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THE AMERICAN FILM
Henry King, I feel, is one of the most sincere of American directors, whose work seldom receives the attention it deserves. He is to be numbered among those directors in Hollywood who, if they were allowed the chance, would make a film to compare with the product of any of the better European cineastes. All his productions contain points of definite interest, demanding a detailed examination for which there is not the space in these pages. To his credit must firstly be placed what was at its date the finest film America had produced, ToVable David (1922), which was followed later by Stella Dallas, Romola, The White Sister, The Winning of Barbara Worth (a sophisticated western), The Magic Flame, and the better parts of The Woman Disputed. In ToVable David, King expounded his theme with a delicate use of detail and a sympathetic employment of landscape for the emphasis of atmosphere. The material was distributed with a nicety of feeling rare in the American film; the continuity was balanced to perfection and flowed with admirable smoothness; and the characterisation, notably in the case of Richard Barthelmess in the name part, revealed a depth of character that has not been noticed in any later film by the same director. King robbed Griffith of all that was good, combining the spoil with his own filmic knowledge. The real value of Stella Dallas, a brilliant and deeply emotional film, was superficially destroyed in this country by the cheap and contemptible publicity that it received. It was diversely said to be 'the greatest mother-love picture ever made,' and that 'Mr. King had focalised in it all the creative artistry of his great career,' all of which was an attempt to put over Samuel Goldwyn's appreciation of the 'art' of the cinema. It implied, on the contrary, not only the strangeness of Mr. Goldwyn's mind, but the negligible amount of appreciation he possessed for the work of his own directors. The story of Stella Dallas was not of unusual interest, but it gave scope for a consistent character development over a space of time, and lent itself to delicate touches of direction. Its lesson lay in the superb handling of acting material, notably in the cases of Belle Bennett and Lois Moran, and also in Jean Hersholt's masterly rendering of the coarse riding-master. It was one of those rare films that rested on its treatment alone, a type of film not usually connected with America. Sympathy and delicacy are the two salient characteristics of Henry King's work, exemplified strongly in ToVable David and Stella Dallas. He is a misunderstood and mishandled
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