Picture Play Magazine (Mar-Aug 1918)

272 The Screen centration that I rarely take to the screen with me. In the matter of pictures, I adopt the attitude that the tired business man adopts toward the drama. I want easy relaxation. These ranch stories, with their monotonous characters, their incessant shootings, and the horseback exercise that their leading figures indulge in so flamboyantly, are a trifle tedious. The hero of this particular tale is Cheyenne Harry, who is in charge of the grazing herds of the ranch. He is tired of his lonely ride, and is persuaded to become the partner of a highwayman who has been sentenced to death, and has escaped. Later on, Cheyenne Harry kills a card shark while intoxicated, and the agony sets in. There is the lovely maiden whom he rescues in the approved manner, and there is his crime weighing upon his conscience. Can you not weave the rest of the story for yourself? Oh, I'm sure you can. There is a good deal of ''atmosphere" thickly laid on, and there is little escape from it. There is also a rather exciting card game — very well done, and realistically shown. Card games rarely fail. There is a certain fascination in them, and the screen is able to show this more forcefully than the stage. One can see the hands dealt, in such magnified prominence ! A card game is a great relief from the shooting frays, and the "encounters" that are the stock in trade of pictures of this caliber. They seem almost human ! Harry Carey was the hero in " Thieves' Gold," and there was a certain dogged vigor in his work that gave it value. Miss Molly Malone was the heroine — not a very arduous role. In fact, the lack of feminine interest in the film was, to me, its weak point. Cheyenne Harry and Uncle Larkin and Colonel Betoski and the others grew tiresome. They were vigorous, but too emphatic. They suggested the old dime novel, but were wanting in its contrasts. in Review The entire picture reminded me of the literature that youthful readers used to devour in the good old days — if one can call them good old days. "Masks and Faces" (World Film) THIS is a picture that is worth while — and even more than while. It is introduced by a discussion in the interests of raising war funds, and in that discussion we see such eminent lights as George Bernard Shaw, Sir Squire Bancroft, Sir John Hare, Sir Arthur Pinero, and Barrie. They plan to produce a memorable picture, and "Masks and Faces" results therefrom — and very electrically. All the leading figures of the London stage appear in this film — names that are potent everywhere, and most of them familiar to American audiences. These include Irene Vanbrugh, Denis Xeilson Terry, Gladys Cooper, Ben Webster, Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson, Nigel Playfair, Lilian McCarthy, Dion Boucicault, Henry Vibart, Gerald du Maurier, Winifred Emery, H. B. Irving, Lyall Swete, Weedon Grossmith, Gertrude Elliott, Lilian Braithwaite, Lottie Yenne, Stella Campbell, Viola Tree, and Phvllis Hart. There's a collection ! This is a star cast with a vengeance. I can recall no star cast in any picture that I have ever seen. It is as though all the most costly stars of the American stage were grouped in one film — if you can imagine that, and it is not easy to imagine. Yet this was actually done in England, and "Masks and Faces" supplies the proof. I don't say that a star cast is any better than an unstar cast — usually it is inferior — but in a picture it is at least a curiosity, and you feel that you are getting your money's worth — multiplied several times. The story is the familiar one that deals with the love and humanity of