Variety (March 1921)

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i ■^H ^ v ■m »# • \ »t• 34 PICTURES Friday. March 18, 1921 BEAU REVEL. . liy Steel* Florence Vldor ..ti lo-vH Iiewia Stone »<k Kevel • Lloyd Hughe* Alice Lathon Kuthluen Klrkham Koaaiter Wade Ktchurd Ryan Will Phyfe Harlan Tucker h'red J-nthon • William Conklln Ma St.-,!.- Ly.ila Tltua Uert Steele William Musgrave Itutler Joe Campbell "I lean Revel** (Paramount) at the Rivoli this week may be an original Aim script by Ix>uis Joseph Vance, with scenario by Luther Reed and directed by John Griffith Wray- Whether original or adapted. It tells a plausible story that Involves a triangle, father and son, husband and wife, and a cabaret dancer (Florence Vldor). Miss Vidor is fea. tured, and tells It with a pointed- ncss that upholds the interest and with a naturalness of playing that reflects the greatest of credit upon Mr. Wray's direction. Seldom Is the screen director found who so firmly Implants a tale of this character in his mind that he can run it off, scene after scene, and repress his actors to the acme of perfectly nat- ural playing, as may be seen io this picture, with the repression side stepping the all too open oppor- tunities for high melodramatics that could include the rough stuff, from fist fights to scenery chewing. It's the direction of intelligence and understanding,' with a mind that preconceives exactly how a story may bo presented on the sheet and still keep its audience seated with- out the bluster. It's stage playing rrproducod on the screen and made just as interesting. That's an ac- complishment. Mr. Wray. whoever he may be or whatever he may have done In the past, should be en- trusted with more important work. "Beau Revel/* even with that title, and no poorer one could have been selected, is going to leave an excellent impression as a release wherever exhibited. It's going to find more favor with the adult than the youth, but even youth will find much in it, while the adult will ap- preciate that a humane story is being unfolded. The story centres around Beau Revel (Lewis Stone), a middle aged man and evidently a widower, who has a son of mar- riagable age. They live together, father and boy, friends and pals, [ THE MISTRESS OF SHENSTONE , with the father standing for any- thing his son wants or does, mean- wlth what he had unintentionally missed. In the dressing room the young couple effect a reconciliation With the clinch finish that is an anti-climax, for the climax con- tinues at home, with the father thinking it over. Nelly walking out on him in favor of hfs son wakes up the old man. It tells him he Is growing old, that he will grow older, and his women will be of the past. He fondles the revolver, then thinks of the window as a more be- fitting ending, and after a talk with his butler over the mistakes all humans do and can make he snpplea backward to the pavement below. It's not the usual finish, of course, but it's a bear for those who can get it. Mr Stone takes the playing hon- ors. He does the dandy in every way and makes almost a Mansfield Earon Chevral of the part, merely a few years younger. Miss Vldor is rather a pretty brunette, of much sincerity and with a chameleonlike face which the camera takes in sev- eral poses, each one different for the facial expression. Lloyd Hughes as Dick Revel, the son, played with a certain grasp and appeared to be the one who followed his director's Instructions with the most fidelity. Miss Klrkham as Mrs. Lathom was convincing without stress, while Mr. Conk 1 in as her soused husband conveyed his contrition as well as his drunkenness with no little ar- tistic pantomimic effort. The scene where Mrs. Lathom Is undressing to retire behind a latticed door drew her husband to her through a silhouette and was repulsed went forward in the most matter-of-fact way, as it should have beeen, al- though most directors would have worked that bit into a scene that the censors might have thrown out. "Beau Revel" is more of a study than a big picture, but it's a good film, the best one along Broadway of the new ones this week, and as a well »leced together bit of pictur- ing with a nicely balanced cast It's a corker. But the public will see it as a picture release, good enough because it's holding, and perrfaps the best thing about It the film fans of the neighborhoods will like will be the handsome sets. 8ime. SOCIETY SNOBS. Conway Tearle courts professional suicide with both barrels in "Society Snobs" (Selznick) by acknowledging authorship and appearing as the star of the picture. Martha Mans- field Is his leading woman. It is hard to believe that Mr. Tearle, a man of culture and experience, could have written the story accredited to him on the screen. Tearle plays the part of a Ritz waiter who is introduced to a society girl by a discarded suitor as a Duke traveling Incognito. The waiter, has loved the girl silently and now, ac- cepted by the heroine and her super- cilious mother as a