Motion Picture News (Mar-Apr 1923)

1198 Motion Picture News Audre Lafayette, the nineteen-year-old French girl who has been imported by Richard Walton Tully to play the title role in " Trilby " to be directed by James Young for First National release. "Notoriety" Sold in Southwest The territory including Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas was sold by Sam Sax, sales manager for L. Lawrence W eber & Bobby North, to the Southern States Film Co., Inc., of Atlanta, on the Will Nigh photodrama " Notoriety." This sale almost completes the disposal of state-rights qri the society drama. An early first-run has been arranged on a Southwestern circuit, and an exploitation campaign to be conducted on one of the largest scales the territory has yet seen, wit! soon be launched. A tie-up with the Dallas newspapers on an Anti-Notoriety campaign is being perfected. Previous to the opening of the picture, an elaborate preview is planned, where the leading public officials will be invited. Choice Productions Is ■ Busy on Series The Choice Production studio is a bee-hive of industry these days where Tom Mills is directing the production of a new series of comedy subjects for that company. This series is said to bring to the screen an angle of life heretofore overlooked by producers which is replete with clean comedy and heart interest, the first subject is now in the cutters' hands. These productions, together with the Comparable series of which four have been completed provide an excellently balanced lineup of two reelers. The Choice Productions, Inc., were fortunate in securing as technical director W. E. Shepherd whose artistic work in designing the sets for the " Connecticut Yankee " was to no small extent responsible for the success of that production. "Alice Adams" Given Approval Associated Exhibitors announces that already there has' been an exceptionally heavy booking demand for its seven-part feature, Florence Vidor in " Alice Adams," though the picture is not to be released until April 8th. The National Committee for Better Films accorded this attraction a star rating. Pilgrim" Makes Critics Laugh New York Reviewers Admit Falling Under Chaplin Spell In His Latest IT'S a rare thing when critics agree but the New York critics are of one opinion as to the entertainment value of Charlie Chaplin's last First National fumnaker, " The Pilgrim," which began a two weeks' run at the New York Strand on February 25. One writer, Joseph Mulvaney, in the New York American, admitted that he tried to view the picture from a critical angle but was compelled to forget that he was a critic and joined with the big crowd in the Strand in uproarious enjoyment of the fun. Here in brief is what the New York critics wrote : " If Chaplin had never made another comedy, if he had never been heard of before, ' The Pilgrim ' would be a hit. That's the test and no one can doubt, surely, that ' The Pilgrim ' meets it." — The Times. " You'll feel ashamed of yourself for laughing at the incredibly grotesque adventures of Chaplin in this new picture, and yet you can't help it." — The American. " It is incredibly funny. It contains elements of humor as vitally laughable as anything that has ever been written or said. Please don't miss it." — The Herald. " We liked ' The Pilgrim ' better than almost any of his other pictures and ... we like ' The Pilgrim' . . . because it was filled with incidents you could not anticipate, presented in a way you do not expect."— The Tribune. " There is quite a lot of the oldlime sure-fire stuff throughout ' The Pilgrim,' although being only four reels long, the picture is at no time padded or tedious. It had them rocking in their seats yesterdav."— The World. "Is it funny? It is. It is screamingly funny, measured from the standard of things that make us laugh. We howled, we roared, we slapped our sides. If you love Chaplin as we do you'll see this picture. And if you don't love him perhaps you will after seeing it." — Daily News. N. Y. Cameo Policy Changed During Run Of "Down To Sea In Ships" Eight Shows Will Be Given Daily OWING to the unprecedented public demand to see the Elmer Clifton production, " Down to the Sea in Ships," now said to be playing to capacity crowds at the Cameo theatre, New York, it is stated that beginning with Washington's Birthday and continuing for the balance of the run the doors of the Cameo theatre will open at 10 A. M., eight shows being given daily. This radical change in policy of the theatre was made in order to accommodate the enormous crowds attending the theatre. Thousands of people have been turned away, it is said, and standees have been so frequent as to warrant the prediction that this latest Hodkinson fea ture might remain at the Cameo indefinitely. " Down to the Sea in Ships " was sponsored by the citizenry of New Bedford, Mass., the home of the whaling industry on the Atlantic Coast. It was personally directed by Elmer Clifton in the quaint Massachusetts town and on the high seas, and was made with the co-operation of the Old Dartmouah Historical Society. The New York critics and public hailed the photodrama as an epoch making event, and were unanimous in declaring the whale hunt and other thrills of this picture of the sea, to be beyond question the finest of its type ever screened ' 'Othello" Popular At Criterion rictunzation Of Shak espearian Drama Attracts Crowds To N. Y. House WHEN" Ben Blumenthal and David P. Howells decided to test the drawing power of Shakespeare by presenting " Othello," at the Criterion Theatre, New York, they did not dare to anticipate anything approaching the great demand for seats following the announcement of the publicshowing of the continental production In order to better gauge the interest of the public in the presentation of the first really great picturization of a Shakespearian drama it was deemed advisable to have an advance ticket sale. A private showing of the film before a distinguished gathering of stage and screen notables brought a few laudatory paragraphs into the daily papers and was the means of attracting immediate interest in the advance sale of seats. By Thurs day evening, a day after the boxoffice had opened on the advance sale, there was not a single seat to be had for the opening day, Sunday, February 25th, it is said. The advance sale of seats has already reached such proportions that the first week's business at the Criterion is certain to reach n record figure, it is claimed. The screen version of " Othello," because of its magnificent production and remarkable acting will, it is said, bring an entirely new clement into motion picture theatres. It will appeal to the "high-brow" and low-brow in any city. For these reasons both Mr. Blumenthal and Mr. Howells expect " Othello " to exert a splendid influence for good in motion picture progress. And at the same timewiden the field of silver screen appeal. John Barrymore, who has been engaged by Warner Brothers to appear in the title role of " Beau Brummel " as star of a special production. War Veterans Featured In "Lost" Ex-service men had an opportunity to display their medals during the filming of a big hospital set used for " Lost,'' a Regal Production special, starring Madge Bellamy, which is being made at the Thomas H. Ince studios. World War veterans exclusively were used, those with medals being placed on the preferred list. One man, a Belgian, played a small part with an array of his ten medals across his chest. Madge Bellamy as a Red Cross nurse and her leading man, Warner Baxter, play a number of big scenes in the opening sequence of the production, which is laid in the hospital, where the " hero," shellshocked and without memory, is provided with an identity which leads to later dramatic situations. First National Makes Big Foreign Deal E. Bruce Johnson, foreign manager of Associated First National, has just concluded another deal with Max Glucksmann of Buenos Aires for eight more new First National releases for distribution in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Peru, Boliva and Ecuador. The pictures taken over by Glucksmann are " The Hottentot," "Skin Deep," " Bell Boy 13," " What a Wife Learned," " Man of Action," "Scars of Jealousy," "Sunshine Trail," all Thomas H. Ince productions and "Lorna Doone," a Maurice Tourneur production. Glucksmann only recently took over thirteen other big First National attractions, including several Norma and Constance Talmadge pictures for the same territory. Extra Box Office for "Third Alarm" For the first time in its history, Barbees theatre in Chicago was granted permission by the Chicago Building Commission to erect a temporary box office on the sidewalk to handle the crowds. The picture was " The Third Alarm." distributed by the Film Booking Offices of America.