Motion Picture News (Mar-Apr 1923)

March 24, 1923 1463 Opinions on Current Short Subjects Showing Buster Keaton coming up for air in the First National picture, " The Love Nest." 44 Hot Water " 1 Christie-Educational — Two Reels) THERE is sufficient comedy to make this two-reeler a good one to run anywhere, but the theatre in which it will score best is the neighborhood house, patronized by married couples and children, for that is what it's all about. Neal Burns is a newly-wed. His wife, is a pretty girl (Duane Thompson), incidentally a new comedy leading woman who is decidedly pleasing. They expect to raise a family of five children but are eager to gain experience in taking care of kiddies. Therefore, welcome the opportunity offered by a widower friend who expects to go to Europe and ships his child, parcels post, to the couple. Meantime, the young married man's bosses plan to play a joke on him, each borrowing their own children (two to a family) and bribe the station agent to tag the four, so that when the newly-weds arrive there are five children on their hands instead of the one expected. The fathers tell their children that they may be as naughty as possible for one whole day, so that as soon as the five are herded into the automobile they begin. The young couple rind that five children in a house can disrupt things in general, and not until the following day is the situation clarified. The father of the motherless baby decides to take his child with him to Europe, so calls to claim his own. When the wives of the two bosses find they have been misinformed as to the whereabouts of their respective children, there is considerable explaining to do. All of which goes to make up a rapid, laughable and entertaining farce. — LILLIAN GALE. " Bowled Over " (Roach-Pathe— One Reel) PAUL PARROTT appears as the would-be champion bowler, and the picture opens showing the hero in bed being disturbed by the ringing of an alarm clock, then goes into laughing detail, at last showing the companion by his side to be pins, carefully covered up so as to be safe for the bowling tournament. The fun centers during the tournament, when Parrott is the victim of rivals who leave no stone unturned to bring about Paul's defeat. Trick apparatus is employed with good results, as the reel is full of action and will be especially amusing to those familiar with the troubles of one who frequents the bowling alley.— LILLIAN GALE. " The Love Nest " ( Buster Keaton Cornedy-First National — Two Reels) BUSTER Keaton had so much fun and furnished so much amusement in a comedy about a boat on the high seas, shown some time ago, that he lias evidently attempted to prov ide a sequel. " The Love Nest " is one of the most comic pieces which the sad face comedian has given the screen. He utilizes the dream situation in building his burlesque, yet one never suspects this bit of ancient treatment until it is shown at the finish. Buster has rigged up a boat called "The Love Nest." He will sail the briny deep in an effort to forget an unhappy love affair. And then the fun begins. The comedian's frail craft is sighted by the skipper of a whaling boat. He anchors alongside, clambers aboard and proceeds to get in " dutch " with the powerful captain. The latter has made Buster his cabin boy. When one of the crew does something out of order he is tossed in the ocean and a ready wreath follows him. Keaton manages to avoid Mr. Jones' w. k. locker in scenes which would make a wooden Indian laugh. We predict a raucous moment of laughter in any house anywhere, when Buster is yanked into the water by a whale. He tows the big fish back to the boat and the skipper duplicates the scene. Perhaps the most amusing touch is that which shows Buster trying to fish while standing on a target standard. The warship shoots several projectiles around him, but he mistakes them for fish and casts his rod in an effort to catch them. Then comes the dream situation and the puncture of Buster's nightmare when the standard is shot to pieces. For sheer burlesque and comic exaggeration the Keaton comedies are in a class by themselves. This is good enough to steal the thunder away from a feature unless the chief attraction is an extraordinary one.— LAURENCE REID. " Uneasy Feet " (Hamilton-Educational — Two Reels) ' I '•HERE is so much action, so many angles *■ to put to use in the make-up of this entertaining comedy that it would be difficult to enumerate them. It begins with showing the arrival of Lloyd Hamilton, a country boy, in the city, where taxicab drivers surround him and in their efforts to claim him as a fare leave him in the street practically unclothed. A policeman orders Hamilton to get some clothes on, and, in his efforts to do so, he enters a clothing store, where some of the action takes place, and then a shoe store, where some laughable situations occur. When Hamilton finally is clothed with a suit, the policeman pacified, he is overtaken by a rain storm, and as the new clothing dries it shrinks so that the policeman becomes wrathful again. The ruses Hamilton employs trying to avoid the policeman make up the fun, and there is plenty of it for every kind of comedy fan. Incidentally, the two-reeler is equipped with some rattling good sub-titles, most of which can be depended upon to gain a laugh independently of the action.— LILLIAN GALE. Scene from "Oh Ma. the Rent Taker." C. B. C. Hallroom Boys Comedy 44 A Peasant Journey " (Our Gang-Pathe — Two Reels) 'TM1E Roach comedies known as "Our Gang" A have earned sufficient reputation as to immediately identify them with the stock cast including Sunshine Sammy, Mickey Daniels, Jackie Condon; little Farima, Jackie Davis et al. Therefore, the best way to form a good idea of what "A Pleasant journey" is like, is to picture yourself suddenly called upon to take that gang from Los Angeles to San Francisco in a Pullman, otherwise occupied by finicky people, a man with the gout and a woman, who without children of her own, could advise the proverbial old lady in the shoe how to manage them. The plot suggestion is that the Children's Welfare Association of Los Angeles wishes to send a number of children to, San Francisco and assign one of their members to make the trip. She suffers a sprained ankle and induces her fiance, a bachelor of thirty, to take her place. "Our Gang" take advantage of an unusual opportunity to "train ride," substituting themselves for the orphans and not until they have successfully annoyed all the passengers and arrive at San Francisco, does the bachelor learn that he has traveled with the wrong outfit. Furthermore, he faces having to take them back. A traveling salesman on board offers to help entertain the gang by opening his sample case containing horns, fire works and sneeze powder. Consequently, there is not a dull moment and we defy anyone to look at this picture and refrain from laughing aloud. — LILLIAN GALE. 44 The Alley Cat ' 1 Aesop's Fable-Patlie — One Reel) O OMET1MES it is most difficult to describe ^ what is contained in a cartoon fable, but when one happens along that stands out among those of recent issue as one of the best ever screened, it deserves some delineation. Farmer Al Falfa's home is overrun with mice. A lone mouse enters the pantry and removes an egg from a carton. Other mice appear and they use the egg as a football. All goes well until it lights upon the farmer's head and he starts after the intruders. Immediately the kitchen floor becomes alive with the little fellows, who scamper into holes in every conceivable place, scamper in and out to prove their bravery and as nothing can be done about it farmer Al Falfa gives Fanny, the cat jn structions to to her duties and then the fun increases. The moral is: "What Can't Be Cured Must Be Endured " —LILLIAN GALE.