Picture Play Magazine (Sep 1926 - Feb 1927)

63 in Review inspected for your benefit. Lusk Can the Dead Come Back? A serious and beautiful story is unfolded in "The Return of Peter Grimm," as true to the spirit and intent of the play fronr which it was taken as I have ever seen on the screen. It is a feather in the cap of all responsible for it, including William Fox, Bradley King, the adapter. Victor Schertzinger, Alec B. Francis as Peter, and the remainder of the cast down to the dog programmed as Hank. _ The "return" which gives the picture its title is the spiritual reappearance of old Peter after his death, and his efforts to communicate with the living. The affairs of those he has left behind have reached such a state of poignant drama that he must speak in order to save his loved ones from a lifetime of sorrow. He finally does so through a child who conveys his message with no knowledge of its significance, and, dying, is carried by Peter into joyous invisibility. It is a gripping story replete with moments of charm and quaintness and emotional appeal, all so skillfully blended that you lose sight of the characters individually and find yourself asking if the dead can really return to commune with the living? This is due not only to the fine picture and the sympathy behind it, but to sincere acting on the part of 'the entire cast. Alec B. Francis is far more than a character actor playing a congenial role : he brings a quality of spiritual exaltation to old Peter Grimm found by me in no other screen artist, while Janet Gaynor and Richard Walling, as the youngsters he wishes to unite when it is almost too late, bring to life the dreams and despairs of adolescence to a degree equaled by no other couple on the screen to-day. But for that matter, the whole cast is capital, yet their efforts are so beautifully coordinated that you must declare, in this instance at least, that the play's the thing. Dangers of a Big City. "The Prince of Tempters" is the first picture of a German director new to this country — Lothar Mendes. Without being revolutionary, it is interesting and moreover offers Ben Lyon his best role to date, which Ben plays as he has never played before. Who, then, shall say that Mr. Mendes is less than a benefactor? It is heavy drama, moving at a rather slow pace, but interesting for all that. Ben Lyon is Francis, who is about to take the final vows of priesthood in an Italian monastery, when he is discovered to be none other than the Duke of Chatsfield, with a fortune awaiting him and a commensurate position in British society. His priestly advisers convince him that his place is in the world outside the church, and he goes to find it in London. There he meets Mario, his friend who had renounced the church because he loved the fleshpots more, and the young and innocent duke becomes Mario's prey. He is ensnared by Dolores, working in collusion with Mario to get his fortune, but she falls genuinely in love with him and repudiates Mario. . Meanwhile, the lovely Monica has come into the life of Francis, and thus we Autteyy "The Return of Peter Grimm" has been brought to the screen in a manner to cover with glory every one responsible for it. Alec B. Francis is Peter, and Janet Gaynor the heroine. have another version, neither old nor new, of sacred and profane love, and the conflict in the soul of a young man. Ben Lyon plays with skill and convincing emotion, and Ian Keith, too, as Mario, is excellent. Lyo de Putti is the siren whose heart rules her, and Lois Moran is the unsullied Monica. Sam Hardy creates a comic character sketch of a greedv Italian, and the cast is generally good. "The Prince of Tempters" is worth seeing, but one wonders why the director lapsed in two instances — one when Francis comes to the home of Monica and her parents, and no one rises to greet him, and the other when we are shown a check signed "Francis, Duke of Chatsfield." Titles aren't used as signatures in England, and it will get a laugh there. The Magic of Ingram. Rex Ingram's pictures have the quality of Balzac's prose, it seems to me, with pictorial beauty of a kind found in no other films. He does not try to capture the springtime light of life, but its autumnal shadows. To him love is not the blazing trail to flower-strewn happiness, but a terrible force which may draw the unsuspecting into its vortex. All of which, if true, is why some spectators call his pictures morbid. "The Magician," his latest, will probably be so termed. It isn't pretty and it isn't pleasant. It's beautiful instead, and just a bit trite as far as the story goes, but so well worth seeing that he makes us overlook this mistake. The triteness is only apparent when you think of the story after the picture has ended, and never while it is in progress. Rex Ingram would see to that! Margaret Dauncy, though engaged to Dr. Arthur Burdon, falls under the spell of Oliver Haddo, faker, hypnotist, sorcerer, and mad as well. An ancient formula in his possession inspires him to seek the blood of a maiden's heart for a mysterious potion. Margaret is doomed to supply it. Still under his horrid influence she marries Haddo with no thought of the man she really loves. But Oliver saves her at the moment Haddo' s dagger is raised to plunge into her breast, and Margaret is brought out of the magician's spell. All this is developed with resourcefulness, brilliant direction, and real inspiration in groupings and lighting. European locales are glorified by an American camera man.