The Moving picture world (April 1922)

760 MOVING PICTURE WORLD April 15, 1922 Newest Reviews and, Comments "The Man Under Cover" Herbert Rawlinson in Romantic Crook' Role in Universal Feature. Reviewed by Mary Kelly. With its big dramatic punch, consisting of a scene in which a promoter plays a spectacular hoax on the public to get even with a swindler, this feature has an appeal similar to the Wallingford pictures. It has the thrill of an uncertain business venture, and although not entirely new, is as yet unhackneyed enough to be popular with many. The way of a faker is usually lined with adventure and when one crook sets out to beat another, for altruistic purposes, he is more than often successful. This is what happens in "The Man Under Cover." Herbert Rawlinson is cast for this romantic part and is as usual his perfect smiling self, rather too ingenuous to be a convincing crook, but attractive enough to hold his own. He is surrounded by capable players, including Barbara Bedford. The picture has been produced without elaborateness, but has been directed with a sincerity that gets very good results. The latter part shows some effective dramatic touches in connection with the discovery that the "oil" well is a clever contrivance for emitting black water. The story is the work of Louis Victor Eytinge, who is serving a life sentence in the Arizona State Penitentiary. The Cast Paul Porter Herbert Rawlinson Daddy Moffat George Hernandez Mayor Harper Wm. Courtwright Jones Wiley George Webb "Coal Oil" Chase Ed. Tilton Holt Langdon Gerald Pring Margaret Langdon Barbara Bedford Col. Culpepper Willis Marks The Kiddies Helen Stone. Betty Eliason Story by Louis Victor Eytinge. Scenario by Harvey Gates. Directed by Tod Browning. Length, 4,566 Feet. The Story Paul Porter and his crooked pal, Daddy Moffat, drop into the home town and learn that the whole town has been swindled by a few crooks. To save Margaret Langdon and her brother's children whom she Is mothering, Paul decides to outwit the gang and beat them at their own game. He sets up a fake oil well, fools them with a lot of black water and gets the gang to invest all their capital in it. He succeeds in getting back the $100,000 which they have stolen from the public and returns it to them; also wins Margaret. Program and Exploitation Cntchlinest He Was a Crook and a Gambler But When He Met a Man More Dishonest Than Himself — He Decided to Reform — He Did, After Beating the Other Crook at His Own Game by a Clever Ruse. Exploitation Angle.: Play up Rawlinson and go on to sell the story angle without telling just what it is the hero does to beat the sharpers at their own game. "The Rich Cat and the Poor Cat" We must have friends in adversity if we would have their help in adversity— is the moral of this animated cartoon fable. Paul Terry ■ has selected a rich cat and a poor cat to exemplify this theme and has presented this story with his usual cleverness and humorous touches.— C. S. S. "Torchy's Ghost" Johnny Hines in "Torchy's Ghost" is slightly reminiscent of Harold Lloyd in his haunted house film, Hines having worked out similar stunts with trick chairs and walls that revolve. It is good entertainment, burlesque, slapstick. "The Silent Vow" William Duncan and Edith Johnson CoStar in Thrilling Vitagraph Mounted Police Story. Reviewed by Sumner Smith. Spectacular feats of strength and skill and dramatic sequences make "The Silent Vow" good, average entertainment. This Vitagraph picture of the Northwest Mounted Police has a by no means unconventional plot, and its development is not always in accord with the best presentation of its dramatic values, nevertheless the daring of William Duncan and the wholesome appeal of Edith Johnson, the costars, as well as uniformly good acting by the remainder of the cast, result in strong melodrama. The fight scenes are immense. Duncan, himself, handled the directorial megaphone. The picture has more than the usual quota of thrills. There are two scenes of participants taking risky falls on the precipitous side of a hill, there are the realistic fights, there is adept gunplay and there is the culminating thrill, the dynamiting of a mountain stream and the death at the foot of a great falls of the villains. Duncan plays a double role, that of the police inspector and of his son. The double exposures are cleverly done, Duncan as the son often crossing the entire stage in back of himself, as the father. As he has proved himself in the past, he is a virile actor who is at his best in delineations of rugged characters. Wholly worthy of the title of co-star is Miss Johnson, whose sweetness makes her an appealing heroine. Maude Emory scores as Elizabeth Stratton. The Cast Richard Stratton ) "Dick" Stratton ( William Duncan Anne Edith Johnson Ethel Dorothy Dawn Elizabeth Stratton Maud Emery "Doug" Gorson J. Maurice Foster "Jim" Gorson Henry Hebert "Bill" Gorson Fred Burley "Sledge" Morton Jack Curtis The Professor Charles Dudley Scenario by Bradley