The Film Renter and Moving Picture News (Mar-Apr 1923)

-March 24, 1923. w Productions. W eer’ s Pictures. 14 The Further Adventures of Sherlock | Holmes Eille Norwood in the title réle of three of Conan Doyle's best-known stories. RELEASED BY STOLL. Length, Two Reels Each. Release Date, April 9, 1928. O those who seized upon Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes TT stories years ago when they were appearing month by month in the pages of the ‘‘ Strand Magazine,’ there was something attractive in the trade showing on Monday last of threa episodes of ‘‘ The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,"’ which Stoll’s screened ot the Shaftesbury Pavilion. The: three pictures shown were varied as to their subject, the racing story of *‘ Silver Blaze,’’ the haunting mystery of ‘‘ The Speckled Band,’’ and the more straightforward, though cleverly-planned, tale of ‘' The Gloria Scott,’’ being the stories screened. An old reader of the stories attends such a trade show in 4 mood of expectancy, hoping to capture again, through the medium of the screen, something of the absorbing interest and sustuined wonderment experienced when the stories first made their appearancé on the printed pages. Such a mood is perhaps unfair to the pictures, and accounts in. some way for the slight disappointment which the first two pictures produced. Taken as a whole, ‘' Silver Blaze "’ was the better of the two, and its racing scene—as all racing scenes do—introduces a heightened interest. The story concerns the death of the trainer of ‘' Silver Blaze,’’ and the disappearance of the horse, produced again in time for the race, which he wins. The dramatic moment comes when Sherlock Holmes announces that the murderer of Straker is the horse, which, conscious of the trainer’s evil intentions towards him, has killed him with a kick. The earlier scenes of ‘‘ The Speckled Band ’’ lacks the tenseness which the story might be expected to express, and it is only upon the entry of the speckled band—the swamp adder—_. slithering down the bell-rope that the story’s fascination is revealed.’ In the later stages the writhing reptile continues the ,uncanniness, and the weird fascination of the story, the picture being much more tense at the end than at the beginning. The finest scene in the ‘* Gloria Scott ”’ is that of the hold of the convict ship, a scene upon which George Ridgewell deserves congratulation. Unfortunately, for purposes of presentation on the screen, he has been obliged to place the voyage of the ship in 1875, and convict ships were abolished long before that time. The story, however, gives good cpportunity for the introduction of vigorous treatment in the fight on the ‘* Gloria Scott,’’ and, as a whole, the story does well. Throughout, Hille Norwood looks the part of the great detective,. although at times moving with an alacrity not usually associated with the sleuthlike character. His acting is always sincere and convincing. Other characters were adequately interpreted without bearing much that was distinctive. There should be a welcoming public for these pictures for their old fame and for the attempt to present them pictorially in the manner with which patrons are familiar. In particular, those exhibitors who have screened the two previous series can book the present Holmes pictures with confidence, as they are well up to the standard Stoll’s have given us before. — THE FILM RENTER & MOVING PICTURE NEWS. 37 ~ wa aie ; a ia ScENE FROM ONE OF THE NEW SHERLOCK HoLMES ADVENTURES. The Outcast. ’ Paramount Picture, which improves as it proceeds RELEASED BY FAMOUS-LASKY. . Length, Six Reels.’ Release Date, Not Yet Fixed. HE third of Famous-Lasky’s new program, ‘‘ The Outcaet,”’ is a picture which attempts to tell a very difficult story, with results that will probably be judged by different standards. It looks rather as though in its American form it had ‘a story which required to be modified to suit the British public, and has suffered in the process. The situations in which the girl finds herself, too, are such as may not appear strange to American eyes, although here they are not so easily explained. For instance, when Miriam Moore finds herself in dire poverty with her baby dead and she deserted, she quite readily responds to the casual invitation of a friend of Geoffrey Sherwood’s to enter the latter’s house and spend part of the evening there. Again the sub-titles represent her as becoming Geoffrey’s partner in business, and making a fortune for him, but she is never shown as in his office, and her residence in a rather expensive suite of rooms suggests that she has become his mistress. When Miriam is invited to the apartment she finds Geoffrey in a dejected mood because of his sweetheart’s marriage. The girl he loved and expected to marry, Valentine, had married John Moreland, a rich but elderly man. This blow had driven Geoffrey to, excessive drinking, and it is into such an atmosphere that Miriam is invited. By showing Geoffrey that his plight ‘is not as bad as hers, Miriam excites his curiosity and sympathy. a | aa ‘ Hi dee feud an ScENE From ‘' THE Ovrtcast,”’