Variety (March 1921)

^ 40 PICTURES Friday, March 4, 1M1 : ^ "WITCHING HOUR" lick BrookAeld Elliott Deztar iudg* Prentice Winter Halt v'lola Campbell Ruth Henlck Frank Hardmuth Robert Cain i'lay Whipple Bdward Sutherland Helen Whipple ** Mary Alden Low ElllnK.r Fred Turner Mra. Campbell Genevieve lillnn Tom Donning Charles West Judge Ht-n.l.THon L. M. Welle ''olonel Bailey ....Clarence Qeldart llarrey Jim Black welt The William D. Taylor produc- tion of Augustus Thomas' play presented by Jesse Lasky vU Put*, mount Is not an especially happy translation from stage to screen. It is current this week at the Rialto. It is a painstaking effort In adapta- tion and as far aa it closely follows the spoken play is understandable. But when the translator tries to interpolate touches of characteristic film comedy the effect Is not good. The play managed to cover up the newspaper exposure of the vengeful district attorney by Brook- field without going into details, out the screen must be very literal about it, filming the very news- paper text, headline and all. The newspaper that printed such an item as the one Mr. Taylor shows would have its editor in jail in half an hour, and the man who wrote the headline would have been fired "pronto" or sooner. Mr. Thomas used to be a practical newspaper man in New York. He never would have allowed such a faux pas. However, that's but a trifling de- tail. H More serious was the interpolated bit of having Lew Ellinger, pre- sumably a person of some rank in the community and a white man, engage in a game of craps with a group of darky boy ragamuffins. The film people seem to be held in no restraint by any laws of proba- bilities. The crap incident struck someone as a comedy point and they went to it without reserve of good sense or good taste. The story doesn't lend itself to picturizatlon anyhow. There is too much explaining to do. That was a defect in the play. It was all argument and not much action as It was played on the stage, even with all the aids of dialogue. On the screen the task of covering the abstract subject of "mental tele- pathy" upon which the whole talc hangs is beyond the power of printed titles, be they ever so skil- fully devised. It took all the art of Thomas, who had dramatic tech- nique at his finger ends, to reconcile so intangible a theory to stage ex- pression. Without the illusion of living, speaking actors the screen story is not convincing. although the players who interpret the screen version are uncomonly sincere and genuine. Elliott Dexter was es- pecially fitted to play the pictur- esque gambler, Jack Brookfield. It gave him opportunity for portray- ing a clear cut, intellectual hero, for which he is equipped in appearance, and n certain quiet diignity of method. Winter Hall, as Judge Prentice, gave the part the touch of distinc- tion in Just the right shade of na- tural poise and forcefulness. The character stood out clearly, the actor was concealed. Few screen players have the nice judgment to get this effect.. Ruth Renick was a pretty heroine, therein fulfilling her entire obligation. Clay and Hardmuth were picked with a sure eye. The latter is an unsympa- thetic role and Robert Cain drew it appropriately. Clay, in the hands of Edward Sutherland, was per- haps a little too much the imma- ture weakling, but probably that was the effect aimed at. Added to the crap game and the newspaper passages, the filming of a negro cakewalk scarcely seemed to be in the atmosphere of the story, given as it was with such strong emphasis. Here again the director was led astray In his effort to injeet comedy interludes in a story which should not for a mo- ment be permitted to relax in its tension. They had much better have stuck to the Thomas text. That at least had consistent dra- matic values, whatever may be said for its plausibility, a subject that provoked wide debate when it was presented more than a decade ago on Broadway. In a faultless stage presentation the story was not too convincing. As a silent drama it la doubly hard to swallow. RusK THE CONCERT Augustus Lewta 8. Stone Mary, his wife Myrtle Steadman £«■•„ Hurt Raymond Hatton DHj.blne, his wife Mabel Julienne Scott g™; Gertrude Astor Foiling Russ Powetl •ire. I'ollinger. Lydia Yeumans Tkus "The Concert" is a Ooldwyn prod- uct, last week's feature at the Capitol. It is a debased version of the stage play of the same name done in a dainty spirit of high comedy by L,eo Ditrlchstein as I* vehicle In the theatre of spoken plays, but. here degraded to the cheapest sort of stiggestiveness to catch the neighborhood "shock absorbers." The scenes are bad enough and the coarse displays of undressed women worse, but the titles have disagreeable quality of 'smart'* cynicism that is utterly degrading. INobody appears