Variety (October 1921)

42 PICTURES r" :*■ *' Prid«7, October i, 1921 A TRIP TO PARADISE "Curley" riynn Bert I.ytell Nora 0'Bri«n VtrcliUa Valll Meek Brlnaley Hhaw Widow noland Unire Vln Moore Mr«. 8mllcy Victory Bateman Mary Bva Oordoa •*A Trip to Paradise" Is a tdm ver- sion of Franz Molnar's pUy "Liliom," adapted by iSenjamin F. QIazer, avt- oario ])y June Mathls—directed for Melro by Maxwell Karger, and star- rinf Bert liytell. • The story has been Americanized, the «cone laid at Coney Island, with the role of Liliom idealized both in dress and moral?. Instead of him being a panderer who preyed iii>on servant girls and wouifU in Rimilar walks of life, the circus barker is depicted as an indiistrinuH young man who, when he finds the girl has been kept out too late to go home to her aunt's house, takes her to a ho- tel aAd registers as "man and wife." The clerk is suspicious, but he flashes his marriage certificate and every- thing is regular. It is not explained how he secured the certificate at one a. ni.—a faux pas not often perpe- trated in modern photoplay direction. Instead of killing himself, as in the stage version, the barker steps in the \Tay of the revolver i<hot intended for the man whose house is being robbed. He is seriously injured but doesn't die. He has a vision of Heaven while under the influence of ether on the hospital operating table; he recovers, isn't prosecuted, gets* his Job back and lives happily ever after with his wife and son. In other words the original Hungarian character studiy has been twisted into a conventional melodrama with a "happy ending." The picture runs about 70 mln- utrs, is carefully acted and directed throughout but with nothing dis- tinctive in any department to In- dividualize it from an ordinary pro- gram feature. Jolo. HOME-KEEPDTO HEABT8 Cameo Classics produced "Home- Keeping Hearts" for Playgoers Mc- tnres. releasing through Pnthe. It is a screen version of the Charles W. Barren story, "Chains," directed by L'arlylP Ellis. The story is described as a "ro- mance of regeneratiou," the remaking of an ox-comict, worked out in the style of a rural drnma. Uobert Colton (Thomas H. Swin- ton) serves a ten-year sentence, upon circumstantial evidence. During it, his motherless daughter i« taken care of by skin-flint Hquire Tend, a local I>«litical boss. Upon the father's re- lease he ia p(|t to work m the Hquires creamery whith has n mon- oi)oly in the community. The far- mers revolt against the institutio^ threatening* to start a community creamery of their own. This enrages the owner who by bribery has the government inspectors condemff^ the cows of the instigators of the new idea. lie is also mixed ui> in school umtters by appropriating funds votetl for the repairing of the school. At the lorn I election he fails to becuro his rc-rlcction and barrly rsiapes wKh his life following a fight with one of the cow insijertors. This brings nbout a change of heart and t»ll rmh serenely. There is a bit of a lovo story interwoven witK the PX-ooMvict nnd the school teacher ho- nig toK»'ther in the linnl ilosc-up The mriitM of this production are few :>Fi«l far between. I'oswib'v iu the Minaller houses it will suffice, Ihe (oiivict idea is fnr from new with the twists in this Ktory failing to Hnpply sufficient strength to gaiu recognition. The ca.st in addition to Swintou Midudes Mildred Kyan. rx)u- plla Curr. Kdward CJrnce and Henry \\ est. They fit their parts accept- ably The production end is far from ?ostly. A ch<'ap feuture. PILGRIMS OF NIGHT I.onI KIHn;rhRm l^wI. .m. ston- V^K '"'^ ""►'>'^ '>'' R'^'ncr »-n«lv b,)llnrham K-'thl. . ., Ktrkhi.ti, rni V"., Hayn.onrl lint ton ^'*""^''' ■■■■Fr.nk I.HRh The K. I'hillip.s Oi.penheinj story. Passers Bv.' adapted for the screen ami i.r.> .>:U(m1 ns a .1. L. Frothi4ij?ham pro.lu<ii..n. direct!. I by Kdward SoinoM. wMl, ,1,,. ,i,l,. rhiuiKcd to .IHpnms <,f (I... NIkI.!.- The picture IS :i fMitly mippmj; ,|,.;^rctive tale that will plci.sr t)„. i.v.M-auc pichire nudi- leiue a.tho„;.h it is nothin- to nive about, riir Associated I'loducers re- lease. .Mr Sloinon n,:ule the picture on the Unirifou lot mikI hr let himself run ;sild on nt least tw.. sets |.