Motion Picture Classic (1923, 1924, 1926)

Laurence Reid Reviews the New Photoplays Mind you. it is a triangle and tremendously simple of design. Yet it grips you completely, rhe suspense Is terrific as \ >u wondei what will happen. You know that the Germans are as thoro in their plays as they are in war. There is no sugar-coating here. Dot's the big playboy run afoul of some gossiping friend who would in form him of the undue passion that his partners have for each other? No indeed, it isn't done so obviously. Instead, the most , malicious method is used — a method which strike^ deep. A caricaturist sketches the triangle in vivid terms. The hatred is engendered in the outraged heart of the anchor man. And he makes his rival pay the supreme penalty. That's all there is to "Variety." But how graphically it is depicted. The story, told in narrative style, with the protagonist confessing the crime to the magistrate after his long sojourn in prison, builds evenly and logically to its destined climax. Cinematic Quality [ must pay the highest tribute to 1 the superb direction. It is manifested in the lighting, the staging, the grouping and the handling of the various characters and situations. The Wintergarten in Berlin is shown in a kaleidoscopic display — with the several acts dissolving into one another. There is keen suspense as the aerialists go thru their routine high up over the heads of the audience. And the pulse quickens indeed, as you wonder if the anchor man will permit his rival to fall. The outraged playboy, forgetful of the fact that he is suffering as he permitted his wife to suffer, hesitates whether he should catch his false friend. But he is the showman, after all. And he dearly loves applause. Jack Holt decorates the backgrounds of the vast open country in "Born to the West," an up and at 'em Western Lon Chaney scores another point for realism by his uncanny disguise and performance in "The Road to Mandalay." The gentleman in the garb of the cleric is none other than Henry B. Walthall Which is a tribute to the lifelike touch of the picture. So he goes on with the act and metes out sterner justice. Splendid Acting A s in "The Last Laugh" I find Emil Jannings again living his character to the life. He is brutal, playful, boastful, cunning, in turn — and he pretends to be nothing else than what he represents. It is a magnificent performance — a performance which adds newlaurels. Lya de Putti is also quite perfect in her rendition of the sex-crazed woman — shading her role with true femirine moods and impulses. Chaney in a New Disguise here is a sordid drama of the East — of primitive passions of Singapore on viewin "The Road to Mandalay." As it> story unfolds, it presents nothing that can be called enlightened or original. And it took no inspiration to conceive it. What merit it has r< solely with its characterization. In order to effect this Lon Chaney resorts to another of his uncanny disguises. He appears a one-eyed bad man — whose only redeeming virtue is his love for his daughter reared in ignorance of her paternal relative. Chaney must have suffered to bring about this one-eye effect. It is rumored that he employed some chemical which could only be used two hours at a time — so painful was the task. But that accounts for Chaney, the realist. Anyway, he holds the attention — and gives a vivid performance. Mostly Atmosphere therwise there is no tug at the emotions. spiritual or what you will. Lois Moran doesn't look like the type of girl that would be mixed up in such a plot — a plot that doesn't approximate anything (Continued on page 90) 51