Picture-Play Magazine (Sep 1928 - Feb 1929)

The Screen in Review 73 All give notable performances, though Baclanova hasn't enough to clo to satisfy my appetite for her vivid talent. Mr. Bancroft, as Bill Roberts, a swaggering stoker, rescues Sadie from the river, marries her and deserts her next morning, but they are finally reunited. Incidental to this are barroom brawls, the shooting of a man by his jealous wife and the usual conflicts of a sailors' dive. The story, you see, is scarcely unusual or inspired, but evidently it was not intended to be so, for the skill of Josef von Sternberg, the director, has beeen lavished on characterization, lighting, and the complete elimination of sentimental claptrap. But for all this meritorious work there is, in the latter part of the picture at least, a slowness that fits better the mood of Greek tragedy than the actions of stokers and their women. Blithe As a May Morning. It is always a pleasure to welcome Leatrice Joy, and a natural reaction to admire her femininity and charm. She is at her best in "Man-made Women," a trite and inconsequential story directed and acted with exquisite distinction. Quite devoid of dramatic or comic high lights, the picture moves smoothly through a series of beautiful interiors of such perfect taste that one feels an exceptional person is responsible for them. But I have never yet met a moviegoer who rated settingsand direction of greater importance than situations involving characters. The characters under discussion are well-bred people, whose actions never deviate from the good taste of their surroundings and who are therefore human, if not exciting. Miss Joy is Nan Payson, who loves her husband, but objects to being made over by him into a conventional mold. However, she learns her lesson and is content to settle down to his prosaic requirements of what a wife should be. Miss Joy is lovely to behold and her gayety is bewitching. John Boles is the husband, and H. B. Warner the roue who is suspected of breaking up the home of the young couple, but who turns out to be their benefactor. Seena Owen is remarkably effective as Georgette, a lady of easy, though elegant, virtue. Looking at "Man-made Women" entails no effort at all, though it might be hard to remember. Submarine." 'The Air Circus.' "The Whip." 'The' Cardboard Lover Old Wine in New Bottles. "The Water Hole" is much more than a Zane Grey version of "The Taming of the Shrew," though it is that, too. But so taut is the direction, and so deft is the acting of Jack Holt and Nancy Carroll, that the old story is made new, and a rather delightful picture comes into being. The plot, being of the least importance, had better be disposed of first. All it really amounts to, is the boast of a spoiled flapper that she will wring a proposal of marriage from a strong, silent man within a given time. She succeeds and he, made aware of her trifling, punishes her. To get even, she follows him to Arizona where he, with her father's consent, "kidnaps" her as the first step toward her taming. The rest of it doesn't matter, for you can guess the result. But the progress of the picture is genuinely entertaining, because Miss Carroll makes Judith Endicott a real girl, and in Jack Holt's hands Philip Randolph is a man of flesh and blood, and his reactions are not the least moviesque. This is expected of Mr. Holt, because his experience is as long as his methods are familiar ; but Miss Carroll, who is still a newcomer, proves herself to be extraordinarily skillful in expressing herself on the screen. More than this, she has the gift of being as fresh as they make 'em, without ever going too far and becoming obvious and a pest. Some of the Hollywood sisterhood, indifferent to the peril of overdoing their cuteness, might well study her restraint. John Boles, Ann Christy, and Jack Perrin, himself once a star, are capable additions to the cast, and the familiar Western scene is made glamorous by romantic photography. Soundless Oysters. "The First Kiss" is as innocuous as the title. There is not even a promise that the second kiss will stir up excitement. One feels, in fact, that when Anna Lee and Mulligan Talbot marry they will be content to let that first kiss suffice for life. Yet there's a lot doing in the picture, and some interesting players to keep the pot — or plot — simmering. It never boils, however, one of the reasons being that too much is Continued on page 98