Screen Opinions (1923-24)

62 ‘BOOK THE NEW PERCENTAGE WAY” ard Travers both give fine performances, and Ben Deeley is excellent in the mystifying role of the butler. You can make no mistake in booking “The Acquittal.’’ It will live up to anything you say regarding its entertainment values. The courtroom scenes are among the best we have seen on the screen. STORY OF THE PLAY Kenneth Winthrop is charged with the murder of his foster father, Andrew Prentice, and is on the verge of being convicted when his wife enters the courtroom with a clock from the butcher store which has been spoken of as evidence of the time Kenneth left his father’s home on the night of the murder. Mrs. Winthrop has discovered that what was supposed to be the hands of the clock pointing to twelve, was in reality the indicator of a weigh scales in which the hands remained at the top when not in use. This bit of evidence causes him to be acquitted. Later a letter which has been delayed in the mails is brought to Robert Armstrong, Andrew Prentice’s second adopted son, in which is an explanation of Prentice’s death, revealing the fact that certain tablets which he had been taking had been poisoned by Edith Craig, his fiancee and secretary, and Kenneth, who had a covered affair with Edith. PROGRAM COPY — “The Acquittal” — With Claire Windsor and Norman Kerry The most mysterious of mystery stories with pretty Claire Windsor, Norman Kerry, Barbara Bedford and a fine supporting cast is the basis of “The Acquittal’’ a sensational screen production that you should not miss. The best of its kind. £ “W0MAM 0F PARIS”— [Class A-b] 95% (Especially prepared for screen) Story: — Interrupted Romance — Trick of Fate Causes Girl to Accept Illegitimate Support VALUE Photography — Masterful— Rollie Totherch and Jack Wilson. TYPE OF PICTURE— FascinatingThoughtful. Moral Standard — Fair. Story — Excellent — Drama — Adults. Star — Excellent — Edna Purviance. Author — Excellent — Charles Chaplin. Direction — Masterful — Charles Chaplin. Adaptation — Masterful — Charles Chaplin. Technique — Masterful. Spiritual Influence — Neutral. Producer — Charles Chaplin CAST Marie St. Clair Edna Purviance Pierre Revel Adolphe Menjou John Millet Carl Miller His Mother Lydia Knott His Father Charles French Marie’s Father Clarence Geldert Fifi and Paulette | P/tty Morrisey ( Mulvina Polo Orchestra Leader Karl Gutman November 1 to 15, 1923. Distributor — United Artists Footage — 7,800 ft. Our Opinion MORAL O'THE PICTURE — The Only Substantial Happiness Is Found in Service (not strongly marked). Simplicity of Technique a Feature — Chaplin Gets Astonishing Results in Di recting First Dramatic Production ____ Charles Chaplin’s ability to direct a serious production is demonstrated to the full in “A Woman of Paris,” his first attempt at visualizing drama. And the astonishing thing about it is that he has arrived in one leap at a perfection of technique, of psychological understanding, of artistic construction that many directors have striven years to attain. In making “A Woman of Paris,” for which he also wrote the story, his experience with comedy has served him in good stead in scenes that would be almost too risque, but for the comic angle from which he forces us to view certain suggestions. For instance, the scene in which Edna Purviance as Marie is having a body massage, and also the scene at a gay party in Paris where the draping of a woman’s body is unwrapped about the waist, of a fat man. Here you get merely the suggestion that the woman is nude, by closeups of head and shoulders and the limbs below the knees as she trips out of sight from among the guests. And it is all a part of the atmosphere in which the girl of the story has drifted after being forced into the streets through no fault of her own. The director has painted his picture daringly, but artistically. But the reader must not run away with the idea that the production is closely allied with comedy, because it is not. It is drama — even tragedy. The cleancut, and strongly impressionistic manner in which Mr. Chaplin has put his story across is well worth consideration. His subtitles are simplicity itself, and only the high lights of the drama have been touched. (Continued on next page) c No Advertising Support Accepted!