The Moving picture world (September 1923-October 1923)

October 13. 1923 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 593 Ingram Lauded at "Scaramouche" Manhattan Premiere; Big Crowd The Rex Ingram production, "Scaramouche," had its metropolitan premiere .in New York last Sunday when it was presented before a brilliant audience at the Fortyfourth Street Theatre. The theatre was crowded to the limit, every seat having been disposed of long in advance of the opening. Metro officials in charge of the engagement report that the theatre has already been sold out for many weeks in advance and that "Scaramouche" is off for a long run. Ramon Novarro, George Siegman, Alice Terry and Lewis Stone, who head the cast of more than thirty principals, were accorded enthusiastic praise on every hand for their remarkable portrayals. The lobby of the theatre was decorated with the original paintings of the posters which Metro has prepared for "Scaramouche." A symphony orchestra under the conductorship of Ernest Luz, musical director of the Metro-Loew organizations, rendered the musical accompaniment. "With Mr. Ingram's deft, artistic touch and a most competent cast, 'Scaramouche' is an engrossing and charming film," wrote the critic of the New York Times. "Really, 'Scaramouche' is the finest thing in French revolutions ever brought to the screen," stated the New York World. "Ingram's pictured version of Rafael Sabatini's 'Scaramouche' is the most authoritative and most artistic photoplay of that stirring time we have ever seen," wrote the critic of the New York Mail. "Ingram's 'Scaramouche' reveals about as many thrills to the foot of film as any spectacle offered since the advent of the silver screen," wrote the critic of the New York Telegram. "Ingram has done a marvelous job." wrote the critic of the New York Sun and Globe. "It may be," wrote the critic of the Evening World, "that, when the history of the beginning of motion pictures is written, 1923 will be set down as the year of wonderful happenings." " 'Scaramouche' is a thriller," wrote the reviewer of the New York Journal. " 'Scaramouche.' " stated the Daily News, "is the screen's pageant of beauty." "Rafael Sabatini, the author, owes Rex Ingram a great debt for the picture 'Scaramouche,' " wrote Louella O. Parsons in the Morning Telegraph. "We sat spellbound," said the New York Tribune critic. Books "Columbus" "Columbus," the first of the "Chronicles of America" series, produced by Yale University and Which will be distributed by Pathe, has been booked by the Poli Circuit, with houses in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, and will open on October 11. "Columbus" is described as an absorbing picturization of the high lights of the discoverer's romantic career, unfolded against the gorgeous background of court life in thirteenth century Portugal and Spain. Critics Praise Chaplin Film; Author Gives Views on Stories "Altogether, Charles Chaplin's 'A Woman of Paris' is going to prove one of the big events of the year," said the critic for the Los Angeles Times in reviewing Mr. Chaplin's first serious dramatic production written and directed by himself at its West Coast premiere at the Criterion Theatre, Los Angeles. " 'A Woman of Paris' will present Charles Chaplin to his admirers in a new light, and promises to register with enormous effect," said the critic for the Examiner. "Mr. Chaplin's success in eliminating from the screen many of the old-time aggravations is undoubted." "It was apparent that the screen had lost a great comedian to gain a greater director, for at one stride Charles Chaplin leaves acting behind and becomes a great realist director," said the review in the Record. " 'A Woman of Paris' will have a tremendous vogue," said the reviewer for the Evening Herald. To interviewers Chaplin, himself, said before the picture's premiere at the Lyric Theatre, New York : "As I see it, the purpose of story telling is to express the beauty of life, condensing its high spots, for purposes of entertainment. For after all, it is only beauty we seek in life, whether it be through laughter or tears. "And beauty lies in everything, both good and evil, though only the discriminating, such as the artist and the poet, finds it in both. A painting of a shipwreck in a storm at sea, or of 'St. George and the Dragon,' in their fundamentals are horrible, but as architecture and design they carry a compelling beauty. In analysis they chill the blood, but in poetic feeling they take on the warmth and aspect of beauty. "The object of the theatre is that we lose ourselves in another world that lies in the realm of beauty. This can be done only by getting as near to the truth as possible. The more we become educated, and the more we know of life," the more we demand of truth to entertain us. To entertain people, you must convince them, hence the realism of today. "Super-optimism and 100 per cent, sentimentalism are losing 'The Storm Daughter' Under Shears Reports from Universal City, Cal., are that the last camera work has been completed on "The Storm Daughter," a new Priscilla Dean Jewel production. It is said to be the greatest thing this popular actress ever did. Directed by George Archainbaud, it was adapted by Edward Montaigne from a story by Leet Renick Brown. Editing has commenced on "The Storm Daughter" under the supervision of Archainbaud and Frank Ware. out for those of intelligence do not lose themselves in a brand of entertainment that is not convincing. So realism and truth are merely applied to convince the audience and to enable the spectators to lose themselves in the story as it unfolds. We can have too much realism, which, of course, borders on boredom, but to my way of thinking, the nearer to actual life we get, the more power we have in story telling. "So, in 'A Woman of Paris' I have tried to make a story of life as I see it." Hodkinson's Co-operative Advertising Plan a Great Help to Exhibitors Direct co-operation between distributor and dealer, in various lines of mercantile endeavor, long has been the common sense and practical practice, always with a more or less measure of gratifying result. A few months ago the W. W. Hodkinson Corporation introduced to the motion picture industry this idea of dealer co-operation, at the simultaneous presentation in Greater New York of the Elmer Clifton whaling film, "Down to the Sea in> Ships," in thirty different theatres. Again, last week in Chicago, when the production was offered simultaneously for the entire week in no less than fifty-five motion picture theatres there, the Hodkinson Corporation plainly demonstrated its policy of direct and way of co-operation which might bring results. As a direct aftermath of this campaign, seventy-five prints of active co-operation in the selling "Down to the Sea in Ships" will of seafs, by a comprehensive and widespread newspaper advertising campaign. The campaign included full be kept busy in the immediate Chicago territory during the next sixty days, the exhibitors eagerly seizing the opportunity of cash page, half page, quarter page and ing in on the results achieved by smaller advertisements, together with business pulling publicity stories, photographs, etc. Expert exploitation ideas were given to the various managers, without cost to them, of various means whereby customers could be attracted into their theatres; in fact, nothing was left undone in the the Chicago presentation. So encouraged are the officials of the Hodkinson Corporation over the successful results of their initial dealer co-operation campaigns that it has been determined to introduce the policy in connection with other forthcoming Hodkinson releases. FORGIVE AMD FORGET A Sledge-Hammer Drama with a Mighty "Heart-Interest" Wallop