Moving Picture World (Nov-Dec 1923)

Pecember 8, 1923 ularizing Eleanor Boardman. She is personally beautiful and acts with great charm and ability. Raymond Griffith gives an intensely interesting performance and a number of others excel, also. “The Day of Faith” will have a momentous appeal for some, a fair interest for others, but is on the whole a worth while box-office attraction for almost any theatre. Cast Jane Maynard Eleanor Boardman Michael Anstell Tyrone Power Tom Barnett Raymond Griffith John Anstell Wallace MacDonald Montreal Sammy Ford Sterling Yegg Darby Charles Conklin Granny Maynard Ruby Lafayette Red Johnston’s Child Jane Mercer Uncle Mortimer Edward Martindel Bland Hendricks Winter Hall Simmons Emmett King Red Johnson Jack Curtis Marley Maynard Frederick A’ room Based upon story by Arthur Somers Roche. Scenario by' June Mathis and Katherine Kavanaugh. Direction by Tod Browning. Photography by William E. Fildew. Length, 6,557 feet. Story Jane Maynard devotes her life to the Bland Hendricks Foundation, an institution for helping the needy, called “Thy Neighbor as Thyself.’’ John Anstell, son of a mf&hty financial power, falls in love with her but her father disapproves. He fails to affect the girl’s work through the press, and then determines to pretend to back the institution to gain public favor. The many who have suffered through his selfishness demand revenge and kill his son. Anstell is awakened to the real purpose of the girl’s work and reforms. She finds happiness with another one who has helped her. “To the Ladies” Paramount Adaptation of Successful Stage Play Is an Exceptionally Entertaining Comedy Reviewed by C. S. Sewell After proving to be a big success as a stage play, “To the Ladies” has been transferred to the screen by Paramount and bids fair to duplicate if not eclipse its stage popularity. It is a bright, snappy comedy, dealing with everyday people, and is entertaining from start to finish. There is hardly a moment when the average spectator will not be enjoying the really fine work of Helen Jerome Eddy, Edward Horton, Theodore Roberts and the other players, the bright, witty subtitles and the clean-cut, delightful comedy. Here is a picture with a theme that is out of the ordinary. It will appeal especially “to the ladies,” for it plays up their influence over, their husbands and shows how much assistance a clever wife can be in helping her husband to success ; but the men will like it too, although it is a little hard on them. It is tremendously strong in little human interest touches, the characters are familiar types and seem very real, the action is entirely plausible and you seem to be watching the unfolding of an actual and intimate story of people of the kind you come in contact with every day. James Cruze, who directed “The Covered Wagon” and other successes, and Walter Woods, scenario writer, have done excellent work in transferring this story to the screen. You watch the tremendously sincere efforts of the hero and his clever wife to secure for him the coveted position of factory manager and you feel yourself sharing with them their alternate joys and disappointments. There are a number of delightful scenes in the picture and the situation where after arduous rehearsing of a set speech, the hero finds his rival delivering the same speech at a banquet, is a gem. Helen Jerome Eddy is unusually fine as the wife of the hero and has never done better work. Hers is the outstanding characterization of the picture; she acts with tre M0V1NG PICTURE WORLD mendous sincerity and realism. Edward Horton also gives a very fine and very real portrayal as the hero, and it is on the exceptional work of these two that much of the appeal of the picture depends. Theodore Roberts, Louise Dresser, Arthur Hoyt, and in fact all of the other members of the cast seem to have entered wholeheartedly into the spirit of the picture and there is not a false note in their work. Here is a picture that you can offer to your audience with the assurance that a great majority will be highly amused and entirely satisfied. Cast Leonard Beebe Edward Horton John Kincaid Theodore Roberts Elsie Beebe Helen Jerome Eddy Mrs. Kincaid Louise Dresser Chester Mullin Z. Wall Covington Torn Baker Arthur Hoyt Bob Cutter Jack Gardner Based on play by G. S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly. Scenario by Walter Woods. Directed by James Cruze. Length, 6,268 feet. Story Beebe, Baker and Mullin are clerks in the office of the Kincaid Piano Co. They are all excited because a factory manager is to be selected and each one is after the job. Kincaid, the president, depends largely on his wife’s judgment and she looks over the aspirants and favors Baker, who is obsequious and seemingly very efficient. Beebe plays up the fact that he put out a small fire in the factory. Kincaid and his wife call on the Beebes at their home and find that they are in financial straits, as he has even mortgaged his piano to buy a farm in Florida. Mrs. Kincaid is much impressed with Beebe’s wife. Baker and Beebe are invited to a banquet. Beebe rehearses a speech he gets out of a book and Baker delivers the same speech. Thoroughly nonplussed, Beebe is silent, but his wife makes a speech that is a hit, stating Beebe is sick and that was what he wanted