to hare told the producer that there are censorship measures pending in 36 legislatures in the United States. A sample of titling in this gem (which deals with the attitude of the girl who is about to write an anonymous letter to an injured husband): "None are so moral as those who are prevented from be- ing immoral." That aweet senti- ment la repeated a score of times. Spoken on the stage with all the pa*liat'ng circumstances of shaded voice inflection and gesture these things might be endurable, but in staricg print they have no excuse. The whole thing bears the same resemblance to the play as would a deft French Innuendo, translated into Ninth avenue barroom ver- nacular. This la not reading an evil meaning into what might have been intended as a mere comedy entanglement. The man who made the picture read the nasty slant into the story that could easily have been told without offense. That bathroom episode proves the pur- pose of the whole wretched affair. Tho woman had written a note in- forming the supposedly wronged husband that his wife had fled with the musician. In the morning she (the writer) became frightened at the possible consequences of her act, but this thought did not strike her until she was in her bath tub. And the incident is shown with all the literalness of a plump young wo- man in a bath tub. What the di- rector or scenario writer or who- ever was responsible for the pic- ture wanted was not a scene to make clear the essential fact that the girl regretted writing the letter. What he "/anted was a startling revelation of a woman taking a bath, and that's what he got with all It implies. The intent is the whole point. It is the same in the scene at the log cabin In the woods where the musician and the flirtatious wife make their rendexvous. The wife goes into the bedroom to change her clothes. Such a detail might have been managed with seemliness, but instead the thing is done with a wealth of detail and elaboration of lingerie that is all to the Polly Hy- man. The figures on the screen made the situation sizzle sufficient- ly, but the leering inference bluntly emphasized by those nasty, cross- eyed titles were insufferable. • It was plenty bad enough to offer a picture which degraded practi- cally every woman in it without adding those printed aggravatiQns. The picture is riddled with faulty direction. The only man in the story drawn as a real human being Is a scientist. Imagine a scientist who wears a Norfolk jacket and belted in the back and wears it in his study. Raymond Hatton played the part of Dr. Hart. He was sup- posed to be a smooth, clever In- triguer. The best he succeeded in getting over was an Impression of being boisterously "fresh." Ru*K Armstrong, secretary of the late Captain Larsen. Yal dives off the ship into San Francisco Bay, gets aboard a fishing boat and arrives back in town in time to be married. He is a bare- foot bridegroom. Subsequently Armstrong's duplicity is revealed and Hulda, whom Yal believed to be double-crossing him, confesses she has been made sole heir to the es- tate of LarBen. The interest in the story la well sustained and the narrative well told. OFFSHORE PIRATE. Ardita Parnam. Viola Dana Toby Moreland Jack Mulhall Uncle John Farnaro Bdward Jobaon Ivan Nuvkova Edward Cecil "The Offshore Pirate" will not be set down as one of Viola Dana's best, although it is an adaptation of a "Saturday Evening Post" story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The director, Dallas M. Fitzgerald, has tried to do something with it, but the story is too frivously fragile for a five-reel production. It is one of those hidden identity yarns—hero posing as a daring criminal in order to win heroine— which was done so strikingly well in "The Mark of Zorro." There real purpose motivated, but here the author has only a "cute" piece of fluff. Miss Dana is pretty and vivacious, wears some nice fluffy dresses and is stunning in her close-ups. Jack Mulhall Is an agreeable hero. The director has done well with his lightings and composition, but the outstanding feature of the film, all things considered, is the snappy style of title used. These may have been used to save the picture, but there was not enough solid matter Involved to make the attempt rescue a worth-while undertaking. The best portions of the picture are^those where six black aces, first introduced as jazz band players, ap- pear aboard the yacht of the hero- ine and, after some rough battling, engage the white sailors in a con- test of skill with "Mississippi mar- bles." This crap game, in its va- riations, is good. *•* GUILE OF WOMEN. y a l Will Rogers Hulda Mary Warren Skole Bert Sprotte Armstrong Lionel Belmore CaptHin Larsen Charles A. Smlly Captain Stahl Nick Cogley Annie Doris Pawn Will Rogers In