Variety (March 1921)

—"» 32 I THE NUT. ChsrtH Jackeon Doutflaa Fairbanks Katrall Wynn Marguerite Delamotte J%tllp iToenejr William Lowery "Oantleman Cieorge" Gerald Prlng l'ernellus Vanderbrook Morrla Hughes Claudine Dupree Barbara La Marr THE GILDED LILY r.lllian Drake ...Ma* Murray Creighton Howard ...Lowell Sherman Frank Thompson ..Jaaoo Robarda John Stewart Charles iJerard Mrs. Thompson.' Leonora Ottlnjer Exhibitors and others who have wished for Fairbanks in a "differ- ent'" sort of picture realize their desire in "The Nut." For in it Fair- banks is less of the acrobat and more of the comedian than usual. For this reason it lacks the ma- c«tin.<v "gun rapidity vharacterlsti'? of Doug's features; but the hokum and an amount of burlesque, com- bined with giggle-breeding titles, put it over for a howl. Ted Reed directed the picture and did a good job, technically, though he let it sag in several places, and the author provided a mixture of farce comedy and lurid melodrama which serves its purpose. But the story is somewhat like a slack wire —and about as important—used by a comic tumbler, it serves only as an excuse for the star falling off whenever he sees fit and indulging In slapstick, with the result laughs are sprinkled around like small shot at a trapshoot. Doug has one good knockdown and dragout fight, with incidental comedy, but the big laughs come at four distinct places. First, the opening. He is in his bed, which automatically travels to the bath- room, dumping him In the tub. There an automatic arrangement of brushes scrubs him, followed by towels automatically drying him. Next he Is automatically dressed. This Is trick stuff, but loaded with laughs. Later Doug and the heroine, through clever photography, are shown climbing through the hot air pipes of a house and escaping via the furnace door. He is at his fun- niest in a wax works museum, whence he swipes several figures for outside comedy, and lastly, af- ter the picture is ended, the audi- ence is provided with a laugh by the introduction of a squirrel finish- ing a meal, the final title, "The End of the Nut," dissolving in for a last howl. A funny situation is where Doug loses a wax cop in the street and it is mistaken by auto- Ijts for a traffic officer. Fairbanks' support is, as usual, ace high. Miss Delamotte is pret- tier and more charming, if possible, than she was in "The Mark of Zorro," and Gerald Pring, with a fair bit as a crook, registers strongly. Morris Hughes, playing a thinly veiled imitation of young Cornelius Vanderbilt, who is a re- porter on the New York "Times," is a new one to this reviewer, but a corking good juvenile. He has i>ep and personality and acts with an in- telligence that is refreshing. Some- body should grab, this lad for fea- ture roles. At the Strand, where "The Nut" received its initial showing in New York, a subtle prolog is used. A quartet, with a group of wax fig- ures mixed in, was used and sang old songs with tunes that had noth- ing whatever to do with them. It <• had the audience guessing what it was all about until the finish, when one of the singers provided the tip-off by grabbing a wax figure and dashing off stage with it. Mae Murray does the best work of her picture career as the star of "The Ollded Lily," a Robert Z. Leonard production, distributed by Famous Players, directed by Mr. Leonard and scenario by Clara Beranger. The story fits Miss Mur- ray's personality perfectly, evident- ly'having beon'e.vpcciHUy vvrillcn for her. It's a tale of the white light district, with real human beings for characters, impelled by human im- pulses and acting generally as people do in real life rather than going through the stilted motions of the puppets seen in 'the regulation program feature. Introduced naturally and as a specialty there are several dances performed by Miss Murray. Whether It's the director or the camera men who should be credited with catch- ing the real spirit of these bits of terpslchore and placing them on the screen in such a lifelike manner is beyond the knowledge of the re- viewer, but whoever is responsible, and probably it was both, is entitled to high praise. Scenes of New York night life, in cabaret and private dancing club, are depicted with fidelity to the original that convinces through lack of exaggeration. There is an inter- esting love story, well sustained ac- tion, plenty of conflict and a finish that stands out through being en- tirely different from what might be expected. The picture has been mounted beautifully and Miss Murray's cos- tumes should be an attraction in themselves for the women fans. Particularly fine portrayals are of- fered by Jason Robards and Lowell Sherman. Mr. Robards plays a weak-willed son of wealthy parents, making the character breathe be- cause of its naturalness. Mr. Sher- man, usually cast for the heaviest kind of villains, turns out to