The Film Renter and Moving Picture News (Jan-Feb 1923)

46 THE FILM RENTER & MOVING PICTURE. NEWS. REVIEW OF NEW PRODUCTIONS—Continued. entirely, and we are to assume that now all his influence is brought to bear to extricate the architect from his predicament. No other conclusion is possible, for when, having made his escape from the palace, in company with his lady friend and the princess whom they have rescued,-they are pursued by the prince and his men, all the luck is on the side of tho Englishman. The timely death (by suicide) of the princess brings the play to an end, andthe prince to his senses at the same time. The mausoleum is built, but it is now devoted to the more orthodox purpose of housing the dead rather than of entombing the living. The prince spends the rest of his life in repentance. The adulterer, it should be mentioned, meets the fate from which the lady was saved by Ramigani,. It is an odd blend of *t miracle and melodrama, and will not attract every kind of kinema-goer. But it should be seen, if only for the wonderful display of spaciousness and pomp which marks the scenic design. The acting calls for little remark, ‘as most people will be interested in the scenes and the settings rather than in the strange personages w ho move in and out among them. The Son of a Buccaneer. A ten-episode serial of ancient and modern niracy afloat and ashore. RELEASED BY GAUMONT. Length, Fwelve Two-reel Episodes.: Release Date, April 3, 1923. HE mere mention of the word ‘t huccanecr ”’ is sufficient to call up memories of the ‘‘ bloods ’’ of boyhood’s days, bought and devoured with intense eagerness. The serial picture which Gaumont trade screened to the fourth episode last week carries that tradition to the sercen in thorough style, and tho first three episodes which form a prologue of the seventeenth century period are simply filled with fights and duels and stabbings, and stringings up to the yard-arm, with every now and then the wholesale throwing overboard from the high poop of a pirate-ship of the bold, bad buceancers. This prologue, with its wickedness anid picturesque scttings, is but a preface to the more modern story of rascality, or, in other words, the modern story is the old buccanccring spirit interpreted in another realm, that of present-day finance and passion. The atmosphere is, of course, entirely different, notwithstanding the employment of the same actors both for prologue and the main story. M. Aime Simon-Gerard plays the part of the Breton pirate in the prologue and the son of the villain in the story. .-In the prologue. he has opportunities for ScExE From “ Tue Son or A BuccaNnerr.” February 30, 1923: the display of clever swordsmanship similar to that which he exhibited in ‘‘ The Three Musketeers,’ where he took the part of D’Artagnan. M. Biscot, whose quaint drollerics were such a feature of ‘‘ Parisette,’’ Gaumont’s last serial, made a very amusing ‘* innocent ’’ and poilu in the two sections, while Sandra Milowanoff, who took the title réle in ‘‘ Parisette,’’ is seen to advantage as the tavern-keeper’s daughter, and, later, takes the part of Josette Bertrand. The story concerns the activities of Malestan, ‘financier and free liver, who is suffering from his excesses. An attack by a man whom ho has wronged is deprived of fatal results by the return of his illegitimate son and his son’s mother, and Malestan, acknowledges his son and makes him his secretary. . The father’s operations, however, are not to the son’s liking, and he plans to frustrate them. But the father suspects Jacques and circumvents his scheme, and Jacques leaves his father’s employ. Malestan is engaged in the drug tyaffic and in blackmailing, and many are the adventures before Malestan is at last brought to justice, when Jacques and Josette marry. The story is linked with the prologue by the tracing of Malestan'’s ancestry to a pirate, who is secn in tho prologue engaged in a duel with the Breton pirate, so briskly played by M. Simon Gerard. The Picturesque adventure of the’ prologue section’ should’ whet an. appetite for -the ‘main story, which, ‘to jndge by Hepes 4, w ill maintain’ a hearty interest. Le > 2. A’ Rront Page Story. °* 7° New Baie sae with Tapa éhiaracters ‘and: : ‘Amusing tory... Se Eee “RELEASED BY. VITAGRAPH.. Length, 5,500 feet. | “Release Date, March 3, "1928. HE stubborn old characters of Mayer Gorham and Matt Hayward, and the bitterness of their petty feud, provide the starting point of the really good comedy which Vitagraph trade showed last weck, a comedy which is kept alive to the last foot. Funny as James Corrigan is as Matt Hayward, the old editor, Lloyd Ingraham’s Mayer Gorham is infinitely more comic as he glowers upon his victims with outthrust jaw, and will raise roars of laughter by this grimace alone. The story, as the title suggests, deals with newspaper life. Mayer Gorham ond Matt Hayward are daggers drawn, and the feud is intensified when Mussarotti Farm, which Gorham looks upon as a fine factory site, is boosted as an attractive position for a public park by Matt Hayward, editor of the ‘t Durstine Gazette."” Gorham sends an emissary at once to Mussarotti to obtain an option on the farm, but the Italian can only speak his own language, and the deat looks like becoming abortive, when along comes Rodney Marvin who can speak Italian. Marvin has learned of Gorham’s endeavour to over-reach the stubborn old editor, and when he hears that Gorham is the possible purchaser resolves to obtain the option himself, and deludes Gorham’s man. He buys the option for a hundred dollars, and sclls it to Gorham for five thousand, using the moncy to purchase back a bill of Hayward’s which Gorham.has secured, and is using threateningly, against the editor. Marvin uses the bill to obtain ao partnership in the newspaper firm, and sets to work to heal the feud, securing incidentally the hand of tho editor’s daughter (Edith Roberts). Some most comic business is introduced during the negotiations, and the means by which harmony is secured is full of amusing situations. ‘A Front Page Story ’’ is a comedy free from slapstick, but abundantly comic, and its reception should be o hearty one.