The Film Spectator (Mar-Dec 1928)

Page Eight THE FILM SPECTATOR September 29, 1928 age than any other American director has succeeded in doing. Don Alvarado proves to be a dashing leading man. He plays the part of a prince of high degree, and carries it off vnth all the grace and good taste that we might expect from such a character. He proves himself to be a clever actor as well as a young man with a charming screen personality. After seeing his fine work in this picture I am confident that he soon will be a big box-office favorite if given chances to demonstrate what he can do. Warner Oland never disappoints. In many of his scenes he is magnificent, and at no time ceases to be a real artist. Otto Matieson is another member of the cast who lives up to the high standard he has set for himself. John Peters and Jacqueline Gadsen also acquit themselves creditably. The picture reaches the peak of its drama when it seems inevitable that Alvarado is to be executed. It is dallied ^^'ith too long, a common tendency. Every picturewise audience knows that a hero never is executed, consequently nothing is gained by prolonging the pretense that he may be. In this picture the sequence becomes tiresome, although the several parts of it are acted and directed admirably. Some day I hope to see a picture of the Russian revolution that will show us revolutionists who do not laugh fiendishly all the time. I hope Alan Crosland does not expect me to believe that when they are mowing down their compatriots with machine guns, Bolsheviks always nearly split their sides with laughter, and that they indulge in never-ceasing hilarity while watching the execution of aristocrats. Even if it were true, it is not good technic to show it on the screen. Such scenes should be presented as grim tragedies, and there should not be the slightest indication of emotions that detract from their grimness. The Scarlet Lady presents the revolutionists as idiots, which they were not. * * » Despite His Ego, the Little Chap Makes Good JOSEF von Sternberg, that odd little chap on the Paramount lot who was so shocked by my effrontery in criticizing his direction of Drag Net that he has forgotten that he knows me, rises to truly magnificent heights in his direction of The Docks of New York. He tells a story of strong human emotions in the steam of a stokehole, the fog of a harbor, and the mean, smoky atmosphere of waterfront dens. All his sets are dark and unlovely, and the story is as drab as the setting. Only a director with the sublime conceit of Sternberg — Jo Stemberg was his name before he hung frills on it — ^would have undertaken to make a picture out of such material, and only one T\'ith his genius would have achieved such brilliant results. He is extraordinarily effective in using the thoughts of his principals to advance his story. It is a George Bancroft starring picture and in it also are Betty Compson, Baclanova, Clyde Cook, Mitchell Lewis and Gustav von Seyffertitz — artists all of them. The close-ups of them are character studies that have distinct story value, vigorous portraits of strong, elemental people whose eyes reflect passions that they have not brains enough to control. All through the picture the lighting and photography are glorious examples of the possibilities of screen art. The picture opens in the stokehole of a vessel, and I can not recall having seen more effective shots in any other picture. By the judicious use of background lighting Sternberg makes the stokers stand out like animated things done in bronze, each so sharply defined as to give the scenes a suggestion of stereoscopic quality. The camera brings out all the ^^gor and brute strength that Sternberg's grouping and action provide. The chief weakness of Drag Net was the ridiculous manner in which he directed his principals, presenting them as movie actors pretending to be something else. In Docks of New York he gets away from this fault. A little bit of the movie actor sticks to Bancroft, but not enough to keep his performance from being really good. However, Paramount should give him a change of directors before the strutting that Sternberg demands becomes a habit with him. If I wore a hat, I would doff it and make low obeisance to Betty Compson. It's many months since I have seen on the screen anj'thing as notable as her performance. We make her acquaintance when she jumps off a dock to end it all. As Sternberg does not stop his story to introduce any of his characters, we know nothing about her, but we are left to surmise that she has had no great regard for the moral code. Bancroft comes into her life, and in a brilliantly directed sequence, marries her. Her pathetic attempt to hold on to her romance, apparently the only decent thing that has come to her, reveals what a superb actress Betty is. Her performance is purely a mental one, and she tells the story of her tragic hopelessness and loneliness almost entirely through the medium of her eyes. I hope her remarkable acting in this picture will be responsible for her more frequent appearance on the screen in major parts. Baclanova gives us another of her vigorous performances. She is a great actress, with a dominant personality and a perfectly functioning brain. Mitchell Lewis and Von Seyffertitz acquit themselves with that rare artistry of which they are masters. Jules Furthman wrote the story and scenario and to him goes much of the credit for the excellence of the picture. The production is so perfect in its present form that I trust Paramount will use discretion in applying sound to it. It justifies my prediction of more than two years ago that Sternberg is a great director. True, he is a quaint little fellow who by no possibility ever can become as grreat as he thinks he is now. When a man considers himself above criticism there is reason to feel dubious about his future. • • * Bill Howard Adds Another to His String of Good Ones THERE are many features of The River Pirate that will please those who like good pictures. It is a Fox production, directed by William K. Howard and starring Victor McLaglen. Again the Fox people prove themselves to be masters of the art of building productions. The picture is presented with extraordinary pictorial effectiveness, and even Hollywood is going to find it hard to believe that the whole thing was shot on one stage. I would not have believed it myself if I had not seen some of it being shot. In one sequence we see a police boat with several officers in it giving chase to a motorboat in which McLaglen and Nick Stuart are trying to make their getaway. Through a fog we see both boats speeding along a line of docks. Every foot of it was shot on a Fox stage. You won't believe me when you see the picture, none the less it is true. But that is the mechanical