Photoplay (1923)

The National Guide to Motion Pictures JAVA HEAD— Paramount GEORGE MELFORD has a mighty big story to tell in transferring Joseph Hergeshimer's "Java Head" to the screen. For the tale of a Manchu princess, Taou Yuen, brought to prim old Salem as a bride by an adventurous New England sea captain, has in it the clash of races and the conflict of creeds. Melford misses much of this, but, even so, he achieved a screen drama well above the average. He was far more successful with his Salem than his Orient. Leatrice Joy is the Taou Yuen. She will disappoint the lovers of "Java Head" but who on our screen could catch all of this remarkable character, "inscrutable as porcelain"? Jacqueline Logan makes a pretty Nettie Vollar and Raymond Hatton does considerable with the weakling sucked into the opium slime of the Far East. ALICE ADAMS— Associated Exhibitors-Pathe A PRIZE story has become a prize picture. Booth Tarkington's thoroughly human account of small-town Indiana life has found its celluloid counterpart in King Vidor's presentation of Florence V'idor as Alice Adams. The photoplay is true to Tarkington and true to the highest film standards. Rowland Lee, in directing and adapting, has not transplanted Virgil Adams and his whining wife and their two children to the screen; he has simply made portraits of them. They are excellent likenesses; there is no retouching to remind you that you are not really sitting in on the Adams family councils and quarrels. Florence Vidor understands Alice, and resists all temptations to make her a motion picture heroine. Miss Vidor has never done finer work. Claude Gillingwater plays her father, and what a performance! PHOTOPLAY'S SELECTION OF THE SIX BEST PICTURES OF THE MONTH DRIVEN ALICE ADAMS THE PILGRIM FURY JAVA HEAD THE VOICE FROM THE IvUNARET FURY— Inspiration-First National WE have come to expect great things from the studios of the combination which made "Tol'able Da\nd." And the new Richard Barthelmess-Henry King drama does not disappoint. It is a he-picture, with wallops in ever}' other scene — a strong story of the sea, made on a ship, and apt to induce mal dc mer in the sensitive spectator. Edmund Goulding wrote the original story, and it is now appearing in book form. Henry King brings all his sympathy and Barthelmess all his art to its interpretation, and they are materially aided by two members of the cast — TjTone Power and Dorothy Gish. Richard plays Boy Leyton, son of the old sea captain, Dog Leyton. Boy is a simple, fine soul who shuns \-iolence with the delicac}^ bequeathed him by a runaway mother. Dog has never forgiven her, and he determines to harden Boy's body and soul to acceptance of the harsh rules of the ship and the seven seas. Before Dog dies, he obtains his son's promise to find and kill his mother's betrayer. There is Min, waiting to marry him; but Boy must first fulfill his promise. He finds his mother, and he fights her betrayer — and it's a fight which recalls the immortal encounterJof "Tol'able David." The picture is too long — nine reels; one grows a little weary of the battles and the brutality. But you will love Boy as played by Richard Barthelmess; and the lovable belligerent Min of Dorothy Gish. Tyrone Power as Dog Leyton lives, fights, and dies magnificently. Miss Gish, in her portrayal of a role reminiscent of the Little Disturber, occasionally overplays; but for her moments of comedy you will forgive her the unnecessary kicks and pouts. 64