The Film Daily (1922)

Some Short Reels "Cops" — Buster Keaton — First National Type of production 2 reel comedy Once more Buster Keaton rings the bell. His latest comedy "Cops" is just as funny as "The Boat" and will bring down the house with laughter. The comedy gags roll out one after another and lead to a side splitting climax in which Buster is chased all over the lot by about 300 cops. Never have so many cops been assembled before in a short subject and in no comedy have the devices used to evade capture been so ingenious. And through all this Buster sails quickly and quietly; not once does his serious expression break and not once does he forestall a gag. .As the reels unravel the laughs get closer together until at the finish it becomes all one long ripple. Such was the effect, when this comedy was shown to a Broadway audience on a hot, humid night. Buster loves his girl but she refuses his advances and tells him to become a business man and earn a lot of money before she will marry him. He manages to find a purse with some money and also manages to prevent the owner from recovering his loss. With this money he sets out to conquer the world. In another part of town a family are about to move. Buster buys the furniture from a pretender and gets a horse and wagon to move it. The people think he is the expressman and help him load up the wagon which he drives off. With the aid of an extension coat rack and a l)0,xing glove Buster makes a signalling arm that not only stops traffic but knocks down the traffic cop. At one place Buster discovers that his old horse is not very responsive. He gets down and clasps a pair of earphones on the horse's jjead; then returning to his seat, rings him up on the telephone and tells him to move on. The horse understands and moves on. And all this time the family are at their new house waiting for their furniture! As luck would have it Buster sails his wagon of furniture into the main avenue where a police parade is taking place. In the grand stand is Buster's girl and her father who is mayor of the town. The wagon stops before the grand stand and Buster searches his pockets for a match to light his cigarette. Just then a thug throws a bomb from the roof of a building and it lands on Buster's wagon. Buster uses the fuse to light his cigarette, then he throws the bomb to the cops. This starts the grand chase in which about 300 cops run Buster all through the town and then back again to where he started. The furniture is wrecked to atoms by the onrush of the cops. Many times he is surrounded or cornered but manages to slip out. And all this time the family wait on the steps of their new home for the furniture! In the end Buster runs into jail for safety. The cops pile in after him and when they are all in he slips out from under and locks them in. But his girl rejects him and he throws open the doors. The next flash shows a little tomb stone on which rests Buster's hat — but even this, after he himself is dead, hangs at a saucy angle. Buster Keaton is irresistible and you can make no mistake if you show him to your audience. His popularity has grown and is on the ascent. He is the chief attraction of many a program and threatens to remain so. Official Urban Movie Chats No. 22— Hodkinson Type of production 1 reel magazine . This number of the Official Chats leaves out the usual prelude, quoting some prominent man on prosperity and success, or telling your audience a two-by-four moral of "early to bed and carlv to rise." It leaves out all this and begins with pic tures. Nina Wilco.x Putnam, the popular novelist, is shown in her country home. She takes a few moments to advise her fat friends how to reduce by the use of a liberal diet. She tells you what to avoid and what to eat. Manila hemp is the subject of the industrial section. The machines that twist the hemp into ropes are illustrated. This section, however, would have been more complete if one or two shots were obtained showing the hemp as it grows. Some interesting shots of the copper rooster on top of the beautiful skyscraper in New York are next shown. The bird is thirteen feet high and ten feet wide and is said to be the largest weather vane in the world. Views from the top of the building fill a good portion of this review which ends with a series of shots of animals in the zoo. There are but five subjects to this number of the review. The scientific and sport sections that were featured in the earlier numbers of this series are entirely missing from the last two or three. The omission of the sermon at the start of the reel will be welcomed by many. Pathe Review No. 163 Type of production 1 reel magazine The opening shots of this number of Pathe Review take you on a personally conducted tour to Maritzburg, South Africa. The streets are lined with white men, negroes, dwarfs and children. The rickshaw men adorn themselves with gay masks and horns to prove they are equal to the beasts of burden. A special scientific study in evolution appears in this number of the review under the title of "Where Did You Get Your Face." Special drawings show the angle that the face makes with the base of the brain. Skulls of primitive men and ancient animals show, step by step, how man developed his forehead. This is followed by a little novelty showing a table and chairs in action. The cards deal by themselves and the chips move automatically and a whole game of poker is played without the aid of humans. In the arts and crafts section you see how the Navajo Indians make their rugs and a little nature chapter shows a mother bird feeding her young. The subject matter of this number of the review is quite varied and filled with interest. It is well up to the new high standard set for this series. "The Gyro-Designer and SmokeRings" — Kineto Review Type of production 1 reel popular science Here is another of Prof. P. F. Smith's popular scientific reels. This time a gyro-designer is constructed before the camera from the simplest of materials. A tin funnel is attached to a gyroscope top and filled with white sand. The other end of the top is suspended to a wooden rod which is free to swing. The sand pours in a thin line through an opening in the funnel and when the top is spun elaborate designs are traced with the sand. The second series of experiments in this instructive reel deal with smoke rings. Rings of smoke are first made in the natural way by smoking tobacco and then they are made experimentally. A round hole is cutjnto a tin can and a sheet of rubber stretched across the opposite end. When the can is filled with smoke and the rubber bottom is struck, rings pufif out of the opening. Various kinds of smoke is manufactured and an animated drawing shows the detailed anatomy of a smoke ring. The reel is instructive and will hold the attention 'of the average audience. It does not contain the appeal of the soap-bubble reel in the same series, but it is well up to the Prof. Smith's standard.