The Film Daily (1923)

THE Sunday, February 11, 1923 ■&W. DAILY 21 Few Laughs And Not Much Of Anything Else In MacLean's latest Douglas MacLean in "BELL BOY 13" Thos. H. Ince— Asso. First Nat'l. Pict. DIRECTOR Wm. Seiter AUTHOR Austin Gill SCENARIO BY Violet Clark CAMERAMAN Bert Cann AS A WHOLE Fairly weak comedy number when compared with the Ince-MacLean "The Hottentot" STORY Lacks good strong humorous incident; first reels made up of very silly business DIRECTION Makes the error of repeating each gag until it loses all chances of a laugh; otherwise average PHOTOGRAPHY All right LIGHTINGS All right STAR Tries hard to overcome the poor story SUPPORT John Steppling the star's chief aid in his effort to amuse; others Margaret Loomis, Jean Walsh and Eugene Burr EXTERIORS Few INTERIORS Adequate DETAIL Ample CHARACTER OF STORY Disinherited youth becomes bell boy and wins over uncle who objected to his marriage with an actress LENGTH OF PRODUCTION 3,940 feet After seeing "The Hottentot," you know just how good a comedy Thomas H. Ince and Douglas MacLean are capable of making. Probably that is the reason "Bell Boy 13" seems such a "weak sister," but surely there is no comparison between the two offerings. The story in this is very slight and without any genuinely strong humorous situations upon which to build, and there is not enough good incident to round it out to even the short four reels which it consumes. Nor has Director Seiter succeeded in improving upon the story through his direction. At the outset he allows too much that is on the order of slap stick, and there are some very old gags that even a hokum tworeeler wouldn't boast of. The efforts of young hero to evade his uncle and keep his date with the actress he wants to marry afford considerable silly business in the opening reel that doesn't gain a favorable impression to start with. The stunts that MacLean goes through to get out of the house may supply laughs where it doesn't take much to amuse them, but it is all very hackneyed humor. Seiter does succeed in keeping the story moving at a good pace, even though it isn't continuously funny and he would have gotten much better results in several instances, where the situations were fairly new, if he had not repeated them so often. The introduction of a very homely girl who "thinks the wedding march the prettiest music ever written," is one instance where it is overdone. The first glimpse of her face, when she's singing "Fly, birdie, fly," is all right and it will get a laugh, but not the second nor third look. MacLean tries hard enough to please his audience, but he is under quite a handicap with such poor material. John Steppling is an amiable enough uncle despite his objection to his nephew's marriage to an actress, played by Margaret Loomis, whose clothes would seem to indicate that the feature is not of recent manufacture. Story: Harry Elrod's uncle would rather have his nephew interested in his stock business than in the actress, Kitty Clyde, whom Harry wants to marry. Kitty also refuses to have anything to do with him until he goes to work. Harry becomes bell boy 13 at a prominent hotel, from which his uncle manages to have him fired. Harry incites all the help to strike and when the management threatens the uncle, the latter gives in, Harry tells his followers to go backto work, and he also wins the consent of the uncle to his marriage. e a s y it s s Won't Do Unless They Happen To Favor This Type of Nonsense Box Office Analysis for the Exhibitor ne.d. .c de at ty es ox If you don't find it difficult to amuse them and they will laugh easily, you can undoubtedly put "Bell Boy 13" over satisfactory, but if you show "The Hottentot" first and follow it with this one, they are bound to be disappointed. The first is so full of spontaneous and original humor, that they will hardly be satisfied with the second. Douglas MacLean works very hard to put the picture over, so if you number many of his admirers among your patrons, you might get it over on the strength of his performance. The comedy is mostly of the slap-stick variety such as the breaking of plates, a display of ill-fitting hats on the part of the star, and more or less familiar chase stuff that keeps things going if nothing else, >rs ) or He or id nc