J. Smollen. Directed by William Duncan. Length, 4,600 Feet. The Story The story tells a fued St two generations. In the prologue Jim Gorson, a naiidsome courreur-de-bois, persuades the wife of Richard Stratton to elope with him. Twenty years later Dick Stratton. son of Richard, a trooper in the Northwest Mounted Police, is ordered to "get" Bill and Doug Gorson, the sons Ot the man who ruined his mother. Circumstantial evidence points to the Gorsons as the murderers of Dick's father. There is a long chase through the forest. In the end, by a queer turn of fate, Dick Stratton and Doug Gorson become allies to save two youns girls from the power of Bill Gorson and "Sledge" Morton, the czar of the river district. There is a thrilling fight, in which Die kand Doug defeat Gorson's gang, aided by Rill Gorson. who has a change of heart at the critical moment. Then explana' tlons are made. It comes out that the elder Stratton died of heart failure and the feud of twenty years is ended. Dick and Doug sail back to civilization with the two girls. Program and Exploitation Catch lines: William Duncan and Edith Johnson CoStar in Thrilling Tale of a North Woods Feud and the Mounted Police — Replete With Daring Feats— a Clean Out-in-theOpen Picture. Exploitation Angles: Ignore the Mounted Police angle and sell the vivid action and the mechanical punch of the dynamite explosion and Its consequences. Play also on the double exposures. "Reckless Youth" Selznick Feature Starring Elaine Hammerstein Like a Series of Beautiful Portraits. Reviewed by Mary Kelly. Cosmo Hamilton's story of youth's reaction to suppression has been picturized so that the appeal is one of theme rather than action. It might almost be called a pictorial essay, so free from dramatic suspense it is, until the concluding moments. The material has been approached delicately, as if the director and continuity writer were skirmishing around the edge of reality and preferred to suggest rather than portray what happened. The effect is not altogether satisfactory. The first part is too much like propaganda and not sufficiently illustrative to hold the interest. You are told that the young heroine is expelled from the convent when the more effective way would have been to show you why she was dispelled. You are assured that her life with her grandparents is like imprisonment, but if this had been convincingly, vividly depicted, your sympathy with her would be far more acute. This lack of dramatic force is more or less prevalent throughout, except in the scenes of the automobile accident and the sinking of the yacht, which have been splendidly produced. From an esthetic standpoint, the production is far above the ordinary. Like a series of beautiful portraits, the scenes have been staged with fine taste, photographed from the most advantageous angle and lighted with a skill that brings out the very best effects. More than pleasing, the sets are appropriate and are an important factor in suggesting the spirit of the story. Elaine Hammerstein has been given generous opportunity, somewhat at the expense of others in the cast, it seems, who are unduly subordinate. She does some of the most interesting work of her career and has selected a wardrobe that will not go unadmired. The Cast Alice Schuyler Elaine Hammerstein John Carmen Niles Welch Mrs. Schuyler-Foster Myrtle Stedman Mr. Schuyler-Foster Robert Lee Keeling Harrison Thornby Huntley Gordon Mrs. Dahlgren Louise Prussing Cumberland Whipple Frank Currier Martha Whipple Kate Cherry Chorus Girl Constance Bennett Adapted from the Story by Cosmo Hamilton. Scenario by Edward J. Montagne. Direction by Ralph Ince. Length, 5,700 Feet. The Story Alice Schuylef Is expelled from the Sacred Heart Convent to her gi-al but nnds life with her grandparents equ^V confining. This accounts for her quick friendship wllh John Carmen, and her hasty marriage With him, just so that she may enjoy "freedom.'' She continues to treat him as a good pal, even though he falls deeply in love with her. One night she goes out dancing with another man and is found by John, who ggflds her borne. On the way back she id Injured in an automobile accident, and has a tearful dream, in which she is alone with hef dancing companion on his yacht, which is wrecked in a storm. She wakes up with a new sense of responsibility, and a love for her husband. Program and Exploitation Cntchlines: Cosmo Hamilton's Story of Suppressed Youth and Its Foolhardy Expeditions — Elaine Hammerstein in Role That Will Interest Anyone. Exploitation Angles: Pin this on Mfsn" Hammerstein and the beauty of the photography, and sell the story as the tale of a girl who married to gain "freedom" and found herself fettered by the bonds of love. and well done. This time it is the "Coo Coo Clan that spirits away the hero's sweetheart for ransom, ending with the conventional ex plosion that blows the hero and heroine skyhigh but allows them to alight safe and sound. Educational releases it in two reefs.— S. S.