The Billboard 1923-12-08: Vol 35 Iss 15 (1923-12-08)

The Billboard 61 ¢ REVIEWS ‘By SHUMLIN “TO THE LADIES” A Paramount Picture You've got to hand it to James Cruze for his deft handling of comedies. In ‘*‘To the Ladies"’ be bas again taken a play that is difficult motion-picture material and turned out a fine piece of entertainment. It is intelligent comedy and will undoubtedly be most successful in the better theaters, but there is enough stuff in jit to please the masses also, altho perhaps not quite so completely. “To the Ladies’, as a stage play, was a most clever satire on the pretenses of “big business’’ men. Realizing that the masses do not understand subtle satire, Cruze has toned down that angle considerably and has devoted his energies to heightening the straight comedy. The picture has been staged sensibly and entirely in keeping with the story, There gre no unnecessary extravagant scenes. In fact, the picture has the appearance of following out Jesse Lasky'’s recently announced plans for “cheaper and petter’’ films, Edward Horten, Theodore Roberts, Helen Jerome Eddy and Louise Dresser are the featured members of the cast. Horton made his splotlight appearance in Cruze’s recent ‘‘Ruggles of Red Gap". As Leonard Beebe in ‘*To the Ladies'*—the colorless, personality-minus dub clever young wife wins success for him—Horton gives a performance that ranks with the best comedy work ever done on the has a great deal of the simple, direct methods of the late Sidney Drew. It would be a delight to see him in some of the two-reel domestic comedies that Drew used to turn out. Roberts is his usual self, cigar and all, with the ferocious gestures and the contradictory gentleness. Miss Eddy is splendid, and with Miss Dresser gives meaning to the title of the picture. The story of “To the Ladies” is with the ambitions of Leonard Beebe wife to gain whose screen. He concerned aod his for him the position of manager of the piano factory in which he is employed as office worker. The job is open and Beebe has competition for it in the persons of two co-workers, Chester Mullin, who is better fitted for the vaudeville stage, and Tom Baker, a bootlicking, yes-man, whose efforts to ingratiate himself with Old Man Kincaid, the president of the company, give bim an edge on the rece. Old Kincaid relies upon the astuteness of his wife to guide him in business and asks her to help select from the three men the one to fill the managership. ‘The signal she gives him when she wants to call bis attention to something is to make some remark about her handbag, Beebe is installation very of a downcast when Tom Baker’s freak electrically operated filing cabinet draws from the boss an invitation to the annual salesmen’s banquet. His wife encourages him, however, and advises him to blow his own horn more than he does. Consequently when Beebe returns to the office that day after lnnching and puts out a harmless little fire in the factory's stockroom he recalls the advice, builds a bigger fire, dirties up his face and hands, calls ‘“Fire’’ and puts it out. When the boss and others rush into the Toom Beebe pretends to be all in, and earns from Old Man Kincaid a thankful handshake and permission to go home for the afternoon to rest up. Kincaid also tells him to expect a visit in the evening from himself and his wife, Beebe rushes home all excited and he and wifey rush around fixing the place up for the visit from the boss. When they arrive, after making a good impression, everything is spoiled when men come to take away the piano, upon which a loan has been made, becanse Beebe has Neglected to pay up. But Mrs, Kincaid sympathizes with Mrs. Beebe, admiring the clever Manner in which she has overcome the mistakes made by Beebe, and the latter is also invited to the banquet. Beebe gets a book of after-dinner speeches and spends all his time learning one speech by heart. When the banquet takes place he is in a nervons sweat and completely collapses When bis rival, Baker, makes the very same speech that he has been studying. Poor Beebe ean think of nothing to say when he is called upon to speak. He can’t even move. But clever little wifey saves the day by stating that her husband has a sore throat and has asked her to declaim the speech he has written. Whereupon she delivers a talk that stops the show completely and Beebe gets all the credit for it. The next day Beebe is appointed manager and moves into the office next door to the toss. Wifey comes over to see him installed. Then Baker discovers that Beebe did not write the speech his wife made and tells Old Kincaid about it. Kineaid calls Beebe in, calls him down and takes the nanagership away from him, Then Mrs. Beebe pleads with the boss, but he is adamant, saying that a man should ot depend upon his wife or he isn’t a man, “THE MAILMAN” An F. B. O. Picture Emory Jobnson’s