Motion Picture News (Sept-Oct 1918)

October 5 , 1 0 1 8 2245 "LAUGHING BILL HYDE"— GOLDWYN Will Rogers' Debut Looks Like Genuine Success PAT yourself on the back, if you have this picture coming. Put on a good smile. It is entitled to that particular check mark you use on your date hook to mark those of the attractions you intend advertising to the limit. It deserves it. The basic entertaining element in this attraction is heart interest. The hero is given a human part and you circle him with your sympathy right from the very start. He is introduced as an escaped convict, a man whose rough exterior and unpolished manner enclose a heart as big as a mountain. Love and kindness to his fellow man guide his actions in the entire story. \^ hen his pal is weak and unable to walk, the hero carries him to the doctor in his arms; when the Indian girl is robbed of her mine, he steals the gold from the thieves and gives it to her. But the one situation that will remain long in your memory is this: the doctor's girl stated that some one accosted her while getting off the boat. The hero says nothing to anybody, but goes to the saloon and in a disinterested manner asks some of the frequenters if any of them have seen a lady get off the boat. One of them arrogantly states that it was he, and that the lady must remain his. The hero then displays a little knife which he places close to the villain's stomach and tells him he will not stop it there next time he speaks disrespectfully of the lady or lays an eye on her. That is real heart interest. The subtitles contain such a clean and wholesome comedy that they are alone worth the price of admission. Released Sept. 30. — Length, 5 reels. — P. S. Harrison. THE CAST Laughing Bill Hyde Will Rogers Ponotah Anna Lehr Black Jack Burg John Sainpolis Dr. Evan Thomas Clarence Oliver Alice Mabel Ballin Joseph Wesley Slayforth Joseph Herbert Denny Slevin '.Robert Conville Danny Dorgan Dan Mason By Rex Beach. Directed by Hobart Henley. Photographed by Arthur Cadwell. AD TALK A new Goldwyn star will make his appearance on the screen of the theatre of week. He is none other than Will Rogers, the famous cowboy comedian who is known to all New Yorkers and visitors to New York for his dry humor and witticisms. This year Rogers is in the Ziegfeld Follies and has regaled many thousands with his timely and comical comment on important events of the day. Rogers started out in life as a cowboy, became a monologist because his friends simply refused to permit him to go on roping cattle the rest of his life, and went into pictures as another natural step forward. Whether he would make good in this art was a question that many wiseacres of Broadway were dubious about. So much of his success depended on his delivery and his lines. Well, Will Rogers has made good, there is no doubt about that. His face was meant for the camera and in " Laughing Bill Hyde " he gives ample proof of this. " Laughing Bill Hyde " is one of Rex Beach's stories, the central figure of which is an escaped convict who makes his way to the Alaskan gold fields, there to prove himself the better of the dirtiest crook in the north and to win for himself a beautiful half-breed girl for a wife. The story was one of Mr. Beach's best and it has been transferred to the screen with excellent results by Director Hobart Henley. Mr. Henley never misses the human note in his pictures. Whether he be dealing with melodrama or comedy, his characters are real. This is his art. And in " Laughing Bill Hyde " he has well eclipsed all former efforts. It is a great combination — the author, the star and the director — in whatever order you will. CATCH LINES The Ziegfeld Follies have given many an ingenue to the screen, notably Ann Pennington. This time a male person is recruited from that garden of talent. See Will Rogers in the Goldwyn-Rex Beach production, " Laughing Bill Hyde." The most famous wit of the speaking stage turns to pictures and is an instantaneous success. One of Rex Beach's best stories reproduced on the screen by Goldwyn pictures under the direction of Hobart Henley. All convicts are not bad — there is a certain class of outlaws that holds honor above aJl else — in this class " Laughing Bill Hyde " stood at the top, and when it came to a battle of villainy and virtue he arrayed himself on the side of justice. What mattered it if he employed methods somewhat underhanded to win his game? Right and love succeeded. A story of the Alaskan gold fields, fields in which Rex Beach is perfectly at home. Will Rogers turns out to be such a fine screen actor that you would never know he was acting. One of the high lights in Goldwyn's second year. Any old matinee idol can dress himself up in chaps and a sombrero and call himself a cowboy, but did you ever see a real honest-to-goodness cowboy on the screen — have a look at Will Rogers in " Laughing Bill Hyde." THE STORY Bill Hyde, a convict, makes a successful break from prison and succeeds also in saving Danny Dorgan, another inmate, from the iron bars. While eluding the guards Danny is mortally wounded. Bill takes him to the doctor and after forcing him to swear not to tell of the visit puts him in his charge. But Danny dies, despite all care. Bill decides to go to Alaska, sometimes the home of hunted men. In Alaska Bill rescues Ponotah, a half-breed, from the attack of a brute. She tells him that Slayforth, half owner of the mine in which she possesses the other major interest, is attempting to rob her of her share. Bill immediately decides to secure employment in this mine and after persistent efforts is successful. He discovers that the superintendent is systematically robbing the mine and storing the stolen gold in a hole near his home. One night Bill takes this gold and buries it near his own cabin. The doctor has, in the meantime, arrived in Alaska to seek a fortune sufficient to enable him to marry a girl back home. A dying man whom he tends bestows on him his mine. Bill goes out to look it over and discovers its worthless. But instead of giving up the case he proceeds to " salt " the mine with some of the buried gold, subsequently selling it to the treacherous Slayforth at an immense figure. This money he turns over to the doctor in order that he may return and claim his bride. The rest of the gold he gives to Ponotah, whom, in return, gives him her heart and hand in marriage. (Continued on page 2256) RecBeacli's OremendousDrama of Redemption laughing BfflHyde* with/ Will Rogers Directed by Hobart Henley — RELEASED THR.OUCJ* Goldwyn Ad Cut Furnished at Goldwyn Exchanges