„th intet*i()r s, that mus t Iimvc c.si n lot of coin iu that studio. One of the sets wasn't at all necessary. It was the one showing the interior of the home of Lord Kllingham. Otherwise the picture seems to have bad its ax* pense held down outside of the cast, which was a capable one. ^iewis 8. Stone plays the lead and carries it along convincingly. Uubye De Uemer is his daughter, but in her c^se it cannot be said that the passing years have proven her camera proof. She has also seemingly passed up the matter of detail. In the slum scene she permited herself to be shot with a wave in her hair that must have cost at least $!*, nnd ahe is supposed to be starving to death. It is in the heaVy section of the cast that the honors are handled to greatest advantage. Frank Leigh is most convincing and William V. Mong ns a hunched-back organ grinder is n work of art. linymond Hatton as a fastidious French fop detective pleased nightly and Walter McGrail slaving the juvenile lend as an Eng- lishman whose hobby is work among the criminal classes, got by. The story is of u father who has permitted his brother-inJaw to rear his daughter as his own, so that she might not know he was serving a prison sentence. When released the former compels his assistance in a number of crimes under the threat of informing the daughter. Finally the police rupture the real criminal a»d the assistant makes flis getaway. The girl fs (■om|>elled'to take an oath to hunt him down nnd bring about bis death. But through the young English criminologist the truth is learned and she is restored to the Arms of her real father. Mr. Slouoo was at fault on at least two occasions in editing and as- sembling his film. He permitted one of his characters to walk from one scone into another with a change of attire and later he uses a written title and a slip denoting nn address when it was entirely, unnecessary. LUXURY The name of the producing company of this Kubye I)e Remer feature could •ot be gained at the showing at the Stanlev Monday night. Picture started by merely introducing the name of Marcel Perez a« the author and director. Possibly the producing company preferred to remain in obliv- ion. It could linrdly be termed a succeaaful effort tor any company. The theatre also failed to use any of (he usual display paper outside. The story is light and mediocre. The picture contains but one klea, the kidnapping of a young nthn on his brfdal night. It is bo worked out as to lead one to believe he has been taken uway by a rival suitor^ It is learned* however, his own steiTorother did the trick to secure more than his share in the father's wUL Miss De Rcmcr is the girl he is to marry. Her screen aj>Qeaniuce is invariably a sue. cess but even her looks are wasted in this production. Walter Miller as the mnn ni)nears to be a find. He should develop into a strong leading man. Other players inelr.ded Fred Knigren. Henry Pemberton and Tom \ A. Magrane. The production displayed some at- tractive interiors. There is a great abundance of chasing around la auto. mobiles and the introduction of a de- tective lA'ho marks himself so distinct ly as a sleuth that most of the effect i is lost. I , A program picture that can Gill in ' on#oK nights in some houses. The «tory is not worthy of the star. Frank Mayo Romtrries UniTersal's New York office re. ceived a wire Monday from the coast announcing the marriage of their star Frank Mayo to Dagmar (iodowsky, daughter of the famous pianist, Sun- day. A divorce decree became final be- tween Mayo and his former wife only last week. ImliiiMiiiiuni MiniiMimitiiiiiiuiii llllllllllllfl|IIIMIIIIIItll|^^s^lll|lll|IMItlMlll|. :f r«te.., AM ^-.» f,>- I 'I i \t -:i ■■ 4'K E'XCEPTIONAl! PICTURES .Nv Vefe/ffy^ QiAipsiQflc) Sale liyinqseyen di/ferenf cAarac^err I * The initial endeavor in motion pictures ^ of America's foremost delineator of rural types portraying, probably for the first time in motion picture history, seven distinct characters in a feature picture" a production that is so unusual it is destined to create a new star in films while bringing to the silent drama a personality already beloved of the amusement going public throughout the country , li^i yi, C' V 6 ■^:^^ Exceptional Pictures Corporation. ALEXANDER BEYFUSS Vice-President fir General Maniner ExoeuUve Offices 1540 Broadway, New York City ^V\ ■ /] The Marvel of the Photoplaip's Art h % M '/ 'iliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiii h iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiMiiiii \