Screen Opinions (1923-24)

SCREEN OPINIONS TELLS THE TRUTH 185 Miss Griffith gives an excellent physical demonstration, the development of the role does not throw any light on the mental angle. The director’s energies have been focused on getting the romance of the story across; and he has succeeded well. The supporting cast is composed of some of the best players in the profession, Conway Tearle gives a satisfactory performance as Lee Clavering, although the character is entirely separated from its vocational plane. The production is well-dressed and entertaining, and its novelty of theme should help to make it popular. To those who have not read the book, the opening subtitle of the picture may prove illuminative. It reads “The years, like great black oxen, tread the world. And God, the herdman, goads them on behind.” It would not be fair to forget to mention Clara Bow’s splendid performance as the flapper. STORY OF THE PLAY Mary Ogden, looking like a girl of twenty, stands in the theatre gazing about her through her opera glasses, when Charles Dinwiddie, white-haired and nearing the seventies, hurries his companion from his seat in search of someone who will tell him who the girl is who is the living image of Mary Ogden, now a woman of sixty, as she looked in her girlhood. His companion, Lee Clavering, a man of letters, later meets the girl who poses as the niece of Mary Ogden and falls in love with her. He is astounded when, before giving her answer to his proposal of marriage, she writes him a letter containing the astounding news that she is the original Mary Ogden rejuvenated by science. They are about to marry when a former lover of her own age appears on the scene and while he also proposes marriage to her, draws so vivid a picture of what the marriage of youth to age must mean, referring to her romance with Clavering, that she decides to relinquish her happiness. PROGRAM COPY — “Black Oxen” — Featuring Corinne Griffith Mary Ogden discovered though science rejuvenated her physical body, the years crept on apace. You will be fascinated by the screen version of the Gertrude Atherton novel “Black Oxen,” featuring beautiful Corinne Griffith. “THROUGH THE DARK”— [Class A] 80% (Adapted from story of same name) Story: — Girl’s Influence Causes Professional Crook to Take the Straight Road VALUE CAST Photography — Very good — L. W. O’Connel Mary McGinn. Colleen Moore and A1 Zeigler. Boston Blackie Forrest Stanley TYPE OF PICTURE — Sensational. Mother McGinn Margaret Souden Moral Standard — Average. Warden Hobart Bosworth — — ■ Travel George Cooper Story — Very good — Melodrama — Family. “The Glad Rags Kid” Eddie Phillips Star — Very good — Colleen Moore. Detective O’Leary Wade Boteler Author — Very good — Jack Boyle. Sandy Tom Bates Direction — Very good — George Hill. Ethel Grayson Carmelita Geraghty Adaptation — Very good — Frances Marion. — ■ ■ Technique — Very good. February 15 to 29, 1924. Spiritual Influence — Average. Producer — Cosmopolitan Footage — 7,999 ft. Distributor — Goldwyn-Cosmopolitan Our Opinion MORAL O’THE PICTURE — The Straight Road is the Surest Path to Happiness and Success Good Audience Picture Displays Some Inconsistencies — Development Human and Character Portrayal Sympathetic In spite of the fact that there are points of question in the screen adaptation of the Jack Boyle story “Through the Dark” there is no denying that it is a good audience picture. It is not made plain just what relationship Mother McGinn bears to the crooks which she appears to harbor. But the inference to one who has not read the story, is that she gives them lodging. We think it is a mistake that in the development of the story this character which is very sweet and sympathetic, as played by Margaret Sedden, is not given some missionary work among the gang she harbors. However, Mary, the pretty daughter, played charmingly by Colleen Moore, does her share. And while the idea of a college girl supplying a disguise for an escaped convict, or deliberately planning a burglary as a means of turning her lover forever from this sort of thing, seems a bit far-fetched, still, through it all, there is that fascinating human quality that makes one, to a certain extent at least, forget faults. Forrest Stanley is especially pleasing as Boston Blackie, and George (Continued on next page) Unbiased and Independent Reviews Only!