picture, should be a box-office winner, It is an exeeedingly entertaining melodrama, with a simple, direct story that will undoubtedly appeal to the moviegoers. It is much better than the average cheap melodrama, in that, altho a good deal of old-fashioned hokum is used, it has been directed with great skill. There is a large demand for the o!d-fashioned, tear-jerking and sympathy-compelling mellers, but most producers slap together a picture of this sort with so little care that they are frightfully crude and amateurish. Emory Johnson proves that it is possible to make a picture for the masses without offending the intelligence, “The Mailman’’ should make a lot of money. It is the kind of picture past performances have proved the public wants. And what the public wants it should get. Just because what the public wants are not plays that would appeal to people who enjoy Shaw oF Ibsen is no reason why intelligent directors should not make them. , An intelligent director has made “The Mailman’, and it will please the public much more than a stupidly dirécted meller such as Vitagraph’s ‘‘On the Banks of the Wabash”. Ralph Lewis, Johnnie Walker, Martha Sleeper, Virginia True Boardman, Dave Kirby, Josephine Adair, Taylor Graves and Hardee Kirkland are the featured members of the east. Lewis and Walker are the stars, and they play their parts with a wholesome sincerity that will be much admired. Lewis, especially, is very “The Mailman’, good indeed as the mailman. The story of the picture is a story of the loyalty of postal employees to their trust. Lewis, as Bob Morley, is a letter carrier who has spent most of his life in the service. His son, Johnnie, is also in the postal employ, as a night clerk at a branch postoffice in a California city. The Morley family, father, mother, son and a younger daughter, live in a small cottage next door to the home of Jack Morgan, a widower, with a son in the teens and a emall, crippled daughter. Since the death of his wife, Morgan has drifted into a life of crime, and his little daughter rarely sees him. One night Morgan breaks into the postoffice where young Morley is working and attacks him. His attempt to rob the office safe is frustrated when Pob Morley arrives from his mail collections. Morley recognizes Mor gan, but says nothing about it, not wishing to bring more unhappiness to his little crippled girl. For his bravery Johnnie Morley receives a promotion, being given a job as mail clerk on an ocean steamer. Morgan overhears Johnnie say that he will be in charge of registered mail valued ai over a million and plots to steal it. He is aided by a wealthy bootlegger, who has a fast yacht. The night the boat sails Morgan goes on hoard as a passenger, robs the mail, kills a ship officer who surprises him at his theft, and throws the valuable mail overboard in a specially prepared box equipped with clockwork, which automatically lights a beacon. Johnny struggles with him, but is overpowered and thrown overboard. Morgan throws suspicion on Johnnie. Johnnie ewims to the beacon-lighted box and is picked up with it by the bootlegger’s yacht. Thrown into a room next to the boat's wireless he succeeds in sending a message for help. A fleet of warships picks up the message and sets out for the yacht. When the yacht attempts to evade capture it is sunk most spectacularly by bombs from airplanes and shells and a torpedo from the warships. Johnnie is saved, however, and also the box containing the registered mail. He is arrested and charged with the theft of the mail and the murder of the ship's officer, Convicted, he is sentenced to be hanged. In the meantime the little crippled daughter of Morgan dies while writing a pathetic letter to her daddy, telling him that the ‘“‘postman gave her a doll.” Morley mails this letter to Morgan's hangout and the latter gets it just after being shot in another escapade. Feeling remorse, Morgan gathers bis remaining strength and goes to the island jail where Johnnie is imprisoned and is to be hanged at sunrise, He reaches there in time to confess to the crime and free Johnnie, whose father also arrives there just at sunrise after & dramatic attempt to have his son pardoned. Directed and produced by Emory Johnson. Distributed by Film Booking Offices of America. But just then Mrs. Kincaid enters, hears what her husband said and calls his attention to the fact that he owes his success to her common sense When Mrs. Reebe gets on to the handbag signal Old Kincaid reinstates her husband as manager on condition that she never says anything about how much he depends upon his wife. Direction by James Cruze. Scenario by Walter Woods, from the play by George S. Kaufman and Mare Connelly, Distributed by Famous Players-Lasky Corporation. “THE NEAR LADY” A Universal Picture This is a better than average program picture. It is a love story, with