Screen Opinions (1923-24)

No Advertising Support Accepted! IS “MERTON OF THE MOVIES”— 80% (Adapted from the play of the same name) Reviewed October. 1924 Theme — Movie struck youth after “ VALXJE Photography — Excellent — Karl Brown. Moral standard — Average. Story — Very good — Com.-Dra. — Family. Author — Very good — Geo. S. Kaufman. Star — Very good — Glenn Hunter. Direction — Very good — James Cruze. Technique — Very good. Spiritual Influence — Average. Moral — None. hitting starvation gets big salary CAST Merton Gill Glenn Hunter Sally Viola Dana Jeff Baird DeWitt Jennings Harold Parmalee Elliott Roth Mr. Montague.... Charles Ogle Producer — Paramount. Footage-?-b55 feet. Distributor — Famous Players -Lasky. THE OPINION Those who have seen the play will like the picture because they will be able to supply through imagination the comedy that is absent from the film version. Those who have not seen the play will be disappointed because the picture version carries less comedy than pathos. The struggle of Merton to attain the goal of. his dreams, to do “something better and finer” is realistically presented. So much so that it is impossible not to feel a profound sympathy with the unhappy youth. The turning of his best efforts to ridicule, even though they bring him a fat salary in a branch of the art he had not striven for, is not solely laugh inspiring. Glenn Hunter is splendid in the part. Viola Dana is charming. Her work under the direction of James Cruze is especially natural and pleasing'. Bill the production on the strength of the play's popularity. Neighborhood houses will welcome it, THE STORY Merton Gill, clerk in a general store of a country town, saves money to go to Hollywood, where he meets pretty Sally Montague, a comedy star, and also an actor who has served as an ideal. He almost starves before Sally discovers that an imitation of his favorite actor’s work can be injected into farce comedy. He is disappointed at the pre-view of his picture which he was led to believe was to be a drama. His dream of doing "something finer and better” shattered, he signs a contract to play in farce comedy for a big salary, and becomes engaged to Sally. “IRON HORSE”— 100% (Adapted from “Across the Plains’’) Reviewed October. 1924 Theme — Struggle In building transcontinental railway VALUE Photography — Superior — Schnelderman. Moral standard — Superior. Story — Masterful — Drama — Family. Author— Masterful — Rob. L. Stevenson. Cast — Superior — All-Star. Direction — Masterful — John Ford. Technique — Masterful. Spiritual Influence — Superior. Moral — Integrity, courage and stability. CAST Davy Brandon George O’Brien Miriam Marsh Madge Bellamy Corporal Casey _J. Farrell MacDonald Peter Jesson Cyril Chadwick Deroux Fred Kohler Producer — William Fox. Footage — About 11,000 feet. Distributor — William Fox. THE OPINION Bigger than "The Covered Wagon.” With the exception of the delightful comedy relief supplied by J. Farrell MacDonald, together with James Marcus. Francis Powers and others, every moment of the picture is filled with the spirit of the great struggle of strong men and strong minds blazing the trail of iron over difficult mountain passes and sweeping plains. They tell us the production has been three years in the making. It is easy to believe it. so carefully has every phase of the situation of the building of the transcontinental railway been covered. Each of the twenty-nine principal characters represented in the cast is an individual, separate and distinct. Scenes at the Capitol introduce a life-like portrayal of Abraham Lincoln by Charles Edward Bull. Spectacular scenes include the hauling of a locomotive over the mountains by probably twenty teams of horses, the arrival of two or three hundred head of cattle in charge of Buffalo Bill, attacks on the work trains by the Cheyenne Indians, vigorous fighting between the hero and the villain — in fact the picture is one thrill from beginning to end. Technical perfection and red-blooded action characterize a production that is threaded alike with romance, adventure and comedy. Exceptional human interest prevails throughout. A herd of buffalo being driven over the plains is a novelty. Cattle herd fording the river not as spectacular as the big scene in “Covered Wagon.” but picturesque and interesting. George O’Brien's performance as Davy Brandon is exceptionally vigorous and intelligent. THE STORY Robert Louis Stevenson’s story of the building of the transcontinental railway is interwoven with the romance and adventures of Davy Brandon, whose father was killed by a two-flngered man, at the head of a band of Cheyenne Indians. Davy meets his boyhood sweetheart, Miriam Marsh, whose father is In charge of construction work, and finds her engaged to one Jesson, a civil engineer, who is being bribed by the owner of the property in Smoky Bass to say there is no shorter cut over which the road may be laid. Davy, who has been shown a short cut by his father, is sent with Jesson to find it. Jesson cuts the rope by which Davy is suspended over a ravine, and believing him Does everyone who leaves your theatre receive an interesting and attractive piece of advertising aimed to BRING HIM BACK AGAIN?