Moving Picture World (May 1919)

May 31, 1919 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 1385 REVIEWS AND ADVERTISING AIDS (Continued) Kate Jordan and adapted by George D. Baker. It is novel, leaves a pleasant aftertaste and is excellently produced. Not a great picture from any point of view, it has to do with the theatre and treats the subject with respect for the people of the stage, and with real insight to their mode of life. The principal character is Fortuna Donnelly, one of the ushers at the Halcyon. Contrary to the usual run of stories of the stage, Fortuna does not step forward when the leading lady is taken suddenly ill, play her part and become a star overnight. There is a pretty romance in "Castles in the Air," but it always keeps down to earth. May Allison is quite as attractive as the heroine of the picture as she was in "The Island of Intrigue" and "In for Thirty Days," and that should satisfy any reasonable mortal. Ben Wilson as Eddie Lintner, the manager of the theatre, is a new screen type of theatrical magnate and makes him agreeably human. Other well acted parts are the Hon. Owen Pauncefort of Walter I. Percival, the Mrs. Pauncefort of Irene Rich, and the John McArthur of Clarence Burton. Cast, Fortuna Donnelly May Allison Eddie Lintner Ben Wilson John McArthur Clarence Burton Hon. Owen Pauncefort. .Walter I. Percival Mrs. Owen Pauncefort Irene Rich Mrs. Larrymore "Mother" Anderson Esther Jones Viola Dolan Lucy Dalton Ruth Maurice Story by Kate Jordon. Scenario by George D. Baker. Directed by George D. Baker. The Story. Building "Castles in the Air" after reading a thrilling romance about a barmaid who marries an English lord does not help Fortuna Donnelly to pay her room rent, so she hunts through the help wanted column of a paper and finds an "ad" for an usher at the Halcyon Theatre. Fortuna is a very pretty girl, and the assistant manager of the theatre is a judge of pretty girls. He engages her out of two dozen applicants, and then proceeds to take his commission after the fashion of cads of his kind. Fortuna slaps hi.s face and is being roughly handled by McArthur, when the manager of the theatre enters the room. He gives McArthur a piece of his mind, and assures the girl of absolute protection if she still wants the position as usher. Fortuna accepts and finds that Manager Lintner is a man of his word. He soon becomes greatly interested in her; but. womanlike, she prefers the attentions of the Honorable Owen Pauncefort, a wealthy young Englishman, who makes her acquaintance at the theatre. With visions of being the bride of so distinguished a gentleman, Fortuna accepts an invitation to dine with him at his home. The young girl is greatly impressed with the magnificence of the place, and is happy until Pauncefort tries to take her in his arms. She quickly makes him understand that she intends to be treated with respect. Not a bad chap at heart, her host apologizes, and confides to her that he is in this country to find his wife. A quarrel has separated the pair, and he is anxious to get his wife back. When chance brings Mrs. Pauncefort to the theatre. Fortuna recognizes her by her photograph and phones to her husband. Upon his arrival she gives him a seat next to his wife. This leads to a reunion. The next happy event is when Fortuna finds out what a fine fellow Lintner is, and that she loves him. Her "Castle in the Air" turns out a very substantial one when she becomes the wife of the wealthy manager. Program and Advertising Phrases: Delightful Story Dealing With the Real Life of People of the Stage. Romance of a Pretty Girl Usher in a Theatre, Who Won the Heart of the Wealthy Manager. How a Pretty and Charming Girl Built a "Castle in the Air" and When It Tumbled Down, Promptly Built Another on a Much Firmer Foundation. Novel Experience of a Charming Girl Who Found the Road to Romance by Helping to Reunite a Man and Wife Long Estranged. Advertising Angles: Get all you can from the star's name. Make free use of the story angles. Play up the girl who wanted a fashionable wedding and who thought she could do better than a the»itre manager, and work along the lines of "A midnight supper with an English lord brought a girl a husband and the host a wife." Make use of the fact that this is a Saturday Evening Post story, and give enough of the plot to recall it to your readers. May Allison Admiring the beauty of her castle in "Castles in the Air." "The Girl Next Door." Paramount Presents Ethel Clayton in a Mystery Story of Double Life. Reviewed by Louis Reeves Harrison. THE GRACE and charm of Ethel Clayton, accomplished artiste and embodiment of sweet womanhood, and the fine acting of Jane Wolfe, count more heavily in "The Girl Ne.xt Door" than the story by Carolyn Wells, though the latter is one of the best writers of today, particularly of detective stories in which the solution of a mystery forms the essence. "The Girl Next Door" is an adaptation of "Vicky Van," a serial recently published in the New York Globe, in which Carolyn Wells forced both the characters and the situations to suit the suspense of a mystery story. In order to explain the marriage of a beautiful and highly intelligent young American girl of good family to an elderly man lacking other attractions than wealth, there is a lot of very careful preparation to show that this bright 3'oung American girl knew nothing whatever about young men until after she was married. The improbability of any American girl of ordinary common sense having so little common' sense, either detracts from the character and sympathy for it, or from the probability of the situation. Interest is not aroused until the husband is mysteriously killed in a house next to his own, which he visits after a month's trip to Chicago with a young lady of doubtful reputation. The house ne.xt door is maintained by "V^icky Van," most carefully explained to be none other than his own wife, who has hired it to live a double life, and cut a door through from her dressing room. On recognizing his wife in spite of her disguise, there is a bitter scene between them immediately preceding his being found dead. Suspense thereafter depends on whether or not Vicky is guilty of the murder, though the spectator is not left in much doubt as to the real criminal by the nervous attitude of her maid. It is a fair detective story whose drawing power depends on Miss Clayton. Its presentation at the Strand was of the finest quality. The Story. "The House Next Door" is to let when elderly and corrupt Randolph Schuyler, wealthy lawyer, marries Ruth, a young lady of fine family and limited experience. .She finds life in his strict household unendurable, until an uncle leaves her a fortune, when she conspires with her devoted maid to buy the house next door and live a double life as Victoria Van Allen, where she becomes popularly known as "Vicky Van." During her husband's absence with a young lady he is protecting, she entertains lavishly, becoming the subject of club talk by her attractions and her Bohemian parties. The husband returns unexpectedly and hears gossip at his club about the fascinating Vicky Van, and induces a club acquaintance to take him to her house. With no sense of responsibility to his young wife, treating her with brutal severity, he is in search of adventure when he goes to Vicky's house. They are alone in the dining-room when he recognizes her, tears off her wig and displays outrageous brutality in the way he handles her. Almost immediately after he is found stabbed to death, while Vicky has vanished with her maid. A skilled detective is put to work on the case, and he is unconsciously assisted by Chester Calhoun, a young man who has fallen deeply in love with Vicky, though he recognizes in her the charmingyoung Mrs. Schuyler he met by accident when her car broke down immediately after marriage. Young Calhoun exhibits so much interest in the case that he leads the detective to a discovery of the communicating door. Mrs. Schuyler is accused of murdering her husband, this (Continued on paae l.'!87.^ & 'EVERYBODY'S BUSINESS"