Screenland (Dec 1927-Apr 1928)

his engagement to the small town belle and hasn't the heart to tell her so. By waiting until all the villagers are gathered at a basaar, Syd sits down on a sofa, plainly visible through an open doorway, and makes wild love to a wax clothes model. He manages it all so cleverly, particularly his hands, that he makes it seem a bona fide necking affair. A fast stepping picture, full of hot action and heavy laughter. A RENO DIVORCE If I were May McAvoy I would hunt out a gypsy and have her cross my palm with silver. Or make a literary novena and pray for a really strong story. For her present film, A Reno Divorce is no better than most of her recent pictures. No matter how delicately she interprets her roles, no matter how pretty and wistful her delineations are, all her work is wiped out by bad direction or weak support. She is too charming an artist to be completely shrouded by second rate stories which nobody could transform into good, first class film productions. You'll like this story because it is so simply and humanely handled — the sorrows of a widow with a wild son and an erratic daughter. Through all her difficulties, Miss Frederick fights to retain her own youth and loveliness, and finds in the end — But you must see it for yourself. It is marred considerably by bad photography but nothing could mar the aristocracy and technique of Pauline Frederick. QEsteUe Taylor Mrs. John B. Hamilton 209 Monroe Street, Bluefield, Virginia, has been awarded the prize in the Estelle Taylor Fan Letter Contect. De Mille to Picture Reform Schools FRECKLES There are few of us to-day who don't look back a decade or so to the happy, innocent time when Gene Stratton Porter's Freckles satisfied all our literary desires. It was a book that one read and re-read until Freckles became not a boy between pasteboard covers but our own little playfellow. Now Freckles has reached the screen. And every person who likes clean fun and is never quite happy until he feels the wind on his cheek and hears the sound of bird music in his ears will want to see this film. Gene Stratton Porter's fifteen year old granddaughter plays one of the leading juvenile roles. And John Fox, Jr. as the little onearmed boy whose strong character conquers his deformed body gains the sympathy of all. THE WARNING Romanticism, swagger, color, love, opium smuggling, robbers' caves, fist-fights, machine guns, beautiful girl, hand grenades, mysterious ships, police raids, handsome hero — a corking, fast-firing film with Jack Holt and Dorothy Revier fighting for their lives and honor. A sure cure for boredom. THE NEST Everybody loves Pauline Frederick — a beautiful woman and a consummate actress. But how seldom* we get to see her. However, in The 3\(est, she comes back to us again, with Holmes Herbert, Jean Acker, and others. 'C[ Lupe Velez Miss Lillian Lee 618 West Baltimore Street, Baltimore, Maryland, has been awarded the Boleadoras in the Lupe Velez Contest. . With the full approval of governors of many of the forty eight United States, Cecil B. De Milk will make startling disclosures of conditions in state reform schools in his forthcoming production, The Godless Girl. Before deciding on the subject matter for his next picture, De Mille and his scenarist, Jeanie Macpherson, were in correspondence with the chief executives of the T various states. Tentative plans for the filming of a story in a reform school background were outlined to the governors, and their opinions and comment requested. The response was immediate, and emphatically in favor of a production which would bring to light the inadequacies of most of the institutions whose aim is to reform juvenile delinquents. Every letter received by De Mille from governors throughout the country encouraged the producer in his plan to present a realistic reform school setting for The Godless Girl, the consensus of opinion being that such a production would serve the double purpose of instituting improvements in the method of handling young law offenders, and of dissuading the youth of America from committing criminal acts. In gathering information on the subject for the story, which was prepared for the screen by Miss Macpherson, De Mille sent young men into several reformatories as inmates. In several cases not even the officials of the school were aware of the fact that these boys were not criminals, their commitment to the institutions having been arranged by state officials. Consequently, the information as obtained was authentic, and provided Miss Macpherson with material with which to present realistically life in a typical reform school. De. Mille has selected Lina Basquette for the title role of The Godless Girl, while Marie Prevost, George Duryea and Noah Beery also are featured. 5 2