Motion Picture Classic (Feb 1917 - Jun 1919)

By FREDERICK JAMES SMITH Harold Lockwood is the typical screen idol in “Pals First” Bill Hart’s “The Border Wireless” merely substitutes hun agents for bandits The first Mason Truex comedy, “Come On In,” (Paramount), a satirical slam at the German plotters, is slender but amusing. Miss Loos plays upon words even with her characters, the hun agents becoming Ophul Schmell, Von Bumstuff and so on. It was daring to playfully burlesque the war, but Miss Loos gets away with it. Truex gives a nicely shaded comedy performance and Miss Mason is wholly likable. We’re looking forward to their next picture. Some of the reviewers pronounced William S. Hart’s “The Border Wireless,” (Artcraft), a novelty. We fail to see it. Here is the same old theme with German plotters substituted for the conventional bad men. Bill plays Steve Ranson, wanted for murder. He meets the usual blonde ciftie, unearths a German wireless rigged up in a deserted mine and aids in the capture of the hun agents after a running fight from room to room and up and down stairs. All the while United States cavalrymen are clattering over the hills to the rescue. Then, of course, it is proven that Steve’s original crime was merely done in self-defense, and, naturally, Steve gets the blonde. Pretty Wanda Hawley plays the girl in question and does it with sympathy and charm. Wanda held our interest, if Bill and the plot didn’t. “Pals First,” with Harold Lockwood, is a special Metro release, probably because it is in six reels. Herein Danny Rawland. a crook of the underworld, takes the place of Richard Castleman, a wealthy young Tennesseean whom he resembles in every detail. He wins the love of a young Dixie girl, and when confronted with proof of his duplicity, proves that he is, in truth Richard Castleman. " He had been robbed of his clothes and papers in ’Frisco by the real Danny who, upon taking passage to the Orient, had been lost at sea. A longing for adventure prompted Richard to pose as Danny and come back to masquerade as himself. The trick finish is the best thing about “Pals First.” This surprise is adroitly hidden. Harold Lockwood does Richard in screen idol style while James Lackaye really overtops him thru the six reels as Dominie, Danny’s pal, a fat exclergyman and whilom crook. Ruby de Remer, as the heroine, is hopelessly amateurish. Dorothy Gish has a distinct sense of humor, but she is about as repressed as a gentleman suffering from St. Vitus’ dance. She needs a restraining hand — and needs it badly. In “Battling lane,” (Paramount), she has much ( Continued on page 80) feet of dense fog. Yet, (we cannot help adding), we hope Tourneur does not waste his abilities upon such material again. Speaking of imagination, William Fox’s newest Annette Kellermann production, “Queen of the Sea,” is an interesting — iwe should say uninteresting— example of utter lack of it. Supposedly it revolves around the love of Merilla, "the queen of the sea,” for Prince Hero, and the * efforts of the wicked King Boreas to wreck the romance. The director alternates fifteen or so feet of tank swimming, with fifteen of mermaids lolling upon rocks and fifteen of nearstory thru the whole six reels. At least, as far as we observe it, the whole thing — in scenario and direction — is completely infantile. We departed before the finish, we must confess. Miss Kellermann’s costumes are largely by Hepner, the wig manufacturer, but even this frankness bored u's. The whole cast is lost, except possibly a little unknown, Mildred Keats, who makes the slender role of a princess stand out. George Bronson-Howard is named as the author. He has good grounds for damages. We expect pleasant things of the new juvenile team of Shirley Mason and Ernest Truex, with John Emerson and Anita Loos behind them. Dorothy Gish shows humor — and the need of a restraining hand in “Battling Jane” : ( Forty -seven)