The Film Daily (1919)

Ban day, January 12, 1919 Ta)«-<ftfcsr 11 Has Plenty of Speed and Action to Interest Average Audience But is Rather Inconsistent inserted by Harry Carey, uncouth Westerner. Harry has the millions but not the social veneer and is met with open contempt by shero's mother when he comes to New York in answer to shero's letter. But financial straits compel shero's mother to marry her to the ruff Westerner who establishes her in a luxurious home. Mother is always master and mistress of occasions and has one round of social festivities in which hero figures only as the check-signer. She also encourages a no-account idler in his attentions to her daughter until such time as she could arrange a divorce between shero and hero. After innumerable incidents in which Harry figures as the goat, they pile it on thicker by having motherin-law preventing him from seeing his newly born baby. The last reels bring him back West in time to prevent his enemy from completing his "doity woik" in cutting his water supply for the cattle. In hero's absence, mother gives the child into the nurse's keeping, telling her daughter that the child died suddenly. Just about this time Hero Harry receives a wire from the butler to come home immediately since there's crooked business in the air. When he arrives he overhears mother's arrangements with a lawyer to divorce him from his wife. This and the fact of his baby's death, *o infuriate him that he puts her out. The end brings hero back his wife and baby whom he found after a search through the dumps of the slums. They pull a ruff and tumble fight, in which the no-account idler gets more than his share. The final sequence shows Carey, his wife and kid truly happy in the West, in the absence of overbearing mother-inlaw. Harry Carey in "ROPED" Universal DIRECTOR jack Ford AUTHOR Eugene B. Lewis. SCENARIO BY Eugene B. Lewis CAMERAMAN John Brown AS A WHOLE Has plenty of action and keeps moving but many incidents too much overdrawn. STORY Old basic idea with alight variation* fairly interesting. DIRECTION Certainly keep* things moving at speedy tempo and developed good comedy bits as well as bits of pathos. PHOTOGRAPHY Satisfactory. LIGHTINGS Not particularly effective. CAMERA WORK Acceptable. STAR Wild and woolly and will appeal to those who like rough Western types. SUPPORT Miss Gerber clayed satisfactorily but photographed to very poor advantage; mother's characterization much too exaggerated; others acceptable. EXTERIORS Some very good; generally fair. INTERIORS Held to atmosphere. DETAIL Many over-reached bits of business in story construction. CHARACTER OF STORY Nothing to offend. LENGTH OF PROD About 5400 ft If your fans like speed and action somewhat on the Bill Hart type, then you're safe in booking this, because it never slows up. The story is not to be taken seriously and fairly runs wild, little thought being given to consistency. Harry Carey is a particular type popular amongst certain audiences. I doubt whether he has any attraction for an elite set, but he generally puts his characterization of a ruff and ready Westerner over and it registers with the middle classes. This particular production tends greatly towards exaggeration, both as to characterization development and the treatment of situations. They pull some bits of business here that any child could recognize as being much too much, but anyway, this is a movie pure and simple, so why worry. It presents the situation of Neva Gerber, society "gel" answering an ad. in the matrimonial column, As it stands, the offering is faulty in many respects but slides along smoothly and at a speedy tempo which helps considerably in sustaining to a degree, the interest. The characterization of the mother was altogether too overdrawn and it's going to be hard to convince many an audience that a mother would act in the coldblooded, malignant manner which this one did. Another ridiculous thing was to have the whole gang of ranchmen come from Arizona to New York twice the first time, to bring hero back to the ranch, and then again to help find his chee-ild. You don't find them doing it in real life in such numbers, especially with the present cost of traveling. Harry Carey's Followers Will Come in on Strength of His Name. Trick Lines About Matrimony Box Office Analysis for the Exhibitor. As a routine program offering, you can get by with this easily without serious complaint. Frankly, it's not the kind of offering to book in a first class theater — oh, no. But for an average good-natured audience it will pass muster since it certainly has plenty of action and speed, and never falls short of situations, even tho' the situations don't all savor of consistency. Harry Carey has undoubtedly a large following in certain communities. He himself is good and certainly puts his characterization over in a manner that should justify a higher quality of production. In the exploitation of this, Harry Carey is the name to play up, for to his followers that has a particular significance and they'll go to see it just because he's in it. Being a Harry Carey production, the title will convey the impression that this has to do with cattle and rough riding. Make it clear to them that such is not the case. You can do this by using the two words, under the title, bracketed, "Into matrimony." That ought to arouse some interest. In the way of catchlines you might use something along the following lines : "Rudyard Kipling said, 'East is east and west is west and never the twain shall meet.' But does this apply in the case of a cultured New York Society girl and a rough, uncouth Westerner See 'Roped' with Harry Carey and think it over." Or another line might be "Were you 'Roped' into matrimony by a newspaper column? Harry Carey was, and he got himself into quite a mess, until, See for yourself how things abruptly took a change for the better between Neva Gerber and himself in 'Roped.' "