Exhibitor's Trade Review (Nov 1925 - Feb 1926)

February 20, 1926 Page 19 BOX OFFICE REVIEWS Key To The Rating System A Road Show Calibre B First Run Product C Suitable for Second and Subsequent Runs D Action Pictures, Westerns and Melodramas E Shooting Gallery Stuff 1 2 3 4 * Excellent Good Fair Not Recommended Unusual Exploitation Possibilities MARE NOSTRUM Metro-Goldxvyn Photoplay. Rex Ingram Production. From the story by Blasco Ibanez. Directed by Rex Ingram. Length, 1 0,500 feet. CAST AND SYNOPSIS Freya Talberg Alice Terry Ulysses Ferragut Antonio Moreno His wife, Dona Cinta Mile. Kithnou Their son, Esteban Michael Brantford Their niece, Pepita Rosita Ramirez Toni, the mate Fredrick Mariotti Doctor Fedelmann Mme. Paquerette Count Kalendine Fernand Mailly Ulysses, son of a family of sea-farers, follows in the footsteps of his forebears, despite his wife's wishes. In command of the MaTe Nostrum he visits Italy, where he is attracted by Freya Talberg, through her resemblance to the allegorical Aphrodite, his beloved Goddess of the Sea. War breaks out. Freya is forced by German agents to conscript Ulysses to their work as spies. He is innocently instrumental in outfitting a submarine which later sinks a ship on which his son is a passenger. Subsequently, Freya is shot as a spy, and Ulysses goes to his death on his craft, after first visiting vengeance on the undersea destroyer responsible for his son's death. By Michael L. Simmons Rating: Bl Box-Office Highlights: Exquisitely photographed scenes of the beauties of the sea in a variety of moods. The scene inside the submarine showing the death-dealing machinery at work gives an exciting peep into a strange, terrifying world. There are hushed dramatic moments in the death scene of the woman spy and in the father's receipt of the news of his son's death. Pictorially, the film is superb. Dramatically, you have occasional flagging moments, none flagrant enough to spoil the picture as a whole, but sufficient to keep it from attaining road show calibre. The acting is best described as competent. Audience Appeal: The scenic beauty will interest the "toney" folks. The melodramatic action and love interest will satisfy the "just folks." How to Sell It: An excellent chance for tie-ups with libraries, book-shops, marine societies, and opportunities for window display in commercial aquariums. WATCH YOUR WIFE Universal Production. Story by Goesta Sergercrantz. Directed by Sven Cade. Length, 6,980 feet. CAST AND SYNOPSIS Claudia Langham Virginia Valli James Langham Pat O'Malley Benjamin Harris Nat Carr Gladys Moon Helen Lee Worthing Alphonse Marsac Albert Conti Madame Ruff Aggie Herring James Langham, an author, and his wife, Claudia, are annoyed by the little things of life. Finally, a violent quarrel parts them. Claudia moves into a down-town hotel ; James remains at home. At the hotel Claudia meets a former foreign friend, a fortune-hunter. The two are much together. Langham learns of a social service bureau that rents wives, that is to say, a fair companion from 10 a. m. to 10 p. m. He rents one. Claudia, learning of this, and misinterpreting the new lady's presence in her former place, determines to go away with her foreign friend out of sheer pique. James goes after her, catching her just as the train is pulling out of the station. By Michael L. Simmons Rating: B3 Box-Office Highlights: The wife-renting idea takes the story out of the realm of plausibility into that of sheer farce, and by this token is the most entertaining device in the picture. Not that this is so "hot" so far as entertainment goes, for at the best the amusement is mild, and the interest inherent, chiefly, in the domestic situations. There is nothing at any point to muster up any real excitement or give the story something unusual in the way of interest. The attention is held because the continuity is smooth, and the direction competent. You keep watching because one thing is quite dependent on the thing that follows. Pat O'Malley and Virginia Valli give excellent portrayals. Audience Appeal: Married folks will undoubtedly find something of interest here, or to take sides with. Young "eligibles" come likewise in this group. How to Sell It: Feature the title in all your billing, advertising and publicity. A likely seller for the mailing list. PARTNERS AGAIN 5am. Goldwyn Production. Released by United Artists. Story by Montagu Glass. Adapted by Frances Marion. Adapted by Henry King. Length, 6 reels. CAST AND SYNOPSIS Abe Potash George Sidney Mawruss Perlmutter Alexander Carr Hattie Potash Betty Jewel Dan Allan Forest Schenckmann Robert Schable Rosie Potash Lillian Elliott Aviator Earl Metcalfe Pazinsky Lew Brice Abe and Mawruss have taken over the agency for the Schenckmann Six. Business is not so good, and Abe allows himself to be inveigled into a stock scheme by his nephew. Mawruss refuses to enter the negotiations and they split. Abe comes to grief in this venture and has to flee the maddened stockholders, also the police. Mawruss doesn't forsake Bis old pal, and arranges for Abe to escape into Canada by airplane. In the meantime, Abe's niece learns that the stock manipulators have been caught, and Abe's name cleared. After many exciting incidents chasing the fleeing plane, all come to the ground. By Michael L. Simmons Rating: B2 Box-Office Highlights: Starts ofi with considerable laughing gas, but rather sputters out toward the end of the journey. Not that it drags, for it has action and movement from beginning to end, but the laughs aren't so plentiful in the later sequences. Nevertheless, there's a lot of humorous Hebraic by-play in the familiar style of the Potash and Perlmutter series, and the titles, though not as consistently funny as previous effusions, bubble with a measurable amount of merriment. The characterizations by George Sidney and Alexander Carr are beyond criticism. Audience Appeal: The reviewer has seen this sort of thing go great guns in the "sticks," and he's seen it meet with the same reception on Broadway. Adults and children like it. How to Sell It: Get up enlarged bromide of some of the characteristic dialogue of Abe and Mawrus, and place it out front where it will be missed by none. A good lobby draw.