noblemen, he courts vigorously. He marries her, then tells her he Is a waiter dis- guised. The rejected suitor sees to it that the story of the misalliance is spread all over the front page of a New York newspaper. The mother has the marriage annulled. Then, apparently, the erstwhile waiter turns out to be some sort of engineer and Is given a big com- mission in South America. As -he prepares to leave, love triumphs and the girl, evidently believing a good waiter a handy thing to have around the house, walks in on him and avows her undying affection. Curtain. Aside from the fact the story ts silly and a breeder of class hatred, it is totally lacking in virility and contains not one flash of comedy. It seems to promise something, but the promise never Is fulfilled and the play ends with the spectator wondering what it's all about. Tearle, one of the best actors and "troopers" on the screen today, is absolutely colorless here, slow- moving and seemingly witless. Miss Mansfield, reputed to be a beauty, gives not a semblance of ability and is so disappointing in her stiffness of expression, gesture and stride as to create wonder why she has been called to the screen for star honors. "Society Snobs" lacks even photo- graphy to recommend it and, except for one or two close-ups of Miss Tucker mad*, that Mr. Tucker had I pi A YTHINfl OF R'WAY brought Hie hiKh dramatic notes ■»« ,u Ul ' A1 strong relief and had given the pro- duction touches :m l character, aside from su|M»rb photography. Tm»nc are the things which, with vocifer- ous advertising, made the Tucker picture gross between $-.000,000 and $3,000,000. They were the elements that made it great. "The Faith Healer** larks in psy- chology and punch, which Is but a colloquial for human appeal. It has not one single strong character or characteristic, unless dullness be selected, and therefore U lacks the elements mentioned. Dr. Hugo Riesenfeld must have been gravely impressed or sorely oppressed by "The Faith Healer,' because he has set it In a most lugu- brious frame. He opens it with a hidden choir singing "Rock of Ages," and, instead of providing a lively comedy to lighten up his program, has selected a tiresome scenic thing about "The Lone Indian." An Ol- lendorff Sketchograph gives the audience a few faint ripples of joy, but not sufficient to wipe out the funeral depression caused by the main feature. MY LADY'S LATCHKEY Annratey Ormyle Katherln* MacDonaUl NVUnn 8mJlh ..Bdmund I»we Countess Da Santiago Claire DuHrry Lord Annesley-Scton Kdw&rd Oaye Lady Annesley-tieloa Lenora I<ynard ituthvcn Smith ....Thomas Jefferson Mr* Ellsworth .Hellene, Phillips J««!a JuHilnn Johnstone l»r lenntTft < rnufnnt Kent 1 '<• J. ..... VIa ivy I l.t i l.i n i Whitney IMwunls Davis I>f. Dexter BsOSBs Cowl Mra. O'Connor l«ucy IStrki-r Tin- 1'ittriarrh ClaaiU- Coepst Dr. Hunting* i;,ti-r> Mc« iarry Mrs. H e e l (lertrudi' llillnian Mrs. Mattery Mr*. Charles Wlllarti Katherlne MacDonald in "My Lady's Latchkey,** at the Strand for its initial run'In New York, com- pared In the present production with her two previous pictures, "The Notorious Miss Lisle" and "Cur- tain,** one notices a consistent prog- ress toward greater poise, a surer command of herself aifd a well- defined as well as Individual act- time attempting to guide the boy through suggestion, The father is ap admitted chaser, a polished love maker with the wealth, poise and health to back that np—an ideal male vamp, and **A Male Vamp" could have been the title. The father plays no fa- vorites. As the picture starts his current prey is a married woman. Alice Lathom (Kathleen Kirkham) with a drinking husband (William Conklln). Mrs. Lathom Is sWaylng and on the verge through tiring of her husband's indifference and bestiality. Revel knows she Is about to fall. They meet in the t.nJy Myra Inglcby Paulln- Frederick Jim Airth Roy Stewart Sir Iieryck Drand Einm.«tt C. King Ronald Ingram Arthur Clayton Billy Cathcart J:*n Wllttnk Ma r g are t OMara Helen Wright Amelia Murjrntroyd Rose Oore ■MS* Murratroyd RsteSJ Mulr Suznnnah Murgatroyd.LydU Teamana Titus A quarter of a century or so ago the Laura Jean Libbey of England Ml Florence Barclay, who turned out romance after romance of the calibre known colloquilaliy as ''housemaid's delight" tales. They were mostly about lords and ladies, dooks and dookesses, etc. "The Mistress of Shcnstor.e" was one of them and has now been selected as la photoplay vehicle for Pauline park. He professes his love. She is aware of his rep and stands him F redorlcks who is starring under lng ability. There is still a monot- Mansfteld. mere portrait" studies to I ony of expression and her familiar display her pretty hair, has piciorlal | agonlxed look about the eyes. But she Is so beautiful to look upon. individuality. Unless Miss Mans field has more talent than she dis- played in this feature, she will not get far as a star, because the day of pretty faces masquerading as actresses has passed; and her pro- moters will