robert Agnew. His puppy love scenes were great. Kathlyn Williams as the harassed, jealous wife made a splendid foil for Martindel, who as the business man, too busy to straighten out his family affairs, scored also. All in all a most competent cast in a most pleasing play. Clarence, just returned from the World War. injured, seeks an audience with Mr. Wheeler, to aid him in securing employment. He overhears a family squabble, while waiting to see Wheeler, and thereupon is employed as handy man about the Wheeler household. He frustrates the designing secretary who plans to elope with Cora, the daughter, and falls in love with the governess. With his saxophone he entrances Mrs. Wheeler and restores harmony in a much-distressed household. The dialogue is sparkling and the continuity smooth and easy going. B-USTER KEATON IN THE ELECTRICHOUSE (FIRST NATIONAL) This will without doubt stack up as one of the funniest Keaton comedies that First National has ever distributed. The laughs it contains are too frequent to enumerate and arc just about continuous. The many unusual mechanical contraptions worked out and engineered by the somber-faced Keaton in the film make it decidedly refreshing as a comedy that is way off the beaten path. Keaton graduates from a correspondence school course in botany but by mistake gets an electrician's diploma. He is assigned to modernize with electrical apparatus the home of a wealthy man who, incidentally, has a charming daughter. What he accomplishes is a revelation in electrical appliances and in clever cinema illusion, or a combination of both. "The Electric House" will shock any audience from a comatose state into gales of laughter with its high intensity comedy voltage. WILLIAM FARNUM IN WITHOUT COMPROMISE (FOX) Another story of politics and love in a Western town, with Farnum in the role of an honest politician and stalwart lover. A good vehicle for this star and he is given excellent support. Directed by Emmett J. Flynn. Six parts. There is quite good entertainment in this latest Farnum opus, in spite of the fact that its theme — the conflict between love and duty — is not exactly new. There are numerous tragic deaths and a considerable number of close-ups of the star but the development of the plot has been well handled and with the aid of a good cast and excellent lighting and photography, it answers every demand for first-rate screen entertainment. The story concerns a Western Sheriff who puts a damper on a bad man who is always looking for a fight and promises to look after the daughter of a Judge who is stricken ill and dies. The bad man kills the Judge's daughter and is injured when captured and placed in a hospital bed. The Sheriff is about to run for mayor of the town and is opposed by an unscrupulous but wealthy man, whose son incites the townspeople into going to the hospital to get the murderer. The sheriff shoots the first man up the steps, who happens to be his rival's son. He. has fallen in love with the wealthy man's daughter but fulfills his duty in protecting his prisoner. She appears a moincn; later and announces the death of the bad man, and of course all ends happilv when the people find out the truth of the riot and who was back of it. Farnum was well cast as the Sheriff, as was Lois Wilson as the politician's daughter, and the other members of the company were well chosen. A very satisfactory bit of screen fiction with plenty of action. WILL ROGERS IN THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN (HODKINSON) An authentic screen version of Washington Irving's classic "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" photographed on the original locale of the story. Correct as to costumes and settings, and the acting throughout is excellent, with photography of a high standard. A Carel S. Clancy production. Seven parts. It does not necessarily follow that a great novel will make a great screen play. The adaption of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" presented certain difficulties that were hard to overcome. Washington Irving's writings hold a peculiar charm for readers of good literature, a style that is difficult to transfer to the screen, and although in the present instance there is nothing to criticise technically the picture conveys little real dramatic meaning, this notwithstanding that it is acted with complete sincerity and artistic finish. Rogers fits the role of Ichabod Crane about as perfectly as anyone could desire and he is given excellent support by Louise Meredith and others. It is well staged, excellently photographed and on the strength of the author's name should attract attention, and should win appreciation from varying types of audiences, including the more highbrow. Advertise it among school teachers and students and make an especial appeal to them. Ichabod Crane, the new school teacher of Sleepy Hollow, aspires to the hand of winsome Katrina Van Tassel. He is a firm believer, however, in ghosts and it is this weakness that is played upon by his rival and results in his losing the fair Katrina.