the role of a Swede sailorman is a long leap from the cow range, but he gets away with it in splendid style in this Goldwyn production, given its first New York showing it the Capitol this week. The story, written by Peter Clark MacFarlane, has real humor in it, together with a bit of pathos, and a surprise ending. Clarence Badger has done a creditable piece of work in its direction and, with actual lo- cations in Fricso, where the action occurs, has been able to provide some very interesting shots. While Rogers is the star of the picture, and all honors are due him, the »tu»y actually centers around the herone, and Mary Warren, a beautiful girl and an unusually In- telligent actress, all but Steals it away from the comedian. This Is no reflection on Rogers, because he gets every ounce of value out of his part and Is especially effective In the close-ups, where his facial ex- pressions register strongly. Next to Miss Warren the best results at- tained by the supporting players are those of Bert Sprotte and Doris Pawn. The others are simply in the picture. The story opens with Yal leaving Hulda and sailing for America to make his fortune. Later it is learned he has sent'her $1,000 to come to him. But five years pass and he hears nothing from her. Meantime he has found another girl, Annie, and opens a delicatessen store with savings of $3,000, putting her in charge. When he seeks to draw it out and invest in a ship she laughs at him and, as he lias noth- ing to show ho ever had invested in the store, it is a dead loss. He be- comes mistrustful of women. Then one day he sees Hulda on the water- front. Between his love for the girl and his fear of women's guile he is In a quandary. But he surrenders to love. Hulda is living at the home of Captain Larsen, ship owner, but pretends to Yal she is a servant. When Yal has saved sufficient money to furnish a home they get ready to wed. But on his wedding eve he is si inghaied by hirelings of GIRLS DON'T GAMBLE This is one of three of D. N. Schwab productions, made inde- pendently, by and with David But- ler as the star. It has been sold independently throughout the coun- try, and in New York is released through First National. As a Loew's New York audience received it, there were evidently manifestations of pleasure in its more humorous passages, but the story is scarcely one of the pictures whose material has the require- ments of lasting through five reels. The plot is adapted from a Sat- urday Evening Post story, "Girls Don't Gamble Any More." The hero, •with a penchant for machinery, leaves home, enters the employ of a department store as a chauffeur, comes in contact with a Cinderella- type of maiden, is "framed" by co- workers, foils them after they rob his ex-employer's department store, and receives the blessing of all. The direction of Fred J. Butler is consistent and gives his namesake every opportunity to register. A stirring fight scene in the final epi- sodes is the most salient point in action. The comedy between Harry Dodd and Butler In the second and third reel registered effectively. The cast is not distinguished ex- cept for Elinor Field as the demure, kitten-like sweetheart, and Elsie Bishop in a bit in the first reel. Rhea Haines, Alice Knowlton, Mar- garet Joslyn, Elrrer Dewey, Rex Zane and Jack Cosgrave complete the cast. A flash is given of "The Restless Sex," with a close-up of the title and magazine, just why is hard to explain. The production in Kg entirety does not represent a large invest- ment. The photography is excel- lent on long shots of rustic scenery. A satisfying picture in the neigh- borhood houses. SU'ik WOMAN IN HIS HOUSE Los Angeles, March 3. Hilda Mildred Harris S'R'ird CJareth HuKho* Andrew Murtin Winter Hall Dr. Philip Knvraon itnin.vy Wallace 2V:<t Marvin »..-..Th«Mn;«n HoMin* Bib Liingston tieoige Fiacher Baby Richard Hcdrlck For more than a year the Louis B. Mayer partisans, both salaried and otherwise, have been doing ad- vance work for "The Woman In His House," stating that the pic- ture was destined to be one of the greatest ever screened. It is the current attraction at the Mission here and on the night that it was reviewed there were any number of seats available, hut there was a line held out. of doors to give the impression that business was a turnaway. It wasn't, however, and it is doubtful if the picture will ever achieve that distinction, but it is nevertheless a good production that is capable of attracting business and entertaining in the first run house*. It Is not by the widest stretch of the imagination a picture that will go in for a run. John M. Stahl is credited with the directing of the production and the story is the work of Frances Irene Reels. its greatest asset is the work of and the sympathy that is attracted