realize that the make- up of a lasting star does not come in a paint box only. The picture may get by on Tearlc's name, but his reputation will suffer wherever it does. off, Says she will see when becom- ing convinced he can be faithful to at least one woman. Leaving her at the park's clandestine meeting, Revel goes directly to his club, where he stands as a boastful beau and tells his cronies there marriage is for no man—he can get any of them in 30 days and most of them in two weeks. The son has grown enamored of the cabaret dancer. This picture makes Nelly Steele (Miss Vidor) a graceful dancer of the model kind, living at home with her aunt and a dissolute brother, meantime foiling the advances of the cabaret's man- ager and at the same time having naught but business relations with her male dancing partner. It eventuates the father learns of his boy's infatuation for the dancer, and, believing the boy paramount to his own immediate affairs, de- cides to ascertain for himself to what extent the girl will go, Beau, as customary of his set. having but one opinion. He successfully urges his son to give him two weeks' time with Nelly, and. says the father, if Nelly is not at his (father's) apart- ment at midnight two weeks from the date the father agrees the son shall marry her. The son agrees with himself that If the girl Is there he will kill his father, and on the night two weeks after the boy Is watchfully waiting outside his home at midnight with a gun in his pocket. During the two weeks there have been scenes between father and son, with the son fre- quently restraining himself from striking his parent. It is such 'scenes as ihia throuyhom -tin? yne- ture, where violence would have been perfectly permissible, that Mr. Wray invoked that rcpres« ; on which does so much for the picture as a "piece of til mart. The rrirl goes to the father's home at midnight on the fatal evening, but not fur the purpose the son sus- pects. She was unexpectedly drawn there to save her brother on a ei im- inal charge, the only Illogical bit of the feature. The same afternoon the father had proposed marriage to the dancer, for she oniy. of all tin women he h:id met, is the one he wants to marry. The father, aware his boy may be lurking about, is seized by fear and hides the girl M the son is about to burst into the room. The ensuing argument be- tween father and son biinsrs the Kirl back into the room. She de- nounces the father as loving no one, either herself nor the boy, only hie nun pleasure, and spurning both fsther and son returns to her cab- nri-t dressing room, where the son follows, after placing the revolver on his father's table to acquaint him THE FAITH HEALER. Michaelia Milton Sills hii'Mia WMlinma ....Ana Forrest Matl'M-w Better Frederick Vroom Mn». JJoeter Fontaine I>* Hue Ar.no Iteelex Mary Gt:a»*i Uncle Abe „ John Curry Dr. l.lttl -r- id. A !..lph M"n„'uu Dr. b'anetae« Howard Vroom A Mother Winifred Greenwood the Robertson-Cole trade-mark There isn't enough action in the tale to make of it more than a two- rceler, but it has been dragged out to a full hour's length by resorting to lengthened emoting scenes for the star, photographic reproductions of surging seas and so on. As a matter of fact, the story is over the first 500 feet, wherein it Is related that I^ady Ir.glesby's hus- band has been killed at war. not in battle, but through an accidental explosion during an experiment with a new invention, and the widow says she doesn't wish to know the name of the man who made the fatal error, as she could not touch his hand. She goes to an isolated Inn at a quiet seaside place and there meets ar.d falls in love with a man who had Just returned from the war and is writing a book. Need it be said, he is the very man who had accidentally, killed Lord In- glcsby? Hut it should be stated he turns out to be "a earl." Despite the crudity of the plot and the certainty of the denoue- ment, Director Henry King has brought to It a wealth of English atmosphere, with fine detail as to character types. The drawing- rooms, exteriors and selection of lo- cations cannot be criticised ad- versely. It was noticeable that, despite the brevity of dresses prevailing every- where, Miss Frederick's Browns were all of most sedate length. As "the war" Is spoken of. it is presumed this refers to the recent world cor.