The Billboard 1917-06-16: Vol 29 Iss 24 (1917-06-16)

“ JUNE 16, 1917 The Billboard the daily press is not far from right in its comments, The fact is that Poppy is the best thing Norma Talmadge has done, and it shows her tremendously youthful and expressive face at its best. As a little girl she is a little girl— an accomplishment which not every ingerme is capable of, and as a young woman she is as clever an actress as we have today. With such capable direction and camera work as Poppy has to its credit the film fs, as one enthusiastic reviewer remarked, ‘‘worthy of any price its managers choose to ask.” Poppy has a_ faint, elusive, indefinable smutty thread, which weaves in and out that keeps it from being truly great. Both Miss ‘Talmadge’s work and that of her supporting cast is equal to the task of getting by without it, and to soil an otherwise grade A film with it is as much a sin as deliberately nicking delicate china. Poppy is brought up away from the world and is blocked by a jealous guardian from knowing people and things. Her maidenly innocence flees with her meeting of a neighbor— a good-looking young man, who is delirious with fever and who, with his return to health, has no memory of his exploits except as a dream. An illegitimate child smudges the film with a sort of inoffensive salaciousness, which is being smeared thru some fifty per cent or more of the present output of films, The consequent meeting with the father of her child and their happiness when he realizes his responsibility make up a sketch of the plot, which is not, as is easily apparent, exempt from twisted morals.—L. H. FRECKLES Five-part Lasky-Paramount, released May 28. THE CAST: John Mclean...........++....Hobart Bosworth The Bird Woman...........:. Lillian Leighton Angel of the Swamp............... Louise Huff DUCED ce ccoccdccdessiicsve .+»Jack Pickford p ererery skews tnesade’e Marion Fairfax DOseCOP coc ccccs entepeensuous Marshall Neilan A dainty, simple, attractive story has been made from Gene Stratton Porter's tale of the Limberlost region bound around the one-armed little Boy, so charmcteristically played by Mary’s brother, Jack Pickford, The scenery is everything that the author in her original conception could have imagined. The uneventful, but human, story loses the charm of language, but gains reality and brings to films a dramatization of a popular book and a vehicle for the male of the Pickford species, who is gathering together quite a satisfactory following with the same old trade mark smile. Freckles will be a popular Paramount.—L. H. —_ PARENTAGE Seven-reel feature film, handled for State-rights release by Frank J. Seng, 610 Times Bldg., New York City. THE CAST: ee -+++.Willlam Welsh Be Pi ascasecs coccsasceccceceAe Star WOR Gi cciciccscntsicnnss SY Ee TE, TMS oeddnceccucakaanpeckeaans Mary Grey Horace Brown....... ..-Master Matty Roubert Horace Brown..................Gilbert Rooney MeemNS CT, Bika icin desc ktees Frank Goyette Agnes Melton....... o++--+----Alois Alexander Agnes Melton...............Barbara Castleton Samuel Melton....... eeceeeeeeW. De Shields Me dececenasicesttas ....Alice Wilson Rebert Get Biscsecestcas ..-Hobart Henley REED cvtaseestnets odes te tb cégaciade -Martin G. Chandler and ‘Hobart Henley Director sieKa Srakteteeate cosccceee MP, Henley Parentage is clean. Parentage is charming. Parentage is entertaining. Parentage is a character study of types found in any of the thousands of small towns in America, with a delicately veiled preachment attached, but inoffensive in its pedantry be PATRONIZE——— ATLANTA, GEORGIA. MOTION PICTURE SALES COMPANY Dept. B. B., 537 So. Dearborn St., Chicago, Iilinols. address A. L. HOWE, care the SPECIAL STAGE SETTING picture THEATRE FOR SALE CHEAP Never used. Will fit an o openien from 36 to 42 ft. in width. ew York Studios, Times Bidg., New York, N. Y. ‘or particulars | ble everyday life. cause it is dressed in the fun and pathos of every-day life. Hobart Henley and his colleagues have made one of the warmest films on the market; made it so it reflects the big thoughts they have tried to convey and yet have made it simply and put it jnto monosyllables, There ts nothing pretentious in the way of scenery or costumes. The focus has caught the commonest incidents of small-town life and enlarged them into character study of immense proportions, Into a happy home a little boy baby comes, welcomed, loved and guided. Into a cold shell of a home comes another baby boy, shunned by its father, seeing the unbeautiful side of existence and growing into manhood with the warped vision of his unhappy childhood, Not a little of the film is given entirely over to showing the childhood of the youngsters of the village, proving that the basis of character is already Jaid when manhood is reached and actual work in the world of affairs begins. The same two boys in their manhood display the qualities which the environment and the heredity over which they held no control gave them in the early years, emphasized in the opening reels of the film. The story itself is interesting only for its revelations of the mental manipulations of the boys. Any story with the same intent would have suited just as well. There are dozens of close-ups, which are admirably timed to catch shades of thought— particularly excellent in the children. There is the gentle fun of the youngsters’ naughtiness and human touches thruout which make it as sure an investment as a gold mine. With its limited small-town vision it is broad, and with its circumscribed outlook it is as wide as the world, because the world knows nothing vaster than developing childhood.