Picture-Play Magazine (Mar-Aug 1927)

A Confidential Guide to Current Releases WHAT EVERY FAN SHOULD SEE. "Beau Geste" — Paramount. A gripping film production of this unusual mystery melodrama of the French Foreign Legion. Ronald Colman, Neil Hamilton, and Ralph Forbes score individual hits as the three devoted brothers. Entire cast excellent. "Ben=Hur" — Metro-Goldwyn. A beautiful and inspiring picture, directed with skill and originality. Ramon Novarro, in title role, gives earnest and spirited performance; Francis X. Bushman excellent as Messala; May ilcAvoy, Betty Bronson, Kathleen Key, and Carmel Myers all handle their roles well. "Better 'Ole, The"— Warner. Don't miss it. Syd Chaplin gives you the laugh of your life in the famous role of Old Bill, veteran Tommy who doesn't take the war too seriously. "Big Parade, The" — Metro-Goldwyn. Grippingly realistic war picture. Story of three tired, dirty doughboys, one of whom is John Gilbert, who falls in love with a French girl, played remarkably well by Renee Adoree. "Black Pirate, The"— United Artists. Doug Fairbanks' latest, exquisitely filmed entirely in color. Bloodcurdling pirate tale, with Mr. Fairbanks as active as usual. Billie Dove the heroine. "Don Juan"— Warner. Beauty, action, and excitement are combined to make a splendid film version of this old tale. John Barrymore gives skilled performance. Mary Astor, Estelle Taylor, and entire cast well chosen. "Faust" — Metro-Goldwyn. Beautiful film. Superbly directed and convincingly acted. Well-chosen cast, w^ith Emil Jannings making a robust but malignant Mephisto. "For Heaven's Sake" — Paramount. Harold Lloyd unwittingly goes in for mission work, with amusing results. "La Boheme" — Metro-Goldwyn. A classic skillfully screened. Lillian Gish poignantly appealing as the little seamstress of the Paris Latin Quarter who sacrifices all for her playwright lover, spiritedly played by John Gilbert. "Les Miserables" — Universal. A clear and graphic film presentation of this great novel, with moments of beautiful acting by its very good cast of French players. "Mare Nostrum" — Metro-Goldwyn. Beautifully photographed version of Ibanez's tale of a Spanish sea captain who, during World War, comes under the disastrous spell of the Germans, through his love for a beautiful Austrian spy. Antonio Moreno and Alice Terry admirable in leading roles. "Scarlet Letter, The"— Metro-Goldwyn. Outstanding for the surprisingly fine performance of Lillian Gish and the magnetism of Lars Hanson. A sympathetic and dignified, though not entirely faithful, treatment of Hawthorne's novel. "Sea Beast, The" — Warner. John Barrymore gives one of his typical portrayals as a young harpooner who grows old and bitter seeking vengeance on a whale that has bitten off his leg and thereby indirectly deprived him of the girl he was to marry. Dolores Costello appealing as the girl. "Stella Dallas"— United Artists. A picture in a thousand, telling with many pathetically humorous touches the heartrending story of a mother and daughter. Belle Bennett, in title role of mother, does one of finest bits of acting ever seen on screen. Lois Moran, charming as 3roung daughter; Ronald Colman, satisfactory as father. "Variety"— Paramount. The muchheralded German picture dealing with the triangular relations between three trapeze performers — a girl and two men. Terrifically gripping. Emil Jannings, Lya de Putti and Warwick Ward give inspired performances. "We're in the Navy Now" — Paramount. Uproarious comedy, with Wallace Beery and Raymond Hatton as a couple of rookies in the navy by accident. FOR SECOND CHOICE. "Bardelys the Magnificent"— MetroGoldwyn. John Gilbert in the ardent, acrobatic, and adventurous role of a dare-devil French cavalier. Eleanor Boardman is the girl he wagers he'll win. "Battling Butler" — Metro-Goldwyn. Good picture, wTith Buster Keaton really funny as a rich and timid young man who tries to masquerade as a prize fighter. Sally O'Xeil is the mountain-maid heroine. "Bigger Than Barnum's"— F. B. O. An excellent circus picture, full of suspense and pathos as well as laughter. George O'Hara, Viola Dana, and Ralph Lewis. "Born to the West" — Paramount. Another Zane Grey film, more interesting and plausible than usual. Excellent cast, including Jack Holt and Margaret Morris. "Cat's Pajamas, The" — Paramount. A slight but very pleasant picture, sparkling with satire and humor. The romance of a little seamstress and a tenor, Betty Bronson and Ricardo Cortez. . . "Duchess of Buffalo, The"— First National. Constance Talmadge in another gay comedy of the Continent. An American dancing girl poses as a Russian grand duchess, writh entertaining results. "Eagle of the Sea, The" — Paramount. Ricardo Cortez as a gallant pirate in a picturesque costume film laid in New Orleans in 1815. Florence Vidor is the lovely rescued heroine. "Everybody's Acting" — Paramount. Pleasant story of the romance between a young actress and a wealthy young man whose mother opposes the match. Bettv Bronson and Lawrence Gray. "Fine Manners" — Paramount. Made interesting by Gloria Swanson's expert performance as a hoydenish chorus girl who tries to become a lady. Eugene O'Brien is the necessary rich man. "Footloose Widows" — Warner. Jacqueline Logan and Louise Fazenda make genuinely amusing this film of two fashion models who dash to Florida and masquerade as wealthy widows. "Gigolo" — Producers Distributing. Best acting of Rod La Rocque's career. Tragic experiences of a young man who, after being battered up in the war, becomes a scorned gigolo in a Paris cafe. Jobyna Ralston and Louise Dresser. "Her Man=o'=War" — Producers Distributing. Jetta Goudal's starring picture. Entertaining, but not entirely suited to her. Tale of Alsatian peasant girl and American doughboy — William Boyd. "Hold That Lion" — Paramount. Douglas MacLean in a diverting comedy of a young man who pursues a girl around the wrorld, and is unwittingly inveigled into a lion hunt. "Kid Boots"— Paramount. Eddie Cantor's screen debut. Sometimes funny, sometimes not. Thrilling climax. Clara Bow, Billie Dove, and Lawrence Gray. "Kosher Kitty Kelly"— F. B. O. Really entertaining. Another case of entanglements between the Jews and the Irish. Viola Dana, Tom Forman, Vera Gordon, and Nat Carr. "Ladies at Play" — First National Riotous escapades of a girl who, to inherit a fortune, must marry in three days a man who won't have her. Doris Kenyon, Lloyd Hughes, and Louise Fazenda. "Lady of the Harem, The"— Paramount. Gorgeous Oriental spectacle, featuring Greta Nissen, in a glamorous, seductive role, and William Collier, Jr. "Lovey Mary" — Metro-Goldwyn. Delightful human-interest tale, sequel to the "Cabbage Patch." Bessie Love, in character role, proves herself a gifted player. Second honors to William Haines. "Magician, The" — Metro-Goldwyn. Rex Ingram's latest. Gruesome film of girl who comes under the spell of a maniac magician and is barely saved from death by her fianc>». Alice Terry, Paul Wegener, and Ivan Petrovich. "Mantrap" — Paramount. Fntertaining and unusual. Clara Bow, a flirtatious manicurist, and Ernest Torrence, from the wilds of Canada, become man and wife. Then along comes Percr Marmont. "Meet the Prince"— Producers Distributing. Gay, inconsequential film of a Russian prince who flees to America and masquerades as a butler. Joseph Schildkraut and Marguerite de la Motte. "Men of Steel" — First National. Milton Sills and Doris Kenyon in a Continued on page 116