Exhibitors Herald (Dec 1924-Mar 1925)

February 21, 1925 EXHIBITORS HERALD 49 WHY FILM MAKERS SHOULD READ THE NEWSPAPERS ^ HE big news stories of the past several days have dealt with the cave imprisonment of Floyd Collins and the race to Nome with serum. The death interest is strong in both cases, but the suspense element is the thing that made the stories big. Big is another way of saying interesting. Both stories depict Man’s unending race against time (death) in close-up. Being true, they are of absorbing interest. Perhaps neither situation would score heavily if offered in fiction, but that is neither here nor there. People who make motion pictures realize that suspense is important, of course, but I doubt that a proper degree of effort is devoted to its manufacture. With the years they have become expert in practically every other department of picture making, but few have advanced appreciably in the technique of suspense. It is not probable that the news stories mentioned will inspire them to greater effort in this direction. It is more probable that some misguided director who should be a sign painter will burlesque them in comedy or counterfeit them in melodrama. Nevertheless, the lesson is there. PLENTY OF PUNCH IN "FRIVOLOUS SAL" T X HERE are two mighty punches in “Frivolous Sal,” one where a horse and rider in attempting to leap a gap, miss and fall into a ravine, and another where Mitchell Lewis, the villain of the piece, falls from an ore conveyor into the valley below. The horse incident gives you a real shock. Then, too, there’s a fight between Tom Santschi and Mitchell Lewis that looks like a genuine scrap. The two mill about in a barroom, then into a side room where they finish the battle in the dark. Aside from this, “Frivolous Sal” contains a number of points that won my admiration. Victor Schertzinger’s clever handling of the J. K. McDonald story made a smooth running and pathetic tale of the Northwestern mine town romance. It tells of Sal, her falling in love and marrying the actor, of his neglect, and their final reunion through the actor’s little boy. Little Ben Alexander was fine as the youngster and Mae Busch shows her mettle in the role of Sal. Eugene O’Brien played the actor and Tom Santschi the mine owner in love with Sal. “How Did You Like the Picture?” "How did you like the picture?” That’s THE question in this business— or out of it. Everybody asks it of anybody and nobody pays much attention to the answer. People like to compare opinions, mainly for the sake of argument. People would rather argue about motion pictures than anything I know of. Even politics. The reason is that every man ("Even as you and I") thinks he can make a better picture than any other man. This belief is just as strong in the man who never saw a camera as it is in the oldest director in the business and one’s got just as good a chance as the other of proving it — which is no chance at all. The jury’s hung before he starts. All this, of course, doesn’t change the fact that it’s THE question. That’s the important thing. That’s why this page is written. That’s why you read it (if you do read it) and that’s why I herewith ask you THE question and promise to print your answers if they are not reviews or box office reports. (If the former, they will be junked, and if the latter they’ll go to their proper depart "How did YOU like the picture?" AGAIN: "LANGDON’S A REAL COMEDIAN AW a Pathe comedy the other day that was being given the acid test at the time. The exchange manager was showing it to a couple of “hard-boiled” exhibitors. And it stood the test. They laughed ! It was one of those Sennett concoctions, called “Boobs in the Wood,” with Harry Langdon. It was a travesty on the Northwest story so familiar to everyone, with the hero, the pretty girl and the rival, a woodsman who is a terrible bully. Langdon’s experiences in a lumber camp restaurant are ludicrous in the extreme, and added to this are the zippy titles. SCENERY’S THE THING IN THIS PICTURE CENERY’S the thing in “The Folly of Vanity.” It has a long sequence of Neptune stuff which beggars a landlubber’s vocabulary. Maurice Elvey, the English director, was somewhat handicapped by story material. It’s a frightfully padded society drama about a beautiful wife who is given a string of pearls by a male friend, which arouses her husband’s jealousy. She has a remarkable dream while wearing the pearls, the dream sequence being directed by Henry Otto, who goes in for bathing girls, diving stunts and Pain’s fireworks. When the wife wakes up she returns the pearls and falls into the arms of her forgiving husband. BIG PICTURE WEEK ON BROADWAY j OHN SPARGO writes, “It’s big picture week on Broadway and theatregoers who like their spectacles can get them rare, medium or well done simply by a selection of theatre.” John says “Chu Chin Chow,” which opened Saturday at the Piccadilly, “looks like a clean up.” It hasn’t been exactly that in these environs, but maybe Broadway is different. Other interesting comments in John’s letter are : That no invitations were issued for “The Lost World,” opening at the Astor on Sunday night. . . . That “Charley’s Aunt” is expected to run three weeks in the new Colony theatre, where it follows “The Lady,” which followed “The Thief of Bagdad.” . . . That “The Man Without a Country,” opening Wednesday at the Central, is looked upon as set for a long run. . . . That “The Iron Horse” is running strong in its seventh month at the Central and “Romola” at the Cohan shows no signs of a let-up. “The Ten Commandments” had its 829th showing on Broadway Sunday night, passing “The Covered Wagon” record of 827 performances, which was another record. The picture is going on until February 21, when it will give way to “The Miracle of the Wolves.” AND HERE’S CHICAGO’S DOWNTOWN OPENINGS HICAGO’S downtown theatregoers this week shouldn’t find it hard to locate the kind of picture they want. “The Great Divide” is at the Chicago, “Coming Through” is at McVickers and “Charley’s Aunt” is at the Orpheum in its “first showing anywhere.” The Monroe offers “The Roughneck,” “Janice Meredith” is in its last week at the Roosevelt” and the Randolph is making proper capital of the fact that “Barriers Burned Away” is highlighted, so to speak, by reproduction of the Chicago fire. “Forty Winks” is the film portion of the StateLake bill and the Castle is running “Sacrifice.” Out of that line-up, anybody ought to be satisfied. LOUISE FAZENDA IS LIFE OF PICTURE SUBTITLE in “A Broadway Butterfly” introduced Louise Fazenda as “Cookie Dale — The Life of Any Party” and she’s the life of the picture as well. Louise is a different actress. When the picture cramps