to Richard Hedrlck, the little kiddie about whom the plot of the piece revolves. Miss Harris plays the role of a sea coast maiden who is wooed and won by a famous physician. After they are wed she becomes "the woman in his house,' 1 the doctor becoming wrapped up in research work. A child is born to them, and when it is about four years old there is a£ epidemic of infantile paralyses. The doctor throws his heart and soul into the work of fighting the plague, and while working on a charity case his own child is stricken. On his re- turn home he hurries into the sick room just as another physician pronounces the child dead. The wife collapses, and then it is discovered that the child still lives, although there are Indications that it will be a helpless cripple. The doctor decides not to inform his wife that the little one is alive until such time that he has restored it to complete health. While he is trying to achieve this the wife is drifting from him. There is a mu- tual friend who steps in at the opportune moment and saves her from falling victim to the villain, and as he has just been appraised of the fact that the child is still alive, he takes her home and into the rooms that have been set aside for the little invalid. Here mother love achieves what science has failed to accomplish and the child rises from its chair and walks. There is an underlying current in the story that seems to shoot at a mental science target but somehow falls short. At one place in the picture there is a reflection on the wall that is supposed to represent the crucifix, and a mother, after making an appeal to the doc- tor to save her baby, because she knows he is the only one that can do it, has her attention directed to the cross and she offers a prayer, after which the child begins to get well. This touch and the later one of the crippled child walking both •suggest faith healing. Miss Harris is doing by far her best work of recent pictures in this production, but Gareth Hughes, in a character role of a crippled half- wit, and the kiddle run away with the acting honors. Ramsey Wal- lace as the husband and Thomas Holding as the family friend both gave studied performances that were acceptable from all angles, but George Fischer as the heavy did not seem to strike the proper note, either in his performance or in his manner of dressing the part. In a business suit he actually ap- peared slovenly, so ill fitting was the costume that he affected. There are technical touches that are not authentic. One showing the main dining room of the Hotel Ritz in New York, makes It possible to see the street and the crowds pass- ing there on New Year's eve. If that many people ever got over on Madison avenue on that night it would have to be a fire to attract them. By the by, It is also the first time that the reviewer ever knew that one could see the street from the Ritz dining room, and also that the hotel management would keep the windows uncurtained In such manner as they were in the picture. But other than that Mr. Stahl has done his work real well and there are but one or two other minor defects that can be easily remedied. They are principally titles. Fred. " wild oats, the low born son who was pushed' into a life of crime, but both with the inborn germ of right- eousness waiting to be brought to the surface to grow in the light of right living and right seeing. The picture shows the old prison system with zebra uniforms, lock step, its solitary bread and water confinement and the nine-tail lash, the ball and chain and brutal guards. The double cross and coun- ter double cross, subterfuge and intrigue back of the walls. Then the new era, the Osborno way. The Mutual Welfare League and the honor system, the rebuild- ing of life's derelicts, salvaging the human wrecks, all in a gripping story. So much for Mr. Osborne's pic- ture and his sincerity, but beneath it all lies the great question, will it serve the purpose a£ its .creation in the right way? Already many students of crimi- nology and punishment are ques- tioning whether it will make for good. They declare that it is over- drawn, that it pictures the ideal, but fails to picture results as they work out in practice.. Will the picture, playing upon the emotions of the public, give the right impression or build up a false state of mind re- garding the nation's penal institu- tions? These students admit that the Osborne system has worked for good in some respect.* and that it has its good points, in others it has failed. Escapes have been numer- ous. The beating of guards, yes, even their murder, has grown and is growing under the system which has tied the hands of prison officials to a great extent in dealing with cases where strict discipline is the only measure, they claim. One sub-title of the picture per- haps explains the objections of those who see possible harm in "Making Good" as well as anything. The herO, returning to prison to find the new system Installed, remarks: 'It don't seem like being in prison." 