- fj.'ct, and this is borne out by the modern attire of the men, The buy other women in the cast were rhar- AOters nnd no period was specifical- ly Indicated. The whole thing lacks action. Jolo. FORD STERLING ABROAD. liO.s Angeles. March 16. Ford Sterling, the comedian, is on his way tr I'm rope. He lcCt Los Angeles for ban Franeiseo. and after a day his wife, Teddy Samp- son, followed him. A reconciliation between the two is said to have occurred there and they are to make the trip abroad together. "The Faith Healer," a George Melford (Paramount) production. Is not screen entertainment. The, thought is inescapable that its sole excuse for being is that somebf ly in the La sky organization thought they had another "Miracle Man" and determined upon screening it in the hope of duplicating the earnings of the latter. It never will, because neither in dramatic appeal nor cinematographic quality does it ap- proximate its model. Adapted by Mrs. William Vaugh;.n Moody and Z. Wall Covington from the play by Mrs. Moody's husband (also author of "The Great Divide"). "The Faith Healer" is a slow, cum- bersome thing, so depressing ly devout as to be damnably dull. No censor will snap and snarl at this offering, because there is nothing live enough in it to attract a censors attention—unless a close-np of a babe feeding at its mother'-, breast runs afoul of the censorial itba of decency. If Mr. Melford se'octen this story for production, his judgrrent of screen values is slipping; if he had it forced on him, he is a victim of misguided merchandising. Tech- nically, Melford ha. done as Well as could be expected with the material at hand. He has brought forth some sha; p- photography, good lightings aud fair acting. But he has not produced drama, because there was none there to produce. The main thought of "The Faith Healer* 1 is so strongly similar to .hat of "The Miracle Man" as to cause speculation whether Moody gvt ft from Packard, author Of the latter, or vice versa. In the Packard play there were high lights and action, in this there is neither, nor is there the s'ighest comedy relief. The whole thing is the essence of triteness and solemn preachment. The titles overpoweringly leaden and sleep-Inducing, The "master mi:id" that figured this for a twin of "The Miracle Man" as a monejr-getter let his photographically, and so modlshly gowned — or comparlsoned? — that she is, as always, a delight to the eye. "My Lad's Latchkey" was adapted for the screen from The Second Latchkey.** by C. N. and A. M. WIN liamson, and is . ndoubtedly the last work to roach the screen * by the famous collaborators, due to the re- cent death of C. N. Williamson. It is a crook play.' staged with a high degree of intelligence, and. therefore, will appeal to every type of mind among photoplay fans. It starts off absorbingly. The plot opens aboard an ocean greyhound where Ruthven Smith, the trusted International representative of a big diamond merchant. Is guarding a rare collection of gemson Ihelr way to London. In the stillness of the night a shadowy figure mysteriously enters Smith's stateroom and afu-r applying chloroform to the s l e ep er ' s nose departs with the precious iewel belt. In London. Annesley .f'.rayle, tired of a drab IKc >ears' existence spent in a house of gloom with her aunt, Mrs. Kllsworih. answers a news- paper advertisement for a traveling companion to an elderly lady, hope- ful of breaking away from her pres- ent monotonous life. Awaiting the "elderly lady" in the Savoy Hotel. she is accosted by a young man. ostensibly an American, who. Ul ap- parent trouble, begs her to save him from an impending calamity by pie- tenrling to be his Wife. She is, nat- urally, astounded by this proposal, but the man s distress appears so great that she sgrces. The young man gives his rurme as Nelson Smith: the two ><iunyr people depart the girl's home, which is als«. Sterling, who has been In New York for a week, Stopping at the Claridge, said h» i would sail on the Olympic. March 19, for an indefinite stay in Furope, but made no men- tion of his wife accompanying him. for the London home of Kuthven Smith. The latter, thinking Nelson is an- other robber, lhvs his revolver, the house Is aroused, whereupon she de- clares they are engaged. The affair enrages the aunt and she orders the girl from the house and the young woman i.s so bewild- ered she leans upon Nelson and ac- cepts his hand in marriage At a ball given after the marriage it Is revealed to the young wife that her husband is a thief. She overhears his declacaiion to the thieving gang of which he is a member that he will go straight nnd that the pro- posed robbery of the house must not take place. It all ends happily with the redemption of the husband, who is really the elar because his is the This new Realart feature with Justine Johnstone. Is a symposium of neatly all the bad features that can be packed into a single film. It la made up o€ the cheapest *or»; of sloppy sentimCnt, but it has an in- trigulng title. There are moments wher. the pathos of the heroine's sufferings are positively maudlin, as false and artificial as Miss Jolmstone's gly- cerine tears and as forced as* the star's acting. As a commercial pic- ture it ought to be profitable in the rural districts, where such ballads as '^There's a Broken, Heart for Every Light on Broadway," and "You Made Me What I Am" and that school of so-called lyric writ- ing are popular. It belongs to that class. In addi- tion the story is crudely handled in its translation from the story '•Emergency House," by dioney Morgan. E. Lloyd Sheldon made the scenario and the filming was directed