Photoplay (May 1921)

The Shadow Stage R»i£. U. S. ru. OB. A Review of the new pictures by Burns Mantle and Photoplay Magazine Editors. By BURNS MANTLE "Tke Old Swimmin Hole" is a titleless picture, starring Charles Ray as a rather over-grown and clumsy small-town boy. Human and true-to-life, but lacking a story in the plot sense:. EX'EXTl'ALLV. the perfect picture, my friends tell me, and write me, will be the picture without a single subtitle. A |)icture so simply, so logically and so forcefulKtold on the screen that printed cajnions will not only be unnecessary to its understanding, but in which their intrusion would prove a distinct irritation to its audiences. And I half suspect they are right. But it happens that I ha\e been waiting for some j"ears now to see what equally enthusiastic friends have told me, and written me, will be the perfect play on the speaking stage — a play that shall preserve absolutely the unities as laid down b\the esteemed Ur. Aristotle some hundreds of years ago; the •inity of time, necessitating that it shall co\er in action onlv such time as is consumed in its playing; the unity of place. Ahich demands that it shall require only the most logical :hanges of scene, and the unity of action which prohibits those irbitrary lapses of time between acts that s])an either a day or a generation, or the curtain lowered momentarily, as the wiiiv .ieorge Nathan once remarked, "to indicate a lapse of morals." One or two plays ha\e achieved the jierfect form within tiie ast twenty-five years. But the j^erfcci form has generalK been ;he most openly and frequentl\ violated of all the accepted ;uides to structural jjcrfection. So it will be, I fear, with the perfect and titleless picture. -Iea\ en knows there are whole volumes of word\ and meaningess titles that we could now do without. They have ruined as nany pictures as the\ have saved, and cluttered and hampered ind handicapped many a story that might ha\e offered good mteriainment. if left to tell itself. But to do tjie picture editors justice, there also have been pictures that ha\e been vastly helped by their titles, and many a light comedy has had its quota of laughs doubled and tripled by the cleverness of its captioning. Also man\' of the recent Goldwyn pictures have been greatly strengthened by the intelligent co-operation of editor and director in their titling. As a matter of fact the titling question resoh es itself to this: When the> 're good they liel(); and w hen fhe\ 'rc poor tliey're awful. THE OLD SWIMMIN' HOLE — First National THKRE ha\e been two samples of titleless pictures recently that have lent strength to the arguments of those ojiposed to them. One was "The Kid." in w hich Charles Chai^lin found it practically unnecessary to explain in print either the intentions of his characters or the lapses in his story. The other, Charles Ray's "The Old Swimmin' Hole." goes e\en farther and has not so much as a single sub-title throughout its six reels of length. Of course it is not a story that demands titles. Xo one in it could possibK ha\ e any thing worth titling to say, and there is no stor\ at all in the plot sense. It is a da\ in the life of a small-town bo\-, a rather ox ergrown and clums\ smalltown bo\-, necessarih'. as Ra\ pla\ s him, but a lo\ able. human, untheatrical t\ |)e. It could go on and on for sixteen as easily as for six reels and. so long as it was kept as human and as true to the general acceiiiance of a small-town boy's life, as Ray and his director, Joseph DeGrasse, keep this much of it, it would be an interesting and enjoyable picture.