The Moving picture world (November 1924-December 1924)

November 1, 1924 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 63 Scenes from Pathe's "Dynamite Smith," the first of a series of Thomas H. Ince productions starring Charles Ray, with a supporting cast including Jacqueline Logan, Bessie Love and Wallace Beery. "One Night in Rome" Premiere Triumph for Star and Director I OS ANGELES, the first important key center in the west to view "One Night in Rome," the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture starring Laurette Taylor, which Clarence Badger directed from the play by J. Hartley Manners, received the film with tremendous enthusiasm when it appeared at the California Theatre. "Laurette Taylor's 'One Night in Rome' is addressed to the sophisticated," says the Los Angeles Express. "This charming story of court intrigue and Italian temperament is another of Miss Taylor's stage plays intelligently given permanence in celluloid, a tale of tragic import, giving proof to the masses that the claims of many critical ones in America that Miss Taylor is 'America's greatest actress' may be true. 'One Night in Rome' presents Miss Taylor in a dignified, pensive role brimming over with emotional periods. She is graceful to her very finger tips and always delicate in her expression, especially in the subtler moments when repression governs action. The camera has caught her in her loveliest moods, and as the siren pre-eminent." " 'One Night in Rome' is a delightfully entertaining vehicle for Laurette Taylor," reports the Los Angeles News. "Her performance as the Duchess Danaili is delineated humanly, with fine skill and correct imitativeness minus any theatricalisms. It is, of course, Miss Taylor's photoplay, and she carries the honors for impersonation, but Tom Moore, Joseph Dowling and Ralph Yearsley show equally as much common sense in their respective interpretations." The Los Angeles Record has this to say : "Far from the Laurette of 'Peg o' My Heart' days is the grand lady in 'One Night in Rome.' Miss Taylor is convincing in her new role, her first Italian characterization." "Laurette Taylor has only made three pictures for the screen," states the Los Angeles Times, "but she has set a standard that she manages to live up to very acceptably. Evidence of which will be found in 'One Night in Rome.' She dominates the picture. Director Clarence Badger really deserves a good majority of credit for a well-told story in which the suspense is held creditably." Says the Los Angeles Examiner : "The play is a delightful vehicle for the star. Interest centers about the work of Miss Taylor, who is coldly statuesque as the Duchess Danaili and deliriously warm and appealing as the fortune teller. Clarence Badger has used the thread of the plot to good advantage. The picture is entertaining, well photographed and in settings shows a nice application of the dignified and the fantastic." Signs Robbins Word has just been received from Julius Stern, president of Century Comedies, now in Hollywood supervising next year's product of the engagement of Jesse Robbins, well-known director of teature and comedy productions, to direct Wanda Wiley, Century star in her new series of two-reel comedies to be made from stories by the wellknown French humorist, George Fouret. Production of the special Wanda Wiley scries will start within the next two weeks. Griffith Explains Gives Gen. Pershing's Urging as Reason "America" Plays Small Houses Early Information that gives an interesting inside angle on the eany appearance of D. W. Griffith's "America' as a regular release following its road show campaign in the larger cities only has just been available. It is the aftermath of high praise and hearty endorsement of the Revolutionary War romance by the ranking general of the United States Army just before his formal retirement from the most eminent post ever held by any modern military hero in this country. General John J. Pershing advised Mr. Griffith of the value of "America" as a public education in patriotism and so impressed the producer with his ideas that the road show bookings were drastically limited and the picture put into general circulation by United Artists Corporation immediately with the opening of the present motion picture theatre season. "America" therefore is playing at popular prices long before such a picture normally reaches its wider public. Mr. Griffith frankly states that he was influenced in this decision by the course of reasoning advanced by Gen. Pershing. Gen. Pershing is said to have suggested in a talk with the producer after seeing the film: "It seems to me that if 'America' could be shown in those moving picture theatres throughout the country where the price of admission is within the reach of the poorest, it would contribute materially to the patriotic education of our newly adopted citizens and the younger generation of the masses." In answer to these ideas Mr. Griffith hastened the picture house bookings. Metro-Goldwyn'. "Wine of Youth," ba.ed on the Rachel Crother. play, "Mary the Third." with Eleanor Boardman and Ben Lyon