to say. Beebe gets the job. Baker exposes the deception about the speech, and Beebe is demoted. Mrs. Beebe pleads for him and with Mrs. Kincaid’s assistance he is reinstated, due entirely to the cleverness of Mrs. Beebe and the help she can be to him. 565 Lake has a most unsympathetic part but plays it with dramatic skill. Helen Ferguson is sincere in a lovable role and Stuart Holmes handles the part of a scoundrel with his usual capability. Cast Peter Marchmont Henry B. Walthall Jewel Marclimont Alice Lake James Dawson Stuart Holmes Ruth Marsh Helen Ferguson Bobbie Frankie Lee Mrs. Freddie Goodlittle .... Ethel Grey Terry Leslie Bradbury James Morrison Freddie Goodlittle Johnnie Arthur George Allison Richard Wayne Hawkins Brinsley Shaw Burton Mike Donlin Based upon stage play by Roland West and Carlyle Moore. Scenario by Roland West and Paul Schofield. Direction by Roland West. Photography by Oliver T. Marsh. Length, 6,950 feet. Story Peter Marchmont serves a prison sentence because he takes the blame for stealing what his wife’s lover really stole. He thinks he is saving his wife but learns of her infidelity while in prison. When he is released he assumes a new name and is disguised so that his wife fails to know him. With the use of a purple light which he has invented he appears at her home and creates great trouble and mystery, baffling the detectives and finally getting his revenge by winning back his wife’s love and then forcing her to live with the other man. He finds true love in the girl who has cared for his boy during the years. “Maytime” e .n “The Unknown Purple” Strong Box-Office Appeal in Sensational Melodrama Offered by Truart, Featuring Henry Walthall Reviewed by Mary Kelly A sensational melodrama, which features Henry Walthall to the best advantage, this Truart picture should have a strong boxoffice appeal. The use of a purple light produces many novel and striking effects. The story is entertaining and mysterious but is without the superabundance of tricks that make some such attractions too baffling for general enjoyment. Its chief character is an inventor who is able to surround himself with a purple ray that renders him invisible. He uses this power to get his revenge upon his wife and the man who has forced him to serve a prison sentence. One of the authors of the original stage play, Roland West has directed and adapted the screen production with the aid of Paul Schofield. It is crowded with interesting incidents. There is practically no padding and although the film measures about seven reels, the suspense is so well carried from one scene to another that there is no impression of excessive length. The only missing element is comedy. There is a frail attempt at this in the character of Freddie Goodlittle, a hen-pecked husband, but it seems lacking in real humor. The picture is intensely serious with the grave performance of Henry Walthall and a theme of quiet, piercing vengeance. Little Frankie Lee introduces a human note now and then but his part is small. In settings and material appointments, the production is elaborate and impressive. Gorgeous evening gowns are plentiful. Alice Preferred Pictures Offers Fine Version d Rida Johnson Young’s Romantic Stage Success Reviewed by C. S. Sewell Rida Johnson Young’s stage play, “Maytime,” which enjoyed great success, has been transferred to the screen by Gasnier and is being distributed by Preferred Pictures. It belongs to the class of extremely sentimental romances and tells of a love affair of years ago which was frustrated but finally finds fulfillment in the romance of the grandchildren of the original lovers. It is a well-made picture and a faithful adaptation of the play. In keeping with the nature of the story, it has been given a picturesque and pictorially beautiful production which admirably maintains the atmosphere of the story. To those who are sentimentally inclined and intrigued by the idea of undying love, of romance that endures through generations, it will prove a delight, and it should be especially welcomed by female patrons. There is novelty in the idea of the original romance finding fulfillment in the grandchildren, and while there are naturally breaks in the story and changes in the characterizations through the lapse of years, the ultimate happy ending is brought about and it is a production that should entertain the majority of both sexes, and prove a welcome attraction in the average house. Running all through the story is a really beautiful song, “Sweetheart,” which has proved a distinct hit and can be effectively used by the exhibitor in connection with the picture. The theme offers unusual opportunities for the leading players, three of whom appear throughout the entire picture. Especially fine is the work of Ethel Shannon, who appears as the young heroine, then as an old lady, again as her young'grandchild in rompers and as this girl after she grows up. She carries the largest share of the story and her work is tremendously effective and convincing in each, while her make-up as the old lady is so fine that it is hard to believe it is the same woman. In a double exposure scene which will keep patrons wondering as to how it is done she is shown as both the girl in rompers and the old lady. This an unusually good bit. Harrison Ford