be the hero in the end, after giving the im- pression he is inclined to be at least o bit wicked. Charles Gerard and Leonora Ot- tenger also lend real assistance in making the story intelligible and highly entertaining from a dramatic standpoint. As a program feature "The Gilded Lily" sets a standard for comparison that others might profit by in following values as re- gards general entertainment values. Bell. PICTURES there is plenty of competition. The girl herself takes a hand in direct- ing the courtship of ths two con- tenders and brings about the triumph of the city boy. to the sat- isfaction of everybody but Willie. The production could not have cost much for the cast Is small and the settings simple. Most of the action lir ouf of doors and the in- teriors are plain country farm house rooms and village stores and the church. Rush. Friday, March 11, 1921 XHEOATH. Minna Hart Miriam Cooper Hugh Colman Conway Tearle Irene Lansing Anna NHaaon Gerard Merrlam Henry Clive Iarael Hart Robert Fiacher CHICKENS. Deems Slamwood Douglas Ma-T.ean Juha Stonetnan Gladya George Aunt Hehecca Clair McDowell Dan Mellows Cbarlee alallea His Wife Edith Yorke Willie Flgg Raymond Cannon MAN IN MILLION I.upino Delchinl'. George Beban Flora Vulenzl Helen Jerome Eddy Mir*. Mnureveau.... Irene Rich Clyde Hartley Lloyd Whltlock Gusiave Koppel George Will lams Mrs. Koppel Jennie Lee The Belgian.Waif George Beban, Jr. "Bo-Da* 1 (the parrot).. By Himself •Toodlea"' (the dog)...* By Himself "One Man in a Million" is a Sol Lesser presentation distributed by Robertson-Cole, starring George Beban, who is also credited with the story and direction. The scenario Is the work of Dorothy Yost and Ross Fisher, the camera- man. While in many respects It is Just another variation of "Rosa" and therein resembles the other Beban picture tales It is especially well done; in short, it is an obvious, se- quential, cumulative, sure-fire plot. The main adverse criticism is its length, some 6,000 feet. A better result might be attained by closer cutting and the elimination of a few scenes not necessary to the progression of the tale until a full 1,000 feet had been excised. Beban's Is a lovable character, re- plete with his familiar exaggerated Italian gestures—a man who laughs when he loses his Job, with a love for children, animals and all man- kind Tbr.oi\gK„.J\£l.ping what h£. supposes is a tramp but is In reality a member of the Department of Criminal Investigation he secures the appointment of Pound Master (in charge of the local dog catching force), adopts a child, its mother turns up and is found to have been separated from her little boy during the Belgian invasion, he wants to marry the mother rather than give up the child whom he has learned to love, and so on. He, In turn, is loved by the office stenographer, an Italian girl, and it looks like a hopeless mlx-up. But by an in- genious twist in tho plot tnlngs an- straightened out in a manner not readily fores* en, oven by those tnot. or less familiar v.ith the rtllc I of picture makinj. Photography r.nd f.irec.tlo i i.rc- most workmanlike and the support- ing cast Is made up of a competent standard performers of a high or- der. "One Man in a Million" i> above the standard of program f<^a tiures. Jolo. . . . "Chickens" is a Thomas H. Ince production made from Herschel Hall's "Saturday Evening Post" story "Yacona Yillies," directed by Jack Nelson and with scenario by Agnes Christine Johnston. It is an amusing film comedy painstakingly adapted from an in- teresting story, but the translation is less entertaining than the orig- inal. It was a difficult story to plcturize for the quaint fun of the written version does not adapt it- self easily to the screen medium. The scenario writer and the di- rector have tried to make the screen version a literal reproduction of the printed story and have dealt gently with the material. The trouble was this, as with so many stories taken from published fiction, that It is not well fitted to film presentation. What was in its original form a sparkling little romance becomes in the picture theatre a rather homely bread and butter rural affair, more or less like "The Old Homestead" with all the drama left out and the comedy over developed. The orig- inal tang of flavor is absent. This is no fault of the players, for Douglas MacLean plays the young city spendthrift with a good deal of spirited action, while Ray- mond Cannon, as Willie Figg, makes the intriguing country lad an excel- lent contract, and Gladys George plays the heroine in the right key of sweetness and charm. The best laugh is Maclean's dream, one of those "chase" affairs in which the slow motion camera is employed to give a comedy effect. The hero In his dream is pursued by the man who holds a mortgage i on his farm and while the best he cfCH (To Is to float sibvv'iy * through the air, the pursuer