Motography (Jul 1918)

July 13, 1918. MOTOGRAPHY 55 CURRENT AND COMING RELEASES Viewed for the Box Office WITH THE STORY OF THE PICTURE Arrow THE FINGER OF JUSTICE— (Eight Reels)— Crane Wil, bur the leading player, but not featured. A tenderloin melodrama, with a sermon. This is a curious production. It has all the elements of an Ivan feature, l"i t it is sponsored by Rev. Paul Smith of San Francisco, who claims that it reveals the method by which the Barbary Coast of the California city was cleaned up. It tells the usual story of the girl lured to ruin, the political boss who gets graft from fallen women, and all the other familiar phases of underworld life. A unique feature is the sermon worked into the story, in which the hero, a preacher, tells respectable people of their responsibility for conditions. In this way it circumvents a good deal of adverse criticism that usually is attached to this sort of picture. Director — Louis Chaudet. Cameraman — Lenwood Abbott. General effect — A story that wouldn't pass the censors except for its religious features. Star — Crane Wilbur has been off the screen a long time, but this may get a lot of his followers. Support — Pretty bad. .Production — Fair. Photography— Excellent. Local conditions govern this production entirely from the box office viewpoint. Artcraf t Shark Monroe — (Five Reels) — July 1 — Featuring William S. Hart. Full of fight on sea and land. "Shark" Monroe, notorious for his brutality, finds Marjorie Hilton and her dissipated brother in a Seattle joint. They have been trying to get to Alaska, but the brother has squandered their money. Shark agrees to take them north if they will work their passage. On board ship he rescues the brother from death at the risk of his own life and then beats him up for neglect of duty. Marjorie strikes Shark with a rope and her spunk makes him love her. He rescues the girl from a trafficker in women and after permitting her brother to beat him in a fight, proves that he is still the same husky as ever by killing the man who has been trying to ruin the girl. They all live happily ever after. Director — Hart, supervised by Ince. Cameraman — Joe August. General effect— A livelier story than some of the recent Hart pictures, the clashes between the men being constant and ferocious. Star — Hart is putting a little more variety into his work lately and this picture should make more friends for him. Support — Katherine MacDonald as the girl, pretty and full of ginger. Production — Immense. Photography— Brilliant. It's a great Hart picture and will go big anywhere that this star is liked. Metro Opportunity — (Five Reels) — July 1 — Featuring Viola Dana. Cleverest work Viola Dana has ever done. Mary Willard, the adventure-loving daughter of the king of the liniment trust, steals her brother's clothes and goes to a prize fight. There Anthony Fry, a bug on the subject of opportunity, tells his friend, Johnson Bowler, that whoever occupies the seat next to them he will offer the opportunity of a lifetime. Mary, in boy's clothes, gets the seat, and Anthony takes her home with him. A bum detective lives next door and scents a mystery. Further complications occur through the fact that Bowler has been estranged from his wife, and she returns unexpectedly, going to Fry's apartment to find him, and there discovering Mary's hat, which her maid has brought meanwhile. The fun gets faster and more furious, with a fine romantic finish. Director — John H. Collins. Cameraman — John Arnold. General effect — This is the kind of work that has always made the little Dana's melodramas interesting, for she is a real, natural comedienne, and here is a whole feature-full of it. Support — Hale Hamilton is the goods, and with Edward Abeles, Frank Currier and Sally Crute on the job as well, this cast is hard to beat. Production — Good. Photography — Good. This production is good enough for the highest class house, and snappy enough for the cheapest ones. It will create a demand for more Dana comedies. 4e + ♦ To Hell With the Kaiser— (Seven Reels)— July— No player featured. Olive Tell the most prominent member of the cast. Another smashing war feature. Alice Monroe is the daughter of a'n inventor, living in Berlin. As the war breaks out, the Kaiser attempts to force Monroe to turn over the secret of a wireless invention to him. Monroe refuses. One of his daughters, in a convent in Belgium, is the victim of the viciousness of the Crown Prince, and Monroe is shot for denouncing him. Alice finally gets her revenge by killing the Crown Prince with her own hand, and betraying the whereabouts of the Kaiser to an American aviator, so that the monster is captured and the war brought to an end. The story is embellished with numerous striking episodes and the devil himself as the prompter of the Kaiser's deeds is shown like Mephisto in Faust. In the end Satan abdicates from the throne of hell in favor of his greater pupil. Director — George Irving. Cameraman — George Hollister. General effect — As timely as ice cream in summer, the kind that there is no need talking about, for the title and the plot tell the story. Players — Very fine, especially Lawrence Grant, who gives the best impersonation of Kaiser Bill the screen has yet had. Production — Remarkably thorough. Photography — Excellent. This looks like another as good as "The Kaiser, the Beast of Berlin," if not even better. Why waste words? William S. Hart in "Shark Monroe." Pathe Annexing Bill — (Five Reels) — July 1 — Featuring Gladys Hulette. A lively comedy melodrama, well played. Billy (in the usual manner he needs no surname because he's the hero) is a young lawyer with no money, in love with Enid Barwell, a young art student with still less, if possible. A ship is wrecked, Enid's aunt of whom she hardly knew, is drowned, ami Enid is worth a million. Billy then refuses to marry her because she has too much money. She then decides to have a friend lose the money in speculation, but just then the aunt turns up, not having been drowned after all. More trouble. Then the aunt who turned up proves to be a fake and there is still more trouble. Everybody is happy at last. Director — Albert Parker. General effect — A farce with a good vein of sentiment running through it, but not so hilarious as it ought to have been. Star — Miss Hulette is charming, but Creighton Hale is not a good support in comedy. Production — Average. Photography — Good. This speedy variety of comedy goes well to add variety to a program that has been top-heavy with melodrama. It won't drive anybody crazy with enthusiasm, but it will please most audiences.