The Film Daily (1918)

Monday, November 11, 1918 DAILY Mechanical Unconvincing Meller with War Hero and Pretty Shero Lieut. Bert Hall and Edith Day in "A ROMANCE OF THE AIR" Crest — State Rights DIRECTORS. ... Franklin B. Coates and Harry Revier UNDER PERSONAL SUPERVISION OF. Carle E. Carlton AUTHOR Lieut. Bert Hall AS A WHOLE Mechanical meller with much ac= tivity and very little heart interest. CAMERAMEN John Holbrook and Alfonso Ligouri STORY Failed utterly to convince because situa= tions quite artificial and forced. DIRECTION Had too much movement and too little intimate study of characterization. PHOTOGRAPHY Varied from just good to fair, generally too contrasty. LIGHTINGS Seldom good, generally too strong, giving blotchy or chalky faces. CAMERA WORK Varied, not particularly good STARS Miss Day pleasing; Hall satisfactory, but noticeably ill at ease. SUPPORT Failed to impress EXTERIORS Acceptable, but not convincing as to atmosphere. INTERIORS A few good, generally poor because were apparently sets. DETAIL Atmosphere touches lacked conviction CHARACTER OF STORY Nothing to offend morals, but did jar intelligence. LENGTH OF PRODUCTION About 5,000 ft. WHILE the fact that this presents one of the heroes of our great war, may give it an especial interest, it is generally true that the production is painfully mechanical and woefully lacking in conviction, which leaves it unimpressive, due to the failure of the characterizations to register as sure 'nuff folks. The incidents, the treatments of the situations, and the characterizations of the players, all of it had ;i touch of the mechanical theatric routine that kept them from registering at any time as anything but players walking through scenes. It is always a handicap to undertake to present a fiction story as if it were some part of the life of a prominent personage with that personage playing the leading part, using his own name. When the audience realizes that the story is fiction, it is a very difficult task to make it convincing, because they always think of the leading figure as someone being told to go through emotions. The weakest point about this entire production is the fact that the story hinges upon the situation of Lieutenant Hall being permitted to escape from the German lines in a German aeroplane, because he took with him a German countess who afterwards posed in France as a sympathizer of the Allies. It is very difficult to make anyone believe that the hero or his sweetheart would accept this German Countess under the conditions as pictured, because she made it clear that she wanted to be known in France under another name. Certainly that should have aroused their suspicions immediately. The general impression made by the offering is not favorable, because of this artificiality about the entire story, and because the action frequently drags terribly when too much footage is given to little incidents of no particular consequence. Probably the most interesting series of scenes in the entire offering were some shots of clouds taken from an aeroplane which might have been found and probably have been shown in news-weeklies or scenics. Lieutenant Hall did his best, but it was quite apparent that he was conscious of being photographed, practically all of the time, and so failed to impress particularly as a romantic lover. Edith Day who has recently been a star in the musical production "Going Up" gaATe promise of exceptional ability for screen work if she is given the right sort of vehicle and careful direction. She is a very beautiful girl and I think can do emotional work as well as showing a truly pleasing and appealing personality. The balance of the cast was decidedly handicapped by the melodramatic action of the story. They failed to make any particular impression. Those to appear were Florence Billing, Stuart Holmes. Brian Parley. Tom Burrough. Herbert Standing. Joseph Lettora. W. P. Richmond and others. Stars and Name Should Get Business. Don't Promise That Film Is Good The Box Office Analysis for the Exhibitor It is quite possible that you can do some business with this because the title is rather good and because it shows an American hero of the original Lafayette Escadrille. Von can safely make considerable fuss about Miss Day as one of the coming favorites of the screen, billing her as the star of the big musical success "Going Up," because I believe thai most of your fans will like her work. Don't promise anything very specific about the production or plot, because il is painfully mechanical and artificial melodrama. There are no big scenes to rave about, bul you may talk a little about the escape of .i.tiii Hall from 'lie German lines in a German aeroplane, although this action as pictured was quite tame because the Germans were perfectly willing that Hall should escape since he was carrying with him into France, a spy. I believe that Americans will be more than willing to turn out to see one of our aviator heroes and certainly Mr. Hall is one of the heroes of the war. so that despite the comparative crudeness of the production. I would say that it is good enough to be satisfactory and has possibilities enough to justify your playing it if •you will be Careful about what you promise. I think your fans will he more lenient in judging the technical ami artistic qualities of such an offering as this, than they would he about a film presenting well-known picture players.