speeds along at double time by the use of the familiar camera trick. It was a capital laugh. The scenes at the country church bazaar was. another amusing bit, with its character studies and tho amusing contest of the two young men for the favor of the heroine. The story deals with a young millionaire who tears Into the chicken farm of a girl while out on a Joy ride in a high powered car. He falls In love with the angry girl and decides to start a chicken farm next door to her. While the venture is hanging in the balance. »he youth finds that his fortune has been dissipated by his guardian and he has to go into the chicken farm business in earnest to make a living. Willie Pigg is his rival for the uirl and because he is a thoroughly •fipable business man and holds a mortgage on the city hoy's farm. R. A. Walsh's latest production "The Oath" proves itself to be more than a worthy companion for its two predecessors of First National's "Big Five." Considered from every angle, it is one of tfie few real super-specials of recent release. An all-star cast, which for once lives up to its name, a production in which nothing is stinted, nothing in- troduced merely for effect, almost flawless direction, it has in addition to these, things a big story founded on a vital human theme which has heretofore been neglected by the scenario writer and which ought to arouse discussion. "The Oath" is the latest and one of the best arguments for the "di- rector picture." Nothing seems to have been sacrificed to further any individual interest. Unhampered by the requirements of star or spec- tacle, the director has been able to tell his story with a sincerity that would otherwise be difficult. His minor characters are drawn as clearly as his leads and his people move through the lavish settings he has provided with an ease and nat- uralness which go far to make his startling climax altogether convinc- ing. Miriam Cooper, the featured player, gives a touching picture of the lonely Jewish girl whose love for the Christian, played by Conway Tearle, furnishes the theme of the drama. Her father is one of the wealthiest bankers in London; Hugh Colman, her lover, is paying the price of a dissipated inheri- tance by his poverty. Her lover's pride and her father's intention to have her marry a man of her qwn faith, whom she does not love, force the couple into a secret marriage. For a short time they are happy together, but that happiness is soon threatened by forces beyond their control which gather with ominous swiftness. Idolizing him as only a woman of her type can who has sacrificed everything for the man of her choice and is prepared to go to any length to hold his love, Hugh seems to fail her in the hour of trial. To continue their stealthy married life together, when her faith In him is broken, is impossible and they decide to renounce all claim to each other in an oath which binds each never to reveal their marriage. That night her father is murdered. The evidence points to Hugh as the guilty man. On trial for his life he redeems himself by his silence. No argument will move him and he is apparently bent on going to his death to keep his word with the woman whom he has broken forever. Torn by the con- flicting emotions of pride and love, Minna attempts at the last moment to save him (he was in her room at the time the murder was com- mitted) only to find her action for- stalled by perjured testimony of another woman. This is the big climax of the story and the building up of the suspense in the court room scene in which it occurs is a classic of this type of screen direction. Mr. Walsh has at this point picked up the threads of the plot in a neat and plausible manner holding the solution of a very complicated situ- ation almost up to the very last scene. It is in these latter scenes of the picture that Miriam Cooper does the best work of her career. Seldom has she appeared more ap- pealing than in a scene where she contemplates putting an end to her life as the only solution of the tragedy in which she finds herself. There is at all times something more than great physical beauty and a display of gowns which will make even the mere male in the audience wonder what women will be wearing next season. There is a fin?n a '» of light and shade p.r.d r*\«t? dramatic fire in moments of emo- tional intensity, which mark her one of the dramatic actresses of the screen to be reckoned with. Anna Nilsson, while not as evon in her characterization as Miss Cooper, is charming and her blond beauty sets off the suggestion of the Oriental in the Jewess to great advantage. Robert Fischer con- tributes an excellent characteriza- tion of the old banker and Conway Tearle in the male lead is both sym- pathetic and convincing. Farle Browne is credited with the scenario. He has allowed himself a great deal of liberty in the adapta- tion of the original novel "Idols' by William J. Locke, but the gen- eral effect is that of strengthening the drama of the present version. There are a few things which might be bettered but these are insignifi- cant beside the fact that Mr. Walsh has produced a picture with real artistic merit. Jolo. LYING UPS. Blair Cornwall ^P lM, *L , !?SE Nancy Abbott f lor ^L^iiJ2!