Moving Picture World (Nov-Dec 1922)

778 MOVING PICTURE WORLD December 23, 1922 The Pep of the Program News and Reviews of Short Subjects and Serials Will Rogers’ ^^Fruits of Faith” Heads Pathe Release Program for December 24 Will Rogers in “Fruits of Faith” leads Pathe’s program of ten subjects for release December 24. It presents Rogers in three reels of characteristic humor and is rich in genuine human sympathj". Influenced by a street preacher’s sermon, Rogers as a tramp tries faith and it works. He later finds a baby in the desert, adopts it, goes to work and finally wins the love of a girl and marries her. They idolize the baby, but its father unexpectedly returns and claims it. Seeing, however, the couple’s intense love for the child he goes away and leaves the boy with them. A Leo Maloney two-reel Western is also on the week’s list. It is titled “Here’s Your Man,” and like the rest of the series, is filled with hard fighting and riding and plenty of pep and action. It deals with a rancher who just as he is about to be strung up for a murder is saved by Maloney, as the sheriff, when he produces the guilty man. There is also a pretty little romance running through the story. The current Paul Parrott single-reel comedy in which he is assisted by Jobyna Ralston, is “A White Blacksmith.” The action deals with an uncle’s will which leaves a blacksmith shop to Paul and a garage to his brother. Paul is having a hard time to make a living, but goes through several exciting and laughable experiences. The lawyer finally discovers he has made a mistake and the garage belongs to Paul. The Hutchison serial, “Speed,” reaches its tenth episode, “Buried Alive,” where the hero in a mining region is in peril from a dynamite explosion. The single-reel Flarold Lloyd reissue is “Sic ’Em Towser.” There is also an Aesop Film Fable based on “Every dog has his day.” It is titled “A Dog’s Paradise” and shows the amusing adventures of a bunch of dogs, a butcher and a dog-catcher which they outwit. Pathe Review, 197, has a beautiful section dealing with the legend of “The Bubble Girl” of the Mongaup River; also a section dealing with monkey psychology, another with analysis of animal motion and a color section showing the unique straw huts in French West Africa. Robert Bruce Completes Second Series of Educational’s Wilderness Tales Robert C. Bruce, who has spent the summer and fall in the Pacific Northwest, making the second series of Wilderness Tales for Educational, has just returned to New York with this group of scenic dramas. Mr. Bruce, whose “And Women Must Weep,” the opening number of his first series of Wilderness Tales, is said to be creating a sensation, believes he has done the best work of his career this season, declaring that he has even surpassed this remarkable single-reel picture in beauty and dramatic appeal. “And Women Must Weep” was the first single-reel picture of a scenic character ever classified as an exceptional picture by the National Board of Review. Critics all over this country have been unanimous in calling this subject one of the most beautiful pictures ever made by any American producer, while in England the Manchester Guardian declared “And Women Must Weep” and two other pictures of this series, the finest artistic gems which had ever come out of America. “I believe,” said Mr. Bruce, “that the critics will agree with me that some of my new pictures will surpass ‘And Women Must Weep.’ There is perhaps more of a story in each of my new subjects than there was in the pictures of the first group of Wilderness Tales. Still, however, they are all laid out of doors and I have found and photographed in my recent travels in our own country the most beautiful scenery I have ever found in the world.” The work of cutting and titling the second group of Wilderness Tales is almost finished and the earlier releases will be ready in the near future for private screenings for exiiibitors at all Educational exchanges. *^Night Before Christmas” to Be Distributed Through W. W. Hodkinson Announcement has been made by the Film Mutual Benefit Bureau that one of the most widely known poems, “The Night Before Christmas,” has been picturized by the Bray Productions, Inc. Distribution is to be made through Hodkinson, proceeds of which will be turned over to the fund used by the Committee for Devastated France and Maternity Center Association of New York. Miss Sophie K. Smith, field secretary for the bureau, wrote the scenario. The Film Mutual Benefit Bureau is interested in insuring the success of this benefit. Among the members of the bureau who are lending their support are Governorelect Alfred E. Smith. Miss Anne Morgan, Mrs. Gordon Knox Bell, Miss Mabel Choate, Mr. Arthur C. Train, Mr. Frank Crowinshield, Mrs. Meredith Hare, Mr. George Gray Barnard, Hon. Everett Colby, Miss Rachel Crothers, Mr. Charles Dillingham, Mr. Henry F. DuPont, Mrs. LeRoy Edgar Newbold, Mr. Douglas Elliman, Dr. John A. Harris, Mr. Otto Kahn, Mr. Clarence Mackay, Airs. Gouverneur Alorris, Air. Conde Nast, Airs. Herbert C. Pell, Jr.. Air. Rodman Wanamaker, General John O’Ryan, Hon. George W. Wickersham, Airs. Alortimer Schiff and others. The picturization of this was made under the direction of Ashley Aliller, in two reels. It opens with a brief prologue reciting the genesis of the poem. The poem itself is picturized as having been dreamed by the six Aloore children, that night before Christmas. 1822. Authentic details of costumes and accessories in the picture were furnished by descendants of Dr. Moore living in New York. More of “Our Gang” The Hal Roach two-reel comedies issued under the general title, “Our Gang,” were intended to be but six in number. But the series has met with such wide-spread popularity that plans have been made to continue the activities of the producing unit indefinitely. A new series of these popular “Our Gang” two-reelers will be made, the first of the new series, “The Champeen,” being scheduled for release on January 28. It will be followed by others, at intervals of four weeks. "The Capitol, in New York, makes “Saturday Morning,” one of the former series, an important feature of its Christmas Week bill. E. W. Hammons Back From Studios E. W. Hammons, president of Educational Film Exchanges, Inc., has returned to New York after a visit to the Los Angeles studios making pictures for Educational’s short subject program. The object of this trip was to discuss preliminary arrangements for a probable increase in Educational product for the next season. While Air. Hammons was at the United: studios three companies were making tworeel comedies: Lloyd Hamilton, with Ruth Hiatt as his leading lady, was making the fourth of his Hamilton comedies, while Louise Fazenda and the company headed by Lige Conley were busy under supervision of Jack White. Several companies were also busy at the Christie studios, working on “Be Yourself,” ‘Hazel From Hollywood” and succeeding pictures. Century to Film Buster Brown The Stern Brothers announce the purchase from Richard F. Outcault of the screen rights to his Buster Brown cartoons as the basis for a series of Century comedies. These Outcault cartoons were first published in The Herald and then syndicated all over the wmrld. They were immensely popular with children and with their parents, who laughed heartily at the pranks of Buster and his dog, Tige. On the screen the part of Tige will be taken by Brownie, the Century Wonder Dog. The part of Buster has not been filled yet and the Stern Brothers are in New York looking for a boy to play the part. **Grandma’s Girl” Postponed “Grandma’s Girl,” the picture Baby Peggy w'as w'orking on when she contracted pneumonia, will have to be discontinued indefinitely as Alf Goulding, its director, became ill and his physician ordered him to take a long, much needed rest.