a large proportion of comedy of the variety that will undoubtedly appeal to the movie masses. Gladys Walton “is starred, with the supporting cast including Jerry Gendron, Harry Mann, Otis Harlan, Florence Drew, Emmett King, Henrietta Floyd and the emphatic Kate Price, bless her sturdy Irish physique. The picture tells the story of the romance of the newly rich Schult@’s daughter, ex-manicurist, and the ritzy son of the Van Bibbers, who seek new cash to bolster up their shrinking bapx account. Mr. Schultz has patented a new sausage machine and Mama Schultz, nee Bridget Mahaffey, steps into the high society game a la Mr. and Mrs. Jiggs. Nora, their pretty daughter, leaves her manicuring table in a refined barber shop for the study of the piano and the manners befitting a daughter of a millionaire. Basil Van Bibber has had his finger nails manicured by Nora, and she fell for him right away. Consequently, when the Schultz family meets the Van Bibbers everything looks lovely for her, especially when the Van Bibbers and the Schultzes decide that their offspring shall marry. Then follow a number of scenes showing the crude table manners and faux pas pulled by Mama and Papa Schultz, and the pipe-smoking proclivity of Bridget Schultz’s wizened old Aunt Maggie. When young Van Bibber gets blase and intimates that he is above marrying Nora she tells him that she has another sweetheart and suggests that they pretend to he engaged just to please their parents. They announce their engagement and Papa Schultz lends Van Bibber, Sr., the money he needs to pull him out of impending bankruptcy. Then follow a number of incidents in which Basil and Nora get to love one another, but pretend that they don’t. When Basil’s father tells him that he is financially o. k. once again and that he doesn’t have to marry Nora Schultz Basil stages a drunk scene and insults everybody when the two families are baving a dinner party in the country club so that Nora will have reason to break off the engagement. But she doesn’t break it off, and they both go out and get married. They come back to the club and surprise everybody by announcing their marriage, just at the moment when Schultz and Van Bibber, Sr., are at the point of blows and Mama Schultz and Mrs. Van Bibber are making nasty cracks to each other. Their arrival is the signal for the declaration of an armistice, and everything is lovely. Even tho “‘The Near Lady” is not a “‘spee cial’, it has been directed, acted and produced with @ degree of intelligence rare in program pictures and often missing in the $200,000 productions. It is a good picture. Direction by Herbert Blache, Universal Pictures Corp. “THE SATIN GIRL” A Grand-Asher Picture Distributed by Here is another inexpensive picture that is a fair buy for the smaller houses to which cheapness is important, but for any intelligent audience “The Satin Girl’ is bad medicine. It has a weak, improbable story, acted, with one exception, most execrably, and directed with the lack of intelligence and the crudity that might be expected from a truck driver. The one exception among the actors is Norman Kerry. His acting takes away a great deal of the bad taste that is caused by the stupid work of Mabel Forrest, who is starred, and Mare McDermott. If there is any other actress in the pictures with less right to bes starred than Miss Forrest it has been this reviewer's good fortune not to have come across her. She is utterly without the ability to express intelligently any emotion. Her performance gives the impression that she is being mechanically operated. The story of ‘“‘The Satin Girl” is credited to Adam Hull Shirk. It is astonishing that Mr. Shirk is not ashamed to allow his right name to be used as author. It is not a story. It is a ‘‘composition’’ such as a twelve-year-old boy might write in the lower grammar school grades. Mr. Shirk has taken the much-abused Trilby-Svengali plot and made of Trilby an unwilling thief, under the hypnotic power of a weird, unbelievable character such as fiction or the modern screen has never seen. The power of this man is so great over his victim that she does his bidding not only when he is near but when she is away from him for days at a time. You are asked to believe that a person under hypnotic influence will cunningly scheme and plot to avoid detection when miles away from the hypnotist. Prime fodder for the immature mind. Miss Forrest appears as Lenore Vance, the niece of an old miser, Silas Gregg, who is murdered by his brother, Fargo, for bis evil deeds. Fargo kidnaps Lenore, and, . apparently forgetting his philanthropic ideas in murdering Gregg, hypnotizes the girl into committing a series of spectacular thefts. Because she always wears satin, Lenore is known as the “satin girl’. After each theft she gives some poor family money and food. “FASHION ROW” A Metro Picture Mae Murray