by Jack Dillob, who divide blame for a poor product. The story is halting. It starts well enough and goes slowly to a climax that has long been foreseen by the audience. But then the film is too short to make a feature, so it be* gins all over and goes to three or four climaxes, each time' labor* iously working up a new prepara- tion for a superfluous development. Lola is-a Broadway dancer on in- timate terms with all the "Kings" of finance. The Imagination Is in- vited to go as far as it likes in elaborating what "intimate" im- plies. She entertains the captains of industry at their ultra-intimate "30 Club," where a couple of the money barons bet $20,000 that she cannot make a certain charitable doctor "fall" for her. She sets out to do just that, but In the process has to become the doctor's aid in his settlement work. Anyone who bas followed the strictly moral film movement will understand immediately that the butterfly's heart is touched by the nobility of self sacrifice and she is reformed into a saint. She cashes hor bet to build a private hospital for the doctor. If that were worked out with any sincerity it might be made Into a reasonably satisfactory picture story. But tho regenera- tion is only the half-way stop. The scenario man has to introduce an- other chapter. So ho has a friend of the doctor tell the lurid life story of the dan- cer. Including the bet. The girl Is made to understand that she will ruin the doctor's career unless she disappears. 3he agrees to vanish but only after she has discouraged the doctor from loving her-by hav- ing him attend a wild party at her apartment. This treatment is effective and besides permits the director to interject a tou h of pep in the form of high life in the wicked city, such as is calculated to make quarters jingle in the box offices of Lafayette, lnd., and sub- ordinate points. The accomplishment of this nar- rative would make another com- plete story, but when it is told in the Realart picture, the film is still considerably short and they begin for the third time to devise new complications of counterfeit fiction, childish in their transparency and even more sloppy in sentiment, while a toes y audience awaits with Impatience to see what more agoniej a heartless seer.ario car- penter will muke the poor girl go through i>efor<- he completes the invoiced fi.ooo fret between the main tith and the hideout, clinch. There ;.r»> plenty more heart th cbs A freckled hoy is made to die to slow music, his mother Is forced to k<) Insane and gathci a moil of tenement house matrons in a murderous mass meeting just as the heroine drives up in her dis- graceful party decollete, They are about to tear her limb from bmb when He doctor teaches the seene and saves her, damaged but still beautiful in her torn finery and a halo of glycerine. Laura Jean herself could go no farther In mushy slobber. Hush. IF ONLY JIM "If Only Jim" is a typical Uni- versal v\ .stern with Harry Carejf active and hers more or less a pas- sive role. Mtss ifaCDonald Is assisted by an excellent cast, including Kdmund Lowe as the romantic hushand; v;sion glide along the surface of Claire Du):rey, a splendid heavy; things.-Ho saw h.#j a title, which would possibly suggest to the pub- lic another "Miracle Man;" a cen- tral figure who did exactly what the other did, except that in this case there was a young "healer" instead of a patriarch, and a chance to work in "love interest;" and an opportunity to assemble a concourse of limping, suffering humanity as was done in the other. On the face of it, the parallel ap- peared complete. But the picker overlooked the fact that ther were real psychology and human appeal I In the picture which- George Loane Howard Claye. Lenore Lvnard, Thomas Jefferson. Helena Phillips featured. It is a maudlin piece of cheap melodrama, with three cheap sets in it- One Bet gives a view of the main street in a mining town, another shows the interior of a saloon and the third Carey's cabin. A dozen or so people appear in the picture, but Carey and Carol tomas Jerrerson. Helena Phillips. Halloway are the only ones that The feature has been ruthlessly' count. An "assistant villain' has a cut to make excellent speed and the settings and technical adornment all that could be desired. But the letter inserts are quite illegible. Why produce. 3 adhere to this form of annoyance to the picture-goers is one of those things not readily accounted for. The public would probably be much more pleased to have this sort of thing rectified than with the passage of censor- ship laws. Jolo. more or less feverish fight with Carey and there Is a comical gun fight among the rocks around tne hero's mining claim, but outside or these there is no action. For no reason at all, the hero, who get n J sobriquet of "If Only" through h constitutional proscrastinatlon. ■ made to pose as a preacher, inw "church meeting" probably taking rank among the first worst pieces of business ever dragged ird<' a pa ture by its heels.