Motion Picture News (Sep - Oct 1926)

1102 Motion Picture N c zv s Highlights oj Harry Langdons latest First P^ational comedy, "The Strong Man" The Flying Mail Al W^ilson Starred Doing Some Aerial Stunts (Reviewed by Paul Thompson) DRAMA and comedy are supposedly blended in this latest Associated Exhibitors release, but the drama is more successful than the comedy. This probably as it should be. In this aerial age when football players such as "Red" Grange fly rather than run or lope it is quite consistent that air-mail planes should be held up rather than lumbering stage coaches no matter how madly if skillfully the driver handles his reins over the backs of his sweating foam-flecked horses. So here we have the hero held up by the air-mail robbers so that it appears he is working in cahoots with them. As tho' that were not enough for one young .rising aviation hero to contend with, a woman turns up with a phony marriage certificate to gum-up the courtship with the heroine. It sure does look pretty bad for Al AVilson, but any man who has the nerve to do the circus stunts in the air that he has isn 't going to be beaten in that fashion. He trails the gang even though the papers are carrying a reward for his own apprehension. When they leave the ground with the stolen plane and bonds he jumps on the nearest motor-cycle and by swinging from this to a ladder suspended from a ])lane that is pursuing the villains in their nuichine, lie obtains a vantange point for really thwarting them. From this point on he does his stuff. In treatment, "The Flying Mail" suggests a serial with thrills following each other in rapid suggestion. The Cast: Al Wilson (Starred), Joseph J. Girard. Kathleen Myers, Carmelita Gcraghiy, Harry von Meter, Eddie Gribbon and Frank Tomick. Director, Mason Noel. Author, Frank IJmvard Clark. THEME: Wilson's aerial EXPLOITATION ANGLES: stunts preventing air-mail rob Wilson's reputation as a darebery. devil and pictures showing this. PRODUCTION HIGH DRAWING POWER: Fairly LIGHTS: Airplane shots. good. Produced b\ A. Carlos for Al Wilson Productions. Released throu(]h Associated Exhibitors. Released September 10, 1926. Length, 4.500 feet. The Texas Streak Hoot Gibson Gets His Start in the Movies. (Reviewed by Paul Thompson) PRINCIPALLY interesting as showing the metamorphosis of Hoot Gibson from a ' ' double " in a movie company to the role of star is this latest Universal-Jewel. Hoot, Jack Curtis and George Summerville are given a lift from location on the property man's motor truck because they have lost their last cent of wages as extras shooting craps. Unfortunately their seat on the truck is so uncertain that a bump throws them off and leaves them stranded with some of the company props in the comparative desert. Utilizing these props, Hoot establishes a reputation as a heroic figure and as such is hired to baffle the villains who are trying to prevent a party of surveyors putting through their work. Using nothing but blank cartridges Hoot not only cows a vast army of opi^onents but shows up the villain as double-crossing the heroine's father whose interests he is supposedly guarding. After that there is nothing to it. A small army of villains are bound together and turned over e nmasse to the sheriff. Hoot thereby winning not only father's gratitude and daughter's hand but also a position as star in westerns for the Universal company. This is an interesting moving picture genesis of Gibson's arrival in the saddle for the company which now lists him as one of its most successful stars. The Cast: Hoot Gibson (Starred), Blanche Mehaffey, Alan Roscoc, James Marcus, Jack Curtis, George Summerville, Lee Bates, Jack Murphy and William H. Turner. Director of his ozvn story and scenario, Lynn Reynolds (a sort of one-man band effect). EXPLOITATION ANGLES: Gibson's " Western " fame; Blanche Mehaffey 's attractiveness. Sidelight on the movies. DRAWING POWER: Good, ingenious twist to plot. THEME : Converting a movie extra into a star. PRODUCTION HIGHLIGHTS: A movie company breaking up; Hoot's round-up of villains with blank cartridges. Produced and distributed bv Universal I^ictures Corp. Released September 26, 1926. Length, 6,259 feet. Scenes from the Douglas MacLean I'aramount comedy. "Hold That Lion