The Film Renter and Moving Picture News (May-Jun 1923)

§0 THE FILM RENTER & MOVING PICTURE NEWS. REVIEW _OF NEW PRODUCTIONS-—Continued body from the fire until they are rescued by Jeff and the Colonel. Through his fine courage Carter wins Helen and the love and gratitude of the Colonel for the restoration. of his son.” The fire scene at the close is sensational end in ite way effective, and the acting throughout is good, Marguerite de ia Motte .(Helen) and Lloyd Hughes (Coddy) both doing well. Frank Keenan is an old favourite and makes the part of the old Colonel quite an outstanding study. ‘ Soars of Jealousy” is an offering which is worth any showman’s consideration who ¢an do with a six-reel picture of this style. Saved by Wireless. . Attractive melodrama with thrilling moments, RELEASED BY PHILLIPS FILMS. Length, Five Reels, Release Date, Not Yet Fixed, PICTURE with plenty of sensation was ‘Saved by A Wireless,’’ which Phillips Films showed last week, and the topicality of its title will .give the exhibitor an exploitation angle of which he will no doubt readily avail himself. Wireless does not enter into the production in such & manner as to overweigh the story, which relies upon a plot and adventurous action rather than upon the love interest. Doctor Stafford, of Beauport, owns the fishing monopoly desired by Philip Morton, who visits the town and-makes friends with his opponent, and wishes to marry his daughter, Mary. The lady, however, cares for John Powell, a young seaman: who s ‘fired ’’ by the doctor for interfering with Morton, whom neither of the lovers trusts. John further’ annoys the doctor by summoning him to attend his invalid mother, whom he thinks to be dying, and dragging the unwilling practitioner through the streets when the latter refuses to prescribe for her. Shortly after the doctor -is missing from Beauport, and John arrested on suspicion. He breaks jail, promising to be back under two hours, and discovers the unhappy man a prisoner in a cave used by Morton and his gang, who bind the intruder and. escape with the doctor on board a boat. John, trapped, sends out an 8.0.8. by the wireless installation, is picked up by a seaplane, drops from it on to the boat, overcomes the gang and saves the doctor, who now removes all previous bars to Mary's marriage with her lover. The scene showing the climb up to the smuggler’s cave by a long rope ladder is thrilling, and the rescue of the doctor by the seaplane makes for quite an intercsting and fascinating appeal. The acting of the old doctor is very well done, and he becomes quite a character to be interested in. Halls which make a‘strong feature of melodrama will find this picture a Worthy contribution to their program, to which patrons will accord full praise, Jacqueline Logan, as Mary, and George Larkin, as John, beth do well. A Blind Bargain. j Lon Chaney's wonderful dual réle in weirdly fascinating film. : _. RELEASED BY GOLDWYN. ' Length, 4,400 feet. i r Release. Date, Nat Yet Fixed. Tis an uausual story that is presented in this picture, for it has as its subject an experiment in surgery by which a doctor hopes to stave off old age. The result is that the picture fascinates by its uncanniness, and the presentation of the technical details of the surgery, instead of becoming tedious, June 23,, 1923, Ms: preserves the unusual atmosphere. The outstanding feature of the picture is the wonderful acting of Lon Chaney in a dual réle. He is both the tall, debonair, urbane doctor-scientist, with his mind ever revolving the details and possibilities of his experiment, and the crouching, half-witted .hunchback-dwarf, gazing vacantly, yet revealing a sympathetic soul. This is not merely a matter of make-up and bearing, but of wonderful absorption of detail, so that the small things of the surgery are dong with just that appearance of familiarity that one notes in the average practitioner moving among objects with which he is perfectly at home. It is this really wonderful ‘acting and the sense of uncanniness that will attract rather than the story, which may with some people get on their nerves. The mother of Robert Sandell is dying, ond he is too poor to get her the medical help that she needs, so he plans to rob someone. Fortunately—or unfortunately—for him his intended victim is Dr, Lamb, who overpowers him and, learning his story, promises to save the mother’s life if the son will enter into the hlind bargain of submitting himself to the doctor for experiment. If he is successful the life of the patient may be lengthened to 120 years. If he should fail—well, he will not fail. The mother is cured, and the day arrives for the experiment. Robert has been spending o holiday with his fiancée, a time of great happiness, but on the eve of the operation he is warned by the doctor's wife and the ape-like hunchback (who is a victim of an unsuccessful experiment by the doctor), and is admitted by the latter to the operating theatre in the doctor’s absence. Tha hunchback opens a further door in the basement, and: reveals other victims of the doctor's experiment—half men and half apes in strong cages. Robert is about to cscape when the doctor seizes him and, rendering him unconscious, straps him to the operating table, At this point one of tho victims escapes from his cage and kills the doctor, thus releasing Robert, who is later seen with Angela in the pleasant surroundings of a country house, This is a picture which, when being screened, should be accompanied by fitting music, for the orchestra can do a grest deal in keeping and intensifying the weirdly fascinating atmosphere of the picture. One or two ballroom scenes ate introduced to provide a change and lightness, but so magnetic is the main theme that these seem something of an intrusion, and one wishes again to get back to the operating room and tbe hunchback. Raymond McKee does well as Robert, but Loa Chaney stands out in bold relief because of his remarkable character acting. There should be a good average booking for this film. Scene rrom ‘t A Buinp BarGary.”’ . |