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

February 20, 1926 Page 21 DANCING MOTHERS Paramount Production. From the play by Edgar Sewyn and Edmund Goulding. Adapted by Forrest Halsey. Directed by Herbert Brennon. Length, 6 reels. CAST AND SYNOPSIS Ethel Westcourt Alice Joyce Jerry Naughton Conway Tearle Kittens Westcourt Clara Bow Kenneth Cobb Donald Keith Mrs. Massaiene Dorothy Cumming Irma Elsie Lawson Hugh Westcourt Norman Trevor E hel Westcourt, once a famous actress, now married, finds herself practically ignored by her husband and her daughter Kittens. That is, the latter two have their own social interests, and night after night spend their time elsewhere but at home with mother. Mrs. Westcourt learns that Kittens is having a dangerous affair with a certain Gerald Naughton. She determines to intervene. At the same time she learns of her husband's infidelity. Mrs. Westcourt decides that she, too, will live, and commences to frequent the gilded salons of dance. She accepts an invitation to Naughton's apartment. There, she is found by her daughter and husband. They flay her. She breaks with Naughton, and returns home to get her belongings and leave the country. Her husband and daughter, penitent, urge her to come back to them, but she, noting only their selfish motives, says "good-bye" and leaves. By Michael L. Simmons Rating: B2 Box-Office Highlights: Alice Joyce can always be depended upon to do a young matron role with finesse and charm, and here she presents a personal picture of great beauty. Her camera poise is one of the priceless things of the screen world. Conway Tearle is, as always, grimly masculine, and attractive for ail that. Clara Bow gets a chance to unfold a variety of histrionics, and she does so with diverting vivacity. Norman Trevor, though handling himself with the ability of a finished artist, doesn't seem happily cast in the part of the erring husband. The family atmosphere is well realized, the story interesting enough to hold the ittention throughout, though the early sequences are jumpy. Audience Appeal: No question about it, the story will find a ready reception among women. The first night's audience in particular will probably start comment by taking sides, as to whether the mother did the right thing in the end. How to Sell It: This taking sides business should be well capitalized in advance. A thin outline of the plot sent to the women of the neighborhood, asking each what she would do in the same place, should stir up profitable interest. DRIFTIN' THRU A Charles Rogers Production for Pathe Release. From story by Dickey and Haven. Directed by Scott R. Dunlap. Length, 6 reels. CAST AND SYNOPSIS Dan Brown Harry Carey The Girl Harriett Hammond Joe Walter Raymond Nye Stella Dunn Ruth King Bill Dunn Stanton Heck Joshua Reynolds Bert Woodruff Only the passing whim of a strange girl saves Driftin' Dan Brown from capture and hanging for a crime which he never committed. In his quiet way, he thanks her, and leaves her to wonder. Then Fate takes a hand and brings Dan into a< partnership with an old prospector looking for gold near an old ranch of which Joe Walter is foreman. Joe knows that there is gold on this ranch, and ever since the death of the owner, had been planning to make s dummy sale to his sweetheart, wife of Bill Dunn (for whose murder Dan had been blamed), and with her, capitalize on the real wealth of the ranch. And it just so happens that the girl who saved Dan from capture is the same girl to whom the ranch had been left as an inheritance, and that it was that girl that the widow Dunn and her accomplice, Joe Walter, were planning to cheat. All this, of course, is frustrated when Dan finds gold on the ranch, and warns the girl. In the meanwhile, because the sale does not materialize, differences come up between the two cheats, and soon the truth is brought to light that the widow Dunn was herself responsible for her husband's death. By Hank Linet Box-Office Highlights: The comedv between Dan and his trick mule. Dan's victory over Joe Walter with the aid of a stiff finger pressed against Walter's back, and a match-stick. Great kick. The reckless riding of Dan (Harry Carey), and his fine portrayal of a drifter. Story is average western, but cast picks it up with good acting. Some good photography in the bar-room scene around the gaming table. Otherwise, there is very little to get excited about, for the outcome of the story is very evident from the time Dan is saved from capture "f'r somethin' I didn't do" by the girl, who, by the way, is rather pleasing to look at. Audience Appeal: It is a western of the real western variety, where lots of things are taken for granted or entirely overlooked because they originated out in the wild and wooly west. But there is enough fun peppered throughout the picture to make even the more sophisticated sit through it and like it, even though they might not write home to the neighbors about it. Great picture for the followers of Harry Carey, and for the enthusiastic western drama audience en toto. How to Sell It: Harry Carey all the way through. He has a tremendous pulling power among the audience of westerns. FIFTH AVENUE Prod. Dist. Corp. Release. Photoplay by Belasco Productions. From Satevepost story by Arthur Stringer. Directed by Robt. Vignola. Length, 5,503 feet. CAST AND SYNOPSIS Barbara Pelham Marguerite De La Motte Neil Heffner Allan Forrest Mrs. Claudine Kemp Louise Dresser Peter Heffner William V. Mong Allan Trainor Craufurd Kent Natalie Van Loon Lucille Lee Stewart Nan Lo Anna May Wong Mrs. Van Loon Lillian Langdon Mrs. Pettygrew, of Indiana Flora Finch Neil Heffner, son of Peter Heffner, and social lion, devotes his spare time to sport. His fiancee, Natalie Van Loon, is interested in Neil because of the great fortune he is destined to inherit. In the South lives Barbara Pelham, the last of her line, with her maiden aunt, Sally. Barbara's sole source of income, her cotton crop, is destroyed by fire. She determines to go to New York and see Heffner with a view to obtaining an advance upon the coming season's cotton crop. On the train Barbara meets Mrs. Claudine Kemp who invites her to stay at her home during her visit in New York. Heffner makes advances which she repulses. Meanwhile, Neil realizes that Natalie's motives are mercenary, and breaks with her. He asks his father for a job and is sent to inspect the elder Heffner's holdings there. Neil and Barbara become friends. One day Neil takes her to his father's house, to announce their engagement. The latter exposes her as having been an inmate of Mrs. Kemp's house, but Neil nevertheless insists that he will marry her. Heffner calls upon Mrs. Kemp to substantiate his charge. But Mrs. Kemp, who has been appealed to by Barbara to tell the truth, after having been kissed by Barbara, exonerates the girl, whereupon Heffner apologizes and accepts her as his daughter-in-law. By Michael L. Simmons Rating: Bl Box-Office Highlights: The splendid characterizations by Marguerite De La Motte and Allan Forrest; the fast action, based on a story that contains no serious improbabilities ; the "Fifth Avenue" flavor of the entire production, with its sets and costumes in keeping; the altogether reasonable amount of suspense and the lavish sets. Technically, an excellent picture. Audience Appeal: Over and above everything else, this is a women's picture. They won't be able to resist the gowns. They are bound to get a thrill out of the elite gambling establishment. There's a feminine appeal throughout. Yet the picture doesn't contain anything that won't be equally effective with the male portion, barring possibly the mannequin parade. How to Sell It: Use the National Tieups, as provided by Exhibitors Review. Devote special attention to the possibilities of tieing up with the fashionable shops if there are such. Stress the "little girl in the big city" angle, also.