Screen Opinions (1923-24)

(04 Screen Opinions Telia the Truth “BEDROOM WINDOW”— 80% (Especially prepared for the screen) Reviewed July. 1924 Theme — Family lawyer commits murder to cover theft VALUE Photography — Very Good — L. G. Wilky. Moral Standard — Average. Story — Very good — Melo. — Family. Cast — Very good — All-Star. Direction — Very good — Wm. de Mille. Technique — Very good. Spiritual Influence — Neutral. Moral — None. CAST Ruth Martin May McAvoy Frank Armstrong Malcolm MacGregor Robert Delano Ricardo Cortei Frederick Hall Robert Edeson Producer — Paramount. Footage — 6550 feet. Distributor — Famous Players — Lasky. THE OPINION Peppy mystery story with dashes of comedy put across by Ethel Wales. Not a typical William de Mille production, but good audience stuff. Human interest plays a negligible part in the picture, the action of which is mostly concerned in discovering who fired the shot that killed Ruth Martin’s father. A middle-aged aunt, played by Ethel Wales, takes the case into her own hands, climbs through a window across a narrow alleyway via an ironing board and the help of the servants, finds marks of powder on the window curtains, and incidentally brings the dead man’s lawyer to bay. “BACK TRAIL”— 65% (Especially prepared for the screen) Reviewed July. 1924 Theme — Adventures of shell-shocked soldier framed for train robbery VALUE Photography — Good — Harry Neumann. Moral Standard — Average. Story — Good — Melodrama — Family. Star — Good — Jack Hoxie. Direction — Good — Clifford Smith. Technique — Good. Spiritual Influence — Neutral. Moral — None. CAST Jeff Prouty Jack Hoxie The Tramp Alton Stone Ardis Andrews Eugene Gilbert "Gentleman Harry” Claude Peyton Producer — Universal. Footage — 4615 feet. Distributor — Universal. THE OPINION Ordiary western melodrama with plenty of good riding, attractive scenery, and cattle-ranch atmosphere. Jack Hoxie does best with the role of an exsoldier whose memory is impaired by shell-shock. A trench acquaintance, believing him dead, exchanges his identification tag, and later frames him for a train robbery which he himself committed. A pleasing romance is introduced in the plot. Ballyhoo Bunk You need to depend on the unbiased, independent, honest and accurate SCREEN OPINIONS for good pictures. The ballyhoo advertising of pictures, aimed to stampede exhibitors and force them to book new features that may or may not be what is claimed, gives the exhibitor no protection. The rankest lemons have sold big under the strongest advertising. This gambling on pictures is what puts the biggest harpoon into the profits and prestige of any theatre.