Motion Picture Magazine (Feb-Jul 1920)

Aci s the By HAZE Above, George Walsh in "The Winning Stroke" ; center, a scene from "Teeth of the Tiger," and below, Dorothy Dalton in "The Market of Souls" w E have with us this m o n th no Broken Blossoms," no "Miracle Man," no great addition to the sum total of our national art, the photoplay. And yet the public have found their month of silversheet offerings precisely as entertaining without the inconvenience of paying double prices. Why must all art be expensive ? Did it cost more to produce a "Miracle Man" than a "Market of Souls" ? I venture to say that the monetary expenditure was practically even, and yet the one is shown at double prices thruout the country, the other at the usual rate — and the poor public doesn't quite know (\why it should pay 1^76 exorbitant prices for the one entertainment and not the other, any more than it understands the impossible sums charged for every other pleasure, convenience or neces i sity. Are the movies also in danger of becoming the playthings of profiteers . . . is it possible that the people's amusement is to become ... a luxury? I fervently hope not ... I hope that the artistic advancement of the photoplay will continue to be within the reach of every man's pocketbook. THE WINNING STROKE — FOX Here is a Fox program picture which is singularly remindful of "Brown of Harvard." The story concerns a young college athlete who incurs the wrath of the college bad man during a hazing episode. Both men fall in love with the same girl, whereupon the college bad man plans a revenge which plagiarizes Nick Carter. However, in spite of the depth of the plot against him, the athletic hero proves his innocence and is re-entered in the Yale boat race in time to stroke the crew to victory. A college story always possesses an interesting element of entertainment, but this one has been sadly marred by its director. Given a star like George Walsh, young, vigorous, athletic, good to look upon, nay handsome, the director has kept Walsh so far from the camera that we almost lose track of him. Yards of celluloid are expended upon the antics of the villain, the insipid pout of the amateurish actress who portrays the girl both college men love and upon subtitles whose chief cause for existence are to show off some one's ability to make cheap puns. This is a poor policy ! For George Walsh is the most fearless stunt man in the business ; he is not only pleasing to feminine eyes but to masculine ones as well. It is high time he was given a good director, half-way decent photography and a chance at the camera. A company willing to pay a star's salary shows poor headwork in hampering that star with poor productions. THE LOTTERY MAN FAMOt/S PLAYERS-LASKY Wallace Reid, handsome and debonair as always, is happily set in this play. For not only is Wanda Hawley the girl he wins against all the laws of fate and chance, but the story is such as to give Wally an opportunity to display his inimitable humor. The plot, in brief, concerns the antics of a young man who, in order to refill his empty coffers, allows a newspaper contest to be run, he being bound to marry the girl who draws the lucky coupon. Immediately after the first newspaper notice of the contest appears, Wally meets Wanda and falls desperately in love with her. The rest of the celluloid ribbon is spent in unwinding him from the clutches of many women trying to capture