Screenland (Sept 1922–Feb 1923)

fp HOtXVWOOO C«t.»0*Mi«. ANO RODOLPH VALENTINO THE ISLE OF LOVE money, only to discover in the darkened film "warmed over," you will want to Get Expose of Monkey-Gland Movies By L B. Fowler you would conclude that Rudie was the main squeeze. As a matter of cold fact, he does very little. He appears in a few dancing scenes, that is all. , The Rogue's Romance was probably the most flagrant example of monkey-gland movies that antagonize a none-too-trusting public. The posters show a page of shots from this Earle Williams' picture, all featuring Valentino. Occasionally, they allow Williams, the star, a circle insert in one corner of the bills. You will notice that all the scenes are dancing scenes. There's a reason, as you discovered if you paid out your good money to see a Valentino film. Valentino does a small "bit," an Apache dance. It was a good dance, but not long enough to bolster up the Valentino billing. So they cut in a repetition of the dance ; they have Williams seem to like the dance so much that he asks Rudie to do it again. They had to prolong his action some Hi EARLE WILLIAMS RODOLPH VALENTINO A ROGUE'S ROMANCE q Tlie real star of A Jiogne's Romance doesn't get much mention in this Vitagraph re-issue poster. Valentino, who appears in only a few flashes, gels the advertising. way, else he would have appeared only in a few short flashes. A trade journal for exhibitors, recently printed a review of A Rogue's Romance. The reviewer, who doesn't express his thought in actual words, for obvious practical reasons, permits you to read between the lines : "Taking advantage of Rodolph Valentino's phenomenal rise to fame, Vitagraph is reviving this production of other days and in billing the picture is giving 'The Perfect Lover' equal prominence with the star, Earl Williams. This is all well and good and «I The debonairc Wally Reid of a decade ago and Lillian Gish in Enoch Arden, recently rc-issucd under the title of "The Fatal Marriage." Did you pay your money to see it? fine business practice, but Williams is the boy who does the work . . . ." Williams is the boy who does the work. He dominates every scene. His name alone should have been displayed on the bill-boards. To advertise Valentino's name as large as that of the star is misrepresentation. It is FOOLING the playgoer. It is an insult to the fan. The man who writes the review says so between the lines. Why do producers and distributors play upon the good nature of the public, upon whom they depend for their bread and butter? They are cutting their own throats by doing so. <j / alcntino is only "atmosphere" in this Julian Eltingc picture, but he is co-starred in the billing of the revived film. A WOMAN patron who sat through two performances of A Delicious Little Devil didn't do it because she liked the picture. She thought she had missed Rudie somewhere coming in. Because Valentino's name had been billed as big as Mae Murray's, the real star, she had guilelessly expected to see him have a real part. The exhibitor probably wouldn't have mentioned Mae at all if she hadn't threatened legal action if she wasn't given proper credit. The woman went out, solemnly swearing she would never patronize that play-house again. "They stole my money," she said. Perhaps you have read the recent billing of {Continued on page 75) «j Lillian Gish in An Indian's Loyalty. One of a series of early Griffith productions to be revived. 41