The Film Renter and Moving Picture News (Apr-Jun 1922)

June 3, 1922. THE FILM RENTER & MOVING PICTURE NEWS. 47 ez Films of f the Week Reviewed FOR THE GUIDANCE OF EXHIBITORS. —[—3 = The Ragged Heiress. Shirley Mason in domestic story of ordinary life. HIRLEY MASON plays the leading part in ‘t The Ragyed Heiress,"’ a picture which Fox Films showed to the London trade this week. Her part is that of a girl living in poor circumstances who, upon the death of her supposed mother, enters dgmestic service, to be called upon after a not too happy experience to act the part of the daughter of her employer's brother, who is arriving for a visit after many years absence. test, a love She does so, after proaffair with a youthful visitor complicates matters, ” Scene From ‘‘THE RaGGED HEIkEss. the father reveals the fact that he has been in prison. The girl, finding the situation difficult, resolves to tell the truth, and in the end discovers that she is her supposed father’s real daughter, and that her emplover has been receiving money for her upkeep during the years her father was in prison. A scene follows, but wedding bells close the picture. Spectators are prepared for this solution, because the earlier scenes show ‘‘ the ragged heiress ’’’ as a child with her old nurse, who afterwards is referred to as mother: thus the denouement does not come as a surprise. With the earlier scenes shown at the end as a flash-back, the story would be dramatically told. There is not much in the picture to call for any outstanding dramatic talent. It is an ordinary domestic story with no very great scenes. The Gods of Asia. Crude German production with an absurd story and bewildering situations.—A ludicrous scenario overdone with lavish sets that makes the film ridiculous in the extreme. he we are to have German film productions, then it is to be hoped that the class of photoplay we shall see has a better constructed story, and one more within the bounds of pessibility than ‘‘ The Gods of Asia,’’ which the Regent Film Co. presented to the trade last week. Google —T—3 =A SS Et 3 Ee A greater hotch-potech of absurd happenings has rarely been seen on the screen. The story is utterly improbable, and overmounted as it is with lavish settings and all. the resources of a German menagerie, the result is 6,000 feet of film which it is absolutely bewildering to follow. It is quite evident, in the first place, that the picture totalled many more thousand feet of film, and what has obviously taken place is that the film as presented to the trade has been cut out of the mass of negative taken, and, consequently, not improved in the process. The story is so impossible and improbable that it is hardly worth reiteration, but it deals with one Dr. Osborne and his wife, who make a journey into Central Asia to visit the Maharajah of Ralinpur. They undergo some extraordinary adventures in the precess of finding the Maharajah’s kingdom, but eventually find the entrance to the secret city of Nimro, the home of the Maharajah. tious Osberne aud his wife come upon a vast hall where they are attacked by tigers and reptiles, and eventually kill the sacred ape who attacks the doctor’s wife. For this, the High Priests demand vengeance, but they are saved by «the Maharajah, who is in love with the doctor's wife. They duly make their escape, but two of the High Priests follow therm into civilisation and abduct the wife. The doctor follows the abductors back to the Maharajah’s kingdom where, after a series of adventures, she is eventually restored to him. During the course of their explora. This is a very bald outline of one of the most impossible stories ever screened. The whole production has the appearance of a 15-part serial crammed into 6,000 feet. It teems with stunts, and the two principal actors are quite obviously acrobats of no mean order. Tigers, apes, reptiles, and every other form of thrill has been introduced into the picture, but the nonsensical situations only succeed in making one absolutely bewildered. © The production is very lavishly mounted and, in accordance with German ideas of production, has some very beautiful scenes. The photography is excellent, but it cannot be recommended as a production likely to interest the average British audience.—KE.W.F. The Murder Scene from “ Macbeth.” Sybil Thorndike’s intense acting in screen version of Shakespeare’s great play scene. ISS SYLIL THORNDIKE, whose sensational acting of intense parts has placed her in the forefront of British actresses, was seen to great advantage in a film version of the murder scene from Shakespeere’s ‘* Macbeth,’’ shown to WHO SAID HARD TIMES? WE HAVE “TOO MUCH BUSINESS”