Variety (May 1918)

30 MOVING PICTURES 1 -^ PEG OF THE PIRATES. A Fox release, with Peggy Hyland starred. The Fox people must have their film »«<»• •need gauged to a low mentality to send this film on generu 1 distribution rather than to have shelved it. Although at times it sug- gests that Fox may have originally Intended this "drama" of pirates for a comedy re- lease, th*n changed about on It, trying ror a straight picture, and again switching to com- edy, but alwuys comedy without a laugh and drama without any but laughable dramatics. Even the captions which try to be funny now and then are as woefully sad as the remainder. Ifb not wholly the fault of the scenario, but arises with the acceptor of It for Fox. then the director and lastly the players. The whole thing Is wrong. Inane and often ludi- crous. It has the swash buckling rum drink- ing pirate of the old brig days, with the pirates made up to look like the low come- dluna of burlesque shows. The film commences with a love story, witn Peg under command of her father bethrothed to one and loving another. The one cast off finally reaches her in another sailing ship, after his valiant crew has been defeated by the pirate gang of less than half the num- ber, according to view* shown of both. But that was nothing at all alongside or Pea beating the pirate chief into insensibility by hjttlng him twice upon the shoulder. It was very considerate of Peg, but maybe the pirates carried their brains there In those days. There are scenes of Peg feigning death, ghostly talk and maneuvers and Peg carried to a hut on a deserted Island, where through working upon the superstitions of the pirates she forced then to become her pupils at an Imma- ture school, teaching them "words," and these scenes are sickening In their creation for a picture supposed to be a picture. "Peg of the Pirates" may be classed as about the poorest regular release shown anywhere around New York In months. Sime. PAY DAY. "Pay Day" Is an odd picture and off-hand one would decide it is a bad picture. But there m«y h* «mona the Sidney Drews' fol- lowing many who will like Mr. and Mrs. Drew in this ridiculed melodrama. Personally neither one of the couple fit the principal roles they are in. Perhaps nowhere before in plcturedom has a melodrama been attacked In the manner that Is employed In the "Pay Day" feature. It Is the screen version of the play. Mr. and Mrs. Drew are credited with having adapted and directed It. Tom Brett Ib mentioned as having written the captions. The captions pan the play. They poke fun at it. they scoff. Jeer and lambaste it, in between and while the action is going on, but the players take it seriously enough. It's a Metro feature. A guess would say that after the film had been made someone decided It would never do for the Drews, and a bright mind suggested the method adopted. It would have been a splendid scheme, if per- haps thought of before and not after the picture had been finished. Now It jars, this comedy element in captioned dialog against the straight dramatics called for In the play. Mr. Brett started in with high-brow cap- tions, a few subtle bits that provoked the best humor of them all, but this, too, appears to have been changed, for almost immediately after, the caption writer goes In for broad and ofttlmes coarse comedy, falling to secure any result In laughter excepting for one reading notice that spoke about a wife having an Iceman for an ancestor. The film Is made ^Ulte intimate opening and closing, with a piece tacked on at both ends, showing the Drews in their study. Mrs. Drew Insists upon ■he and her husband trying "Pay Day" for the films. He objects, saying the public won't accept them In the drama, they want them In comedy. Mrs. Drew hands her husband the script for "Pay Day." He tosses it in the air and the film version of the piece then commences. At the finish the same couple are shown In the same set. Mr. Drew having finished reading the play when Mr. Rowland of the Metro callB him up. A scene showing the Metro executive office Is displayed with Mr. Rowland there, also Mr. Bngel (Joe) also nearby. The caption says you can tell them apart because Mr. Engel Is the one with the hair on his head. Another menns of Identifi- cation was Rowland smoking a cigar and Engel a cigarette. Mr. Rowland persuades Drew to go Into the picture, because Mary Pick ford geta $:ttX>,- (MK), but whether for one picture or one year the caption didn't mention. That $.'100,000 Is quite enough to flash upon n picture house screen. No explanation could help It. The Drews accept, and the picture closes, al- though the play itself had already been flashed upon the screen. "ray Pay" Itself wouldn't carry far. and whether the Drews will hold It up remains to he soon. The net total on the present scheme Ih cpiite Hinall, but there may be ex- cuses for that. Still the chances aro a cap- tion writer who could Htand off a melodrama with eno'.iKh liHU'hs tn make It a comedy would demand a price equal to what he thought he might win by authoring a auecessful bonk of the spoken play requiring comedy talk. This may suggest to Metro, however, that if they will travesty a melodrama on the screen, with captions that will then blend more easily than those in "Pay Day" could (even If they were worth laughing at), the result may he a worth-while comedy feature. That feature though, will need no stars. "Pay Day." as a picture, only has the Drews. ,Si'»/e. A MIDNIGHT MADNESS. "A Midnight Madness" bears the Bluebird label or the Inlversal. with Ruth Clifford the principal feminine player. Rupert Julian Is the accredited director. After looking this one over and then drawing a mental com- parison with Julian's "The Beast of Berlin." one wonders If Julian really had much to do with tho general staging of the Bluebird special. If he did pay close attention then he had a mighty poor scenario, for it does not work with the Bmoothness and dispatch that Home or Julian's recent pictures do. "A Mid- night Madness" is away below the Julian standard. There Is every effort to make It as mys- terious as mysterious can be, but the attempt is «o palpably off color that It falls to hold the consistent tension aimed for by the story and director. A Mysterious Mr. Tiller does a lone wolf stunt In running down a gang of thieves and returning a brace of jewels to an Italian count, and the way he is close to the jaws of death and escapes is not even told in the picture. Tiller bears a charmed life and performs some miracles, according to one's Imagine* tlon, and not ouly wins a girl who is en- meshed by the band, but returns the bag of glittering glitters without a scratch on his fair skin. The picture looks like one of the first made by the U factory and had been held on the shelf for a long time until its present release could be set. At the theatre where this film was seen, a woman sitting in the row Just behind made several passing remarks to her male com- panion which just about sensed the whole thing. "Somebody tried hard to make this -o mysterious that the mystery was lost somewhere. . . . how did Tiller get out of the dungeon in the old church? . . . there is no sense to the way the thing jumps . . . an amateur Hawkahaw is that boy (meaning Tiller), etcetera." When folks find time to fire such criticism then there is a shoe loose somewhere In the general production. The principals seem lost at times for the want of something to do, and one big climax is about to Snow soma regulation speed when an old magical stunt Is worked up so preposterously that the theme skidded and threshed around until ".to" was finally written by the script. "A Midnight Madness" is a fair feature, perhaps best used as a filler but lacking the b. o. strength to carry it alone as the "day's big feature." ,\v.-v.v BARBARA CASTLETON IN U Vengeance «* cast including MADGE EVANS CEOROE MACQJUARRIE and LOUISE VALE Dir«ct*<X t*y TQAVEQS VALE MOTION PICTURE NEWS: "Lavishly produced Plentiful supply of incidents." MOVING PICTURE WORLD: " Entertaining Well- rounded story .... Action flows smoothly." EXHIBITORS HERALD: "Out-of-the-ordinary picture, one that should immediately at- tract and hold interest." SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Exceptionally good cast. << ft * ' " ■ i .•.VAV.'.V ^vivXviv • ■ ————.