Photoplay (Jul - Dec 1919)

LIBRA Tl le Sliad Rti'it'u T^ew Pictures \ HOLLYVV^OO O^^ I HAVE never in my life seen a film of finer, more cautious fabrication than •Sunnysidc," the latest Chaplin exhibition, l-erhaps the extreme caution with which it is developed killed the spontaneity, for the truth is that despite moments of really exalted artistn.-, and a few big laujhs. "Sunie"' is not a first-class Chaplin offering, when judged by recent standards. Charlie as a farm-hand, kicked not from pillar to post, but from bed-post to bed-post, is the subject of the pantomime. The funniest and most original moment is that in which, catapulting ofi a culvert, he alights on his sphere of reflection, and, instead of the traditional concussive vision of --. flowers or little birds, beholds a bright bevy of half-nude mg girls prancing for his delectation — said orgy of delirium Continuing until he discovers himself being fished from the ditch by an unpoetic rake inserted in his prosaic waistband. Bringing the cow in to milk her, bringing the hen in to lay an ezz in the fr>ing-pan, imitating the city fellers trick cane by ng a candle in the end of his own, donning the hoofy ince of the Strand by raveling a pair of woolen socks into spats-— a few of the trifling quaintnesses of the essay. Mis<; Pur\iance plays a suburban damsel who is very extensively rural, indeed. Mr. Chaplin had une.xploited possibilities in f V.1 and bovine closeups which he overlooked. I expecteti . in fact, becau.«e he seldom overlooks anything. But . said, or endeavored to say— whether this film is as funny as us predecessors or whether it isn't, it will entertain ever>whcre, and it is worthy the attention of ever>'body who takes Srains to the picture show, for it is a serious, brainy rt. In the dancing girl episode we have what: a mere lent of legs and nonsense? Not at all! What we get is a "ectly staged and really exquisite burlesque of the "classic" e— a genuine production, about a hundred feet long. The aplin spirit of jest slumbered a moment, perhaps, but his ry. his determination to put forth first-class work, shines ; as strong as ever. THE AVALANCHK-Artcraft The play of baleful inheritance hath many twists and turns. • often it has been a heritage of strong drink, but now that i drink has ceased to rage wc snail have to turn to other Ui.i.ts— like eambling. let us say. which forms the mainspring behmd the whee's and hands of "The Avalanche." Elsie Ferbion's latest Artcraft manifestation. The story originally ^^Gertrude Atherton's. and it comes to the screen in a fair ^■uio considerably bettered by the direction and the cx■■Bngly good acting. Chicita. a Spanish woman of numerous ansbands, has a daughter, whom she wills out of the hectic Gambling forms (lie mainspring behind (he wheels and hands of "The Avalanche", Elsie Ferguson's latest Artcraft. Lakcn originally from Gertrude Atherton's story. life which is her own; this girl, placed in a convent, eventually chafes at restraint, and through the good-humored indulgence of her guardian, comes to New York, where she marries a man of good family. The mothers business of chance has also brought her to New York— with another spouse— and, presently, the younger woman ventures to the gambling house and becomes quickly enmeshed in the toils of the professional certainty pleasantly called "Fortune." She goes from debt to debt, and, threatened with exposure, is engaged in a violent altercation with the gambler-husband of Chicita when that individual trips, falls from (he top of a stairway, and is killed. Chicita substitutes herself for her daughter, and, during thLgloomy following investigation kills herself in her cell while Helene— the daughter— is properly chastened, and, we presume, gambles no more. Not highly original as to plot, but, nevertheless, moving, and with characters superbly differentiated by Miss Fercuson. Her portrait of Chicita as a .sort of dancing gypsy during the early scenes lamentably reminds us of Farrar by its inferiority, but as Chicita matures Miss Ferguson grows better— grows more cold an<l elegant and (jiiictly tragic— while Helene, as an opposite, is a marvelous bit of dewy girihood. In both characters Nliss Ferguson is wonderfully and sumptuously gowned. Lumsden Hare is excellent as Helene 's husband, while Warner Ohnnd is a heavier srowlcr than neccssarv', as Delano, the last husband of the Spanish woman This is the best piece of George Fitzmaurice's direction I have ever seen. Why is Eastern Famous Mayers photography marred by such grayncss and such bad tone on interior light