The Film Daily (1919)

S'-nHav, fannarv R, 1919 Mfaz? Childish Story Lacks the Humor Needed to Put it Across Corinne Griffith in "THE ADVENTURE SHOP" Vitagraph, DIRECTOR Kenneth Webb ATTTHOR Bud Fisher SCENARIO BY George Plimpton CAMERAMAN Tom Malloy AS A WHOLE Juvenile stuff that for the most part is too ridiculous to be funny. STORY Frothy and childish; attempted surprise cl'max misses because the audience beats the author to it in guessing what he is dn'ving at DIRECTION Acceptable for a picture with so little substance that it can't be considered rrri'wlv. PHOTOGRAPHY Very good. LIGHTINGS Good on players' faces and kjw-* s»ts a natural appearance. CAMERA WORK Gets variety by shooting scenes fr^m different angles. STAR Has good looks and style ; no call tor anything out of the ordinary in the way of acting. SUPPORT Walter McGrail doesn't appear t-> be the simp the characters in the story think he is. FYTR^IO ^S Generally pleasing. INTERIORS Nothing exceptional registered; R'-h-title« r?tuer well written. CHARACTER OF STORV Entirely harmless LENGTH OF PRODUCTION 4»5i feet. Bud Fisher may be awfully funny sometimes, hut when it came to writing tHs story he sl:pned pretty b-'d'v. It's just Plain childish and not at all the sort of thing that ordinarily intelligent folks are going to find amusing. No doubt there's plenty of call for pleasant, harmless stones but t^at doesn't mean that mature people want to he handed the sort of foolishness that a lot of kids might use for their amateur theatricals. The type of humor that is putting comedies across, excepting the slapstick stuff, has some bearing on life and this hasn't. It just makes you feel sorry for the players who have to go through such foolish antics, quite as though they were doing something worth while. Here is a digest of the plot: judge for yourself. Ccri-ne Griffith is a soc:ety pet, who, along with her country club compnn:ons, wants a new sensation. Fast motor cars and clurhouse chatter aren't enough, so m all seriousness she eonceives the idea of launching "the adventure shop." The one sensible person in the entire outfit is the girl's hrother. who tells her in plain English that she is a lit'le fool. Neverthe'ess. "the adventure shop" goes through with the avowd purpose of furnishing excitement for those who need it. Corinne is the supreme dictator with a lawyer and an actor as her first lieutenants — the lawyer to gather in clients, the actor to portray the willun in the underworld melodramas they plan pernetrating. The firct customer is introduced in the person of the spectacled son of a pickle merchant, Josephus Potts Jr.. nlaved by Wa'ter McGrail. who cares for the white lights much more than he does for pickles. The iob of "the adventure shoo" is to give him his fill, and then some, of Broadway entertainment. Thev stage a gimb'ins den hoMtio and a backhand conclave, suggestive of a high school boys' initiation ceremony, with the val'ant youth alwavs championing the persecuted shero. Then for a thrilling windup, a kidnapping is arra"ged. This kidnapoing. landing the two yo'-ng people in a deserved ho-'ce where they are h'W for ransom, is supposed to be the big surprise of the film. Of course, the audience i'n't expected to guess it, hut t*-e foolish hoy, tinker the g-Hance of anf'or Bud Fisher, has come fr> his senses sufficiently to turn the tables on the president of "the advenfre shoo" and st^ge a lit»1e party on his own account. The kidnapping is sH'-tlv his afair and the rano^m check signed by Pana Potts is received as a wedding present. In »he cast are P-iestly Morrison, Robert Gaillard and Warren Chandler. If You Can't Pass This by Get Good Supporting Program Box Office Analyifa for the Exhibitor. Dodge this if you can, otherwise try to get a strong supporting program to counterbalance the weakness of your feature, which is too slight to warrant its being termed a feature except that it is in five reels. Bud Fisher doesn't deserve any medals for the story he put over on Vitagraph, but his newspaper work is so well known that his name counts more in an advertising way than that of most photoplay authors. I would make an effort to capitalize on Fisher's reputation as a humorist by giving his name considerable prominence and allowing your foiks to draw their own conclusions. Probably they will think that the film must be funny and you re not to blame if it isn't. .... , , Corinne Griffith should be building up a pretty fair following by this time. She has good looks in abundance and enough personality to register when the story material allows her a fair opportunity. Even if s' e doesn't have a chance to appear at her best in this film, I would make a point of displaying a number of her most attractive pictures, figuring that her beauty is about the best asset the picture possesses. A frame containing nothing but likenesses of Miss Griffith in various poses should attract the men folk that pass your theatre. Providing you want catchlines try: "Tf you are looking for a new sensation, take a lesson from Corinne Griffith in 'The Aventure Shop;'" or "There's life and love in 'The Adventure Shop.' Come and see how Corinne Griffith finds both."