1'ahtt. "MAKING GOOD." Syracuse, March 2. Created for the purpose of arous- ing interest in prison reform, to give the underdog a. chance. Thomas Mott Osborne, distinguished "re- form warden" of Ping Sing and commander of Portsmouth Naval Prison, has produced a wonderfully gripping film story In "Making Good." The picture was given a first showing in Mr. Osborne's home city, Auburn, N. Y., two weeks ago, but made its first commercial appear- ance in Syracuse for a week's run at the Welting, February 28. The scenario was written by Basil Dicky and produced under the per- sonal supervision of Mr. Osborne and Pidward H. McManus of the staff of Collier s We-ikly. Penal institutions, prison life and the heart throbs and the emotions that surround them have not been overlooked by producers. They have been woven in many screen dramas, but the "reform warden" has really given filmdom something new. He has drawn upon his years of study of prison life, analyzed as warden of two great prlaons and as "Tom Brown," convict, in giving the out- side world not merely an Interesting picture, but food for study. Filmed for the most part behind prison w;ills it is true to life there. He has insisted on accuracy of de- tail -from his point of view. The story deals with two oppo- site types, the slum born and one bom in the lap of luxury whose roads converge at the prison gate— and make them equal stone break- ers. These characters, too, are true to life. They are types that Mr. Osborne has learned to know inti- mately, the rich man's son sowing THE CHEATER REFORMED. Jordan McCall William Ru-**ll Dr. Luther McCall William Rus**U Carol McCall.., Sk>cna Owen "Blister" Horsey Jack Brrimmall Thomas Edinburgh Sam D* Gimaae Mrs. Edinburgh Ruth King This newest William Russell star- ring feature (Fox) has him doub- ling. This is about the salient point to this picture—its acting by Rus- sell in widely contrasting parts; that of a rector and his twin brother, holdup man. The enact- ment of the two parts by the same man registers greater Interest than the exaggerated story furnished by Julius O. Furthman. Scott Dunlap was director. The photoplay belongs to that type of picture which has emanated from the Fox studios. The fault with the preceding pictures is sim- ilarly found in "The Cheater Re- formed." It is a hurry-up job. No great care has been given to detail. Sequences in this scenario occur in many instances without sufficient preparation and here Is an abun- dance of Immaterial episodes which could easily have been eliminated. There is a tendency to clog up the action. In titles there are enough to make one forget that action is essential in pictures. The picture as a whole becomes so awkward that the characters who start out with lifelike semblance become vague and phantom like. The story could never stand the application of reason. Or at any rate In Its present form It is barren of logic. The rector of a one-man- run-town is conveniently killed for a twin brother, a crook who steps into the shoes of the rector. The usurper after an ostensible conval- escence finally reaches the point where he delivers his first sermon. Here t;he author asks his audience to believe that the departed brother's inspiring influence is sufficient to maintain, the place he assumed. Moreover it does not occur to the authors that the departed rector's wife can be taken into the con- spiracy as easily as the picture would have it. Conveniently no mention Is made of this, but the au- thors ask the audience to swallow too much. The wife goes on believ- ing that the twin brother is her husband. The picture goes on to show the crook's surrender to con- science and self-sacrifice, so that he exposes the "boss" of the town, in return is exposed by the former, but is forgiven b\ the community as well as b^s slater-5n- law. The acting is not of a high order in any case. Seena Owen neither in appearance or manner represents the appropriate type. A bit handled by Jack Brammall hag some good points in character work. The photography is only fair. The in- terior and exterior are fair, but not strikingly artistic. Step. WHAT EVERY WOMAN KNOWS. MftjfXle Wjrllc T , (l , s wiNon *!•"! ^."V Conrad Nag.'l pav.,1 yl. Fr ^ , funt ,y Jam w yii.. lSuv OJ j T * r 1 rSPSS. V>,: ,, " !4 Winter Hall Sybil Tentarden Lillian Tucker ( dmtft»M ■!*• Ii. Hri.-re Claim Wi-lHi*fll Scotch lawyer Robert Brower William De Mille's production of Sir James M. Rnrrie's "What Kvery Woman Knows." at the Rivoli. at- tracted interest by reason of its (Continued on page 43)