Picture Play Magazine (Sep 1921 - Feb 1922)

70 The Screen in Review Betty Compson has achieved the distinction of being an emotional actress; her latest picture is called "At the End of the World." and sees how it is done in the best settings. The scenes in the studio are ahnost as funny as the ones in "A Small-town Idol." As a movie cowboy, Mr. Rogers is immensely funny. And then, too, he has the curious experience of being scorned by his own young son, who is the che-ild star of the organization. But the movies aren't so helpful as Beatrice Fairfax. The cowboy returns home and reads "Romeo and Juliet." Whereupon he has a long and slapstick dream — a burlesque on poor old man Shakespeare. The dream is ornamented by some expensive settings ; money is no object to a cowboy when he starts to dream. It is also ornamented by Sylvia Breamer, a thoroughly up-to-date Juliet. The cowboy wakes up, decides that Shakespeare is tiresome and tries the method of wooing used by comic-section cave men. _ The picture is consistently funny, although the reviewer likes Rogers better as a serious actor than as a trick comedian. The subtitles, by Bernard McConville and Mr. Rogers, are snappy. The picture is released by Goldwyn. "The Great Moment." Need I remind you not to fail to see "The Great Moment," by Elinor Glyn? I need not. It is Gloria Swanson's first starring vehicle, and Elinor Glyn was imported from England to write it. When it was presented in New York, it was considered rather comic because it was so much like that dear old classic, "Three Weeks" — in atmosphere, though not in plot. But women fought to see it and aged grandmothers were trampled in the rush to get into the theater. Why? Well, just because. In the first place, the heroine is a charming girl, half gypsy and half debutante. The combination is deadly. Her horse runs away with her, she is bitten by a snake, and is tossed into the lonely cabin of a he-man. The he-man gives her a drink of whisky to cure the snake bite, and the impetuous heroine carelessly loses two hairpins. I shall not tell the rest of the plot. Merely keep }0ur eye on the hairpins. Also gaze upon Gloria Swanson. You can afford to look at Miss Swanson indefinitely. Her clothes, her manners, and her natural requirements are all they should be and more. The picture may be full of outrageous things that would not happen in Mr. Maxim's "Paradise," but at the end of a dull day mother will certainly enjoy the high life of "The Great Moment." The film was not directed by either of the De JMilles,^ but by Sam Wood. Paramount sponsored it. "Pilgrims of the Night." Another actress who is easy to watch appears in a new production. Rubye de Remer is the peaches and cream of "Pilgrims of the Night." Unfortunately, Elinor Glyn did not write the story, and so Miss de Remer wanders through a thick plot, guided only by E. Phillips Oppenheim. Mr. Oppenheim mixes too many ingredients into his stories. Dehghtful Elinor Glyn is so much more simple. "Pilgrims of the Night" is one of those stories about a crime, but it is so "confused that by the time matters are straightened out for you, you don't care who committed the crime or who set out to clean whose honor. Miss de Remer is an asset to the picture, and so are Raymond Hatton and William V. Mong, both of whom can act when allowed. "The Great Impersonation." Mr. Oppenheim also thickens the plot of "The Great Impersonation." In this case, instead of writing about crooks, he goes in for European nobility. Why do all stories about English, Russian, and Teutonic noblemen seem out of date? Can it be that the world really is safe for democracy and that these persons are no longer important to us? "The Great Impersonation" might have been extremely interesting at one time. Now it is merely a good picture because George Melford has done his best to make it one and because James Kirkwood works hard to play a dual role. Incidentally, Ann Forrest is in the cast. "At the End of the World." To get back to the beauties, there is Betty Compson. Like Pearl White and Gloria Swanson, she goes back