£ W llllam Chaaa *W*.JgJjgJ LaliTbodaon afarejaret M*n«toa Mr. Abbott M ^ fM &ii? l %rtS Mrs. Prospect nSSS SSH lloraca Profcect -SSSTk^taJ John Wsrrea Emmet U Jting 'Xyinf Lips" Is an absorbing story made up of combination of literary hokum plus the depiction of a feminine type that, while perhaps true to life, is not common enough to be .familiar to^the, average fan and hence may hofbe general!} understood. The tale was written by May Edington. scenarioized by Bradley King, directed by John G. Wray. It is a Thomas Ince special in seven parts, distributed via As- sociated Producers. It is very elaborately "staged." Opening with a house party on an Knglish estate, it switches to mid- west Canada, lead ngup toa most {ng e ^^ neceg8ary to 8ati „ 33E WING TOY. win g Toy. .............»••• .Shlrlrr Bob ....•••••••••••• .Raymond sfcKoa I/ee Won* Edward McWeeJ Tan Low Harry Nortkrsjj White lAlf Batty HchaZ The Mole Soott afcEaa la "Wlag Toy" Pox offers a Chinatown melodrama with the, dizzying doors and sinister shadows usually associated with the section. As a study in "atmosphere" it does very well, but as an cntw^ainmAjtt it is shy,*and the star, despite her best efforts, is given very slender opportunity for breaking through to the attention of the audience, Shirley Mason is not to be blamed if the audiences do not like her in] this. As a story, the creation of Pearl Doles Bell la thin and totally lack* realistic shipwreck at sea—one of the most vivid picturizations of the sort ever offered. For good measure the producer follows this up with a bacchanalian revel that cannot be passed by without a word of special comment. The crux of the tale is the depict- ing of the .naractcr of a girl reared in luxifry. driven by her ambitious mother to accept the proffer of mar- riage of a wealthy man twice her age, to save themselves from bank- ruptcy. Before marrying him she insists on a trip to Canada to visit relatives, where she meets a virile young ranchman, named Blair, who is dreadfully poor, but loves her and for whom she conceives a reciprocal affection. While out in a canoe at night he rescues her from being swept over a waterfall, takes her In his arms in the moonlight and she is momentarily happy. Next day she accompanies him to his primi- tive hut, contrasts it with her lux- urious existence in England and tells him: "I couldn't marry you— I couldn't live such a life." Blair sells his ranch and books third passage on the steamer on which she sails for home. A stray mine blows up the ship, he climbs to the main deck to her rescue, and they are the only survivors left upon a section of the wreck. Dur- ing a storm she fears the elements and clings to him saying "I want you to stay with me—I won't be alone."—"You mean you hr. i me?" and she answers: "I'll have no one but you." There upon the open sea he goes through a crude marriage ceremony.—"I, Blair Cornwell, take thee, Nance Abbott, his wife," and she utters a similar declaration with respect to him—"until death do us part.** At the end of three days a ship Is sighted—she pictures her future with the poor man and, unable to look forward to it, cries: "I couldn't, now that we're going to live—I couldn't—I couldn't be poor. I told you so."—"But you're my wife"- - "I won't be found here as your wife. I'd die first." He looks her straight in the eyes and says: "We wqp't be found together." They pick her up alone and, conscience-stricken, she attempts to jump into the sea and is restrained. She cries: "I want to tell you"—but faints. Placing her upon the rescue ship they blow up the derelict and she goes through weeks of delirium. Although it is later shown in a flashback how he is saved, this is somewhat improbably and incon- sistent, but that's a detail of relatively little consequence. He falls heir to a fortune, comes un- bidden to a party given by the man to whom she is betrothed and who is to announce the formal engage- ment on that occasion. Blair takes the name of "Charles Seaton," causing her untold agony of un- certainty. Blair refuses to admit he is other than "Seaton" and she Is left no alternative but to marry the wealthy, elderly man. Wl.n the ceremony reaches the phrase "Until death do us part" she goes into hysterics and cries out: "I can't. In the eyes of God I am another man's wife." Blair sails for Australia, she k-arns of it from his lawyer and rushes to the vessel just as they are pulling up the gangplank, goes to his cabin and throws herself in his arms, not knowing he has fallen heir to a fortune. The "classy" way in which this story Is picturlzed—dialog, direc- tion, production and excellen j of acting, places it among super- i" —l ur e*. EC fr* provocative of argu- ment with the film fan. and this should work to the advantage of the exhibitor. It stood up strongly at the Capitol last Sunday anil should fare equally well wherever shown. jolo. m factory screen drama. Briefly, it is a tale of a Chinatown boss who dis- cards his white wife to marry a child that had been placed In his hands by a poor laundryman in whose care it had been left by a crcok. Ultimately it is revealed the child is the daughter of a district- attorney, from whom it had been stolen in revenge. For no reason at all a cub reporter falls In love with Wing Toy, and she. strangely for a girl reared to the restraints and suspicions characteristic of the Chinese, loves him at first sight. Thomas Dixon. Jr., wrote the scenario and succeeded in giving the story a disconnected and jumpy presentation. Such credit as the picture may deserve goes to the technical di- rector, who has provided good in- terior sets and convincing exteriors. Also. Howard Mitchell, who di- rected the feature, merits com- mendation for his lightings and the handling of the players. Harry Northrup Is strong as Yen Low, and good bits are contributed by Betty Schade, Edward McWade and Scott McKce. As a whole, the picture is very lightweight. GREATER CLAIM. mt2 J"!!* Alic « T ' ak e Kuhanl kverard Jack Dougherty A he Diet/. Kdward Cecil illchar.i Kvera.-d, Sr De Witt Jcnnine* <3 w.-ndolyn riot em e Gilbert Kosie t.fonore I.ynurd "The Greater Claim (Metro), made by Wesley Buggies, with Alice Lake as the star, is a strange mix- ture, with a hackneyed plot and con- flicting technical elements, which make it only an average program picture. Izola Forrester and Mann Page are the accredited authors, with Bert LeVino as the screen adapter. None of those mentioned will gain any sustenance for their - • i - ••. literary reputations as ths result of it. The story is antique in ebneep/- tion and construction, based upon the supposed un worthiness of all chorus girls. Why authors ignor- antly and persistently slander this class of wage earner, whose mem- bers slave harder than any other women workers, is hard to under* stand. Somebody, some time in th dim past, labelled the chorus girl as a mercenary and a chronic de« stroyer of morality and happinesa Since then every hack writer de- void of originality has followed the formula. In this particular story one good chorus girl is idealized as an exception to her class, when, as a matter of fact, the bad one is the exception. Chorus girls, as a class, are more sinned against f haa sinning, and writers who paint them otherwise only add to an injustice. In "The Greater Claim." a father forbids his minor son to marry a chorus girl. The boy does it, any- way, and is kidnapped from a -rustic retreat where they are having their honeymoon. He then is shanghaied at his father's Order and taken to sea. The father maneuvers to have the marriage annulled, telling ths girl his son consents. Son returns and finds his wife in a wild whirl of gayety, denounces her and de* parts for about three reels. A shyster lawyer arranges to have ths father adopt the chorus girl's baby when it, in due time, arrives. Then the mother gets a job as the child's nurse. When the boy is three years old, the old man asks the lawyer ts find the mother, and the shyster tries to ring in a woman crook oa him. The real mother denounces them, out they stand pat. Thaa the son comes home and cleans that phase of the matter. But the crooks say the child is not Mary's, where upon the author has the father re sort to the old trick of matching money against mother love, with the result that the real mother spurns it while the imposler aO* cepts the lucre. The director seems to have started in a groove and remained there. He introduces some pretty woodland and lake exteriors in ths beginning, with very artistic long shots, but peems to havo forgotten there is such a thing as a three- foot line. Only one real close-up of the heroine is shown, the others being apparently shot from the if foot line. Also, for some weird rea* son, he photographs his star m long-shots most all the way throngh. His padding is so glar- ingly obvious that at times the star is kept holding a pose for so long it would appear she must fall over from sheer physical exhaustion. 'Miss Lake's work was uneven, perhaps due to the directors' mis-; conception of how her character should be played. Of the support, De Witt Jennings, who bears a striking resemblance to Tent John- son, provided the only acting wortn mentioning. The remainder of the cast are machine-line in expression and interpretation. The picture will please audi, ncel of elementary minds, but not thosa which look for dramaU" values on the screen. • • •