Picture Play Magazine (Mar-Aug 1928)

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The Screen in Review 63 cardinal virtue. The movietone accompaniment aids one to keep the tear ducts open, if one is so disposed, as well as leaves no chance for the song which inspired the picture to die a natural death. There is a great deal of plot to be followed, so' you had best keep your wits about you when you see the picture, else you may not believe all that happens on the screen. Ellen McHugh leaves her humble home in Ireland to give her little son, Brian, a better chance in New York. She manages to place him in a select school, while she obtains work in a circus. But when the haughty principal discovers Ellen's means of livelihood, she dismisses Brian. However, her fondness for the boy impels her to educate him and give him her name, if Ellen will promise never to see him. Ellen. consents. No, no, you mustn't ask me why. How should I know? — except there must be mother-love dramas at any cost, including plausibilitv. Years and years later — that is, long enough for Belle Bennett to don a white wig and for Philippe de Lacy to grow up to be Neil Hamilton — Ellen is a servant in a rich household, where Edith, the debutante daughter, loves Ellen in a white apron better than she does her own mother in rare old lace. And her preferred suitor — Brian — feels strangely drawn to the woman who takes his hat and stick when he calls. He even indulges in moments of filial tenderness with her. Finally, the truth of their relationship comes out as Brian volunteers for service at the outbreak of the war. All this is set forth in a manner open enough, and one is interested in following the mazes of the story, but somehow there is little or no suspense, and not quite the pathos that the movietone and the tears wrould have one believe. Neil Hamilton gives a forthright performance, of course, and Constance Howard is charming, as Edith. Victor McLaglen has a typical, though minor role, as a circus giant who becomes a policeman and marries Ellen; and there are also Ethel Clayton, Eulalie Jensen, and the late Ted McNamara. Introducing a Cute Kid. "That's My Daddy" introduces a child actress, who is certain to become extremely popular unless she is exploited in too many pictures. Her name is Jane La Verne, a morsel of prettiness with a gift for simple, sincere acting all out of proportion to her size. She is. in fact, quite wonderful. She runs away with the picture, probably with the consent of Reginald Denny, the star, who wrote the story and saw to it that Jane was cast as Pudge, an orphan who escapes from an unhappy home, meets with an automobile accident and is taken to the hospital. At that moment Mr. Denny, as one of those carefree millionaires, is arrested for speeding. He tells a fib when he says he is hurrying to the hospital to see his baby. Pat, the traffic cop, takes him at his word, and when he is eventually confronted by Pudge, she cries. "That's my daddy!" to the consternation of Mr. Denny, who is obliged to take her home and begin a long series of lies to account for her presence there. The picture has weak spots — yes. but it is amusing, and little Miss La Verne makes it appealing. Barbara Kent, Lillian Rich, and Tom Brien do excellently with their roles. Lovely Scenery, But "Rose-Marie" is nothing to brag about. Bereft of the glamour and music of the operetta, it becomes another yarn of the Northwest Mounted Police, in which a capable cast performs capably enough, but no more than that, and you don't quite know why they stop there. Rose-Marie, like other heroines surrounded by magnificent mountain scenery, falls in love with a young man suspected of murder, whom she calls, in the traditional FrenchCanadian manner, "Jean." Needless to sav Jeeni is sought by the law, in the person of House Peters in full uniform. Eventually Rose-Marie marries Etienne to save Teem from capture. It is at this point that the "Indian Love Call," the. more-or-less-famous number in the original, is stressed. Joan Crawford goes through the motions of singing it, or rather crooning it. But as it is supposed to be heard miles away bv her heartbroken lover in the mountains, you know she should have used a megaphone. In the absence of that, it would have required the vocal equipment of a Continued on page 92 "Love Me and the World Is Mine." "Drums of Love."