—L. H. THE SUBMARINE EYE Six-part spectacle of undersea photography, produced by the Williamson Brothers. Prerelease showing at the Liberty Theater, New York City. THE CAST: John Fulton........+..-.++...-Chester Barnett Captain Bob............+-+++....-Lindsay Hall FO EMG. cc ccccceccecscescess. CD Bee Dorothy Morgan..............Barbara Tennant Cyrus Morgan. ............-+..-Charles Slattery Earl of Linwood.........+...-...-Eric Mayne Murphy, a sea diver............. Edward Butler Marcel Lapin......... seeceeeeesFred Radcliffe Denis De Fontenelle..............Lillian Cook Her father...........+.. (e@acdeuades E. Hudson When the two Williamson Brothers produced 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea they demonstrated conclusively the possibilities of their invention to photograph the depths of the ocean. It was freely predicted the acme of perfection in this art had been reached. But in their latest feature, The Submarine Eye, the Williamsons have not only astounded themselves, but the entire motion picture industry. A scientific achievement best describes this fascinating photodrama, because it is more than a motion picture. It is a real romance of the sea, with unheard of or undreamt of mysteries of the ocean's depth revealed thru the medium of the camera. The Submarine Eye is without a question the greatest film of its nature ever produced. It is without a flaw; it grips and thrills, it pleases and satisfies. It should prove a box-office magnet of the highest caliber, Exhibitors who fail to book it are not playing fair with themselves or their patrons, Not only is the photography far advanced over the previous submarine picture, but the story interwoven is so convincingly true to life that aside frem the remarkable undersea views, obtained by means of an inverted periscope, it provides a clean, wholesome evening's entertainment, As a forerunner to the main picture there is visualized a scene on the ocean floor, depicting a death struggle between two rival divers, each seeking wealth from the recesses of the deep. The main story does not depend upon an imaginary theme, but resorts to posstIt tells the story of Mons. when De Fontenelle, who becomes incensed ‘he learns that his prospective son-in-law, Lapin, had insulted the family name while intoxicated, and as punishment forcibly takes him to an uninhabited island, leaving him and his wealth to perish. Years later the chest is found by Captain, Bob, only to be lost at sea. Jahn Fulton, who has just invented an inverted periscope, enlists the financial support of Dorothy Morgan and her father, and they go to search for the lost treasure. The chest is located, but the hired diver refuses to descend because of sharks. Fulton takes his place. While examining the contents of the chest the door slams shut and beth his hands are caught, imprisoning him fathoms below the ocean’s surface. Dorothy finally affects his rescue thru the aid of a pearl diver, who barely escapes a fight with a man-eating shark. Thruout the entire production there are introduced thrills sufficient to satisfy even the most blase of picture fans. The Submarine Eye stands in q class by itself as an unusual production, and the Williamson Brothers, together with J. Ernest Shipman, who wrote the story, and Winthrop Kelly, director, and Harold Sintzenich, cameraman, are deserving of every vestige of praise.—J. E. THE QUESTION Five-reel Vitagraph feature, for release June 11. THE CAST: John Stedman............++......Harry Morey Martha Wainwright............... Alice Joyce Be. TRE hes ceecedvccs ++...--Charles (Kent Bie GHGs cc cccececss «.---Gladden James Helen Watnwright.......... ...-Amy Remley Rev. Nathaniel Wainwright.......... Ed Davis Rundel’s Servant.............. Mr. Wangaman ereere osccde ...-Lawrence McCloskey DG; césvisccese pbhdeonae Perry N. Vekroff A darkly hued smut film clamors for excuse in the fact that it is a dream, but for four reels and three-quarters no one knows that the indigo action is a figment of a sleeping man’s mind, so the mischief is done, and the moral ta¢ked on to the end is dragged in by the hind heels in order to smear with virtue the suggestiveness which has ruled thruout. The question of The Question is whether or not the man and the young woman, so admirably portrayed by the charmingly chastelooking Miss Joyce and the powerfu] and also chaste-looking Mr. Morey, have sufficient grounds for wandering from the straight and narrow path of sinless sanctity. They think they have. The audience appeal is with them. Thereby does the film create the impression which will linger on unschooled minds that there is sacrificial glory in disregarding the fiat of the seventh commandment and passing up matrimony if the objections to it are sufficiently strong from outside sources, The story goes that an old scientist has worked all of his life in research work, and in his old age has one ambition, to have a young assistant whom he is very fond of succeed him and finish his discoveries. His will reads that the wonderful notes which are to do so much good to humanity shall not be turned over to the young man until he has pledged not to marry, as a means of securing better attention to his duties, The will broke rudely into a romance the assistant was carrying on, and, while it was obeyed in letter, it was not obeyed either in spirit or in actuality, with the result that the film is sexy because it has nothing else but that idea to rest upon. To say that it was well done is, however, due it in fairness. It was. Very.—L. H. THE FIELD OF HONOR Five-reel Universal-Butterfly, for release June 11. THE CAST: Wade Clayton.................-Allen Holubar Laura Baring..... cccccccccccesoehne Levely George Baring.................+.M. K, Wilson Corporal Poole...........+....+++-Sidney Dean Wietew TORN. ccucdnsecececcasicen Frankte Lee Mrs, Sheldon..... Sdeccesceccsess Helen Wright EOWGGP .ccces eeeeeeeeeess++Frank MacQuarrie BMUREP cccccces obedeeaéscscend Brand Whitlock Scenario ...... ccceccecccceccccceh do CHRWEER eee Seneneceeuans Allen Holubar A romance of the Civil War days, costumed in the 1861 period, with a plot woven about the heart interest of the War of the Rebellion, gives Universal a chance to use a number of excellent battle scenes, as well as to present a bit of human sorrow. The quaintly dressed children are charming, and Louise Lovely, in her wide skirts and toque hats, lives up to her name. Allen Holubar, in the leading male role, is required to do only straight hero work, but he does it convincingly. The villain, whose villainy is chiefly that of physical fear of battle, which, tho it has not been explained by scientists as not being cowardice, leaves such a bad taste no explanation would absolve him. A particularly good sunshine-rays effect is a feature of one of the battle scenes. The Field of Honor has for its heroine a spoiled and net overthoughtful girl, whose mother insists on her marriage with a man she does not love. The war brings out his weak ness, Hated and left a slacker on the battlefield, he is supposed to be dead, but in reality has never had the nerve to face the young wife he left when enlistment took him away. The man who held the secret of his cow ardice, concealing it from the wife, had loved in a losing game, continued to shield her from the knowledge, even when he returned from his seven years in Peru, where he had been hiding. Death by suicide takes the shell of a husband from his constant fear of returning to ostracism by his friends, and the path for happiness is swept clean of obstacles.—L. H. that whom he BIRTH CONTROL SHOWN New York, June 9.—In the Supreme Court Wednesday Justice Nathan Bijur enjoined License Commissioner Bell from interfering in the showing of Mrs. Margaret Sanger’s motion picture, Birth Control. GOLDFISH DESCRIBES PLAN OF GOLDWYN PRODUCTIONS (Continued from page 58) of the distinctive public and private places In America’s great cities. This accounts for our getting Hugo Ballin, Everett Shinn and William H. Cotton into the Goldwyn producing organization. They began by applying their artistic skill to our settings and quickly developed into directors of pictures, They, together with other associated men and women, have given our pictures an air of distinction and novelty. “Experts in stage lighting, working with the lighting experts of the screen, have brought new and undreamed of effects to our productions. We have sought technical and mechanical ability persistently and our photographic departments have revealed to us that the fleld of the camera is filled with possibilities almost beyond present conception. “T have always resented the attitude of ¢ontempt with which motion picture professionals regarded American authors. Obviously, so long as an attitude of that sort was maintained, little help could be expected from the distinguished writers of the country. It was our original thought that the authors with whom we dealt should play an active part in the making of their pictures by Goldwyn. We have carried this thought out in practice. With us the author is consulted about and works on every detail of the picturizing of his story or play. His contact does not cease until he has helped eut, assemble and title his own work. In our studios Edgar Selwyn, Margaret Mayo, Irvin S. Cobb, Roi Cooper Megrue and other authors devote days of their time to this work, neglecting new creative work for the time being to make their former successes have the same degree of finish on the screen as they had on the stage. “All of these things constitute the ‘new idea’ in the production of motion pictures. We do pot minimize the star—we make her bigger, better, abler than it would be possible for her to be with a poor story perfunctorily directed and mounted. Made with such intelligent effort and industry I think Goldwyn has not taken merely the next step ahead in the screen art, but the next four or five steps, and we expect to go still farther because we are permitting well-balanced brains to exercise their proper function of thinking.’’ FRANCES BURNHAM Miss Burnham is being featured in ° guns sea story. which Henry Otto is directing t f : i i * | hag ITE RC ER Ty ET a