in one of her usual flamboyant. flashy pictures with her usual bombastic styl: of acting. “Fashion Row” has a fairly good story, altho nothing that hasn't been done many times be fore, but it has been padded most frightfully But since the padding is in the shape of mov ing-picturesque scenes, the unreal, highly deecorative stuff that is always found in the Ma: Murray pictures, it is to be expected that the public will eat it up. It is a genuine relief to report that Miss Murray has toned down her acting immensely, considering her epileptic contortions in ‘The French Doll’’. There is still plenty of her usual shoulder-shrugging and sffected gestures, however, so the public will be satisfied that she is still their ‘“‘little Mae’’, Supporting the star are Earle Fox, who ts quite good; Freeman Wood, Elmo Lincoln, Sidney Franklin, and, in a smali part, Craig siddle, the millionaire, who looks just like any other movie extra. Miss Murray plays two roles; in one of them she appears as a Russian actress who marries into society and pretends she is a Russian Princess, and in the other she is a simple, common Russian peasant, the sister of the actress. As the actress she is her usual wriggly self, but in the other part she gives a much quieter performance, working a great deal like Mary Pickford. The settings, “‘artistic’’ as can be, are hopeless exaggerations. One of them, especially, takes the cake: it shows the back-stage dressing rooms of a star. as being bigger and more commodious than the theater’s auditorium. The other settings are quite in keeping with this. The picture opens with a scene showing Olga Ferinova, the popular queen of tragedy of the New York stage, dying in the final scene of her play. In a box are Eric Van Corland, of the broad-a Van Corlands, who is fascinated by her, and his friend Jimmie Morton, who refuses to believe that Ferinova is a former Princess. But Eric, after several scenes, marries Ferinyr and takes her home to his mother. Mother acts frosty at first, but when she hears Ferino:a is a Princess she is quite satisfied with her new daughter-in-law. As a mater of f Ferinova is only a peasant who ran away f Russia and reached ‘“‘fame and fortune’. In series of chopped-up flashback, episodes from her past life are narrated showing her beinc beaten by her father because she refused to marry the man to whom he has sold her, and another scene, which is more important to the story, where, when dancing in a Russian cafe, she cut a man's face with a knife when he attacked her. In the meantime, as the comic-strip cartoonists put it, Olga’s sweet, innocent Hittle sister Zita is coming over from Russia in the steerage to find her. On shipboard she shows Olgs’s picture to Kaminoff, a burly Russtan ruffian, who is none other than the man whose face Olga slashed. He sees his chance to revenge himself. When they get to New York Kaminoff takes Zita to an East Side boarding house, where he gets her a job helping in a vegetable and delicatessen. Zita accidentally meets Olga, now Mrs. Van Corland, in the lobby of a fashionable hotel, where the little greenhorn has come to deliver some vodka to a customer of her employer. But Olga, who is with her motherin-law, disowns her, saying she does not know her. That night, while a costume party is going on at the Van Corland home, Kaminoff slips in, masked, and gives a note to Olga telling her to go to the East Side house, as her sister Zita is dangerously ill, Kaminoff then leaves, but Jimmie Morton sees him and follows him. When Olga gets there Kaminoff attacks her, but Jimmie fights with him. Kaminoff shoots and the bullet hits Olga. The arrive and kill Kaminoff. Olga dics in the arms of her husband, who followed her, after confessing she is not a Princess and telling her little sister to “always be sweet and innocent.” There is a happy ending, however, for Zita is adopted by Mrs, Van Corland and sent to a fashionable school, and then Jimmie Morton marries her. Direction by Robert Z. Leonard. Produced by Tiffany Productions, Inc. Distributed by Metro Pictures Corporation. police ——— She lives In Fargo’s home, in a Inxurious apartment over the dime-novely den in Fargo, with a corps of assistants distributed behind concealed doors, directs his dirty Doors open and shut at Fargo’s slightest gesture. He is a mental All he has to do to gain control over Lenore is to fix his eyes upon her, which work marvel Kerry plays Dr. Taunton, a young, wealthy physician, who is most inclined. He fis a guest at a party given at the home of a wealthy woman, where he meets Lenore, also a guest. Detectives guard the home, fearing a visit from the satin girl. She steals a diamond necklace right off the throat of the hostess and gets away with it the next day. Her next job is the theft of a valuable (Continued on page 62) charitably 4 af ft i ee a 8 ——w——_C9 HA,