Variety (April 1922)

r Friday. A pril 1», 1922 PICTURES iS « OLD KENTUCKY HOME ., rA«.i peml-rural crook melodrama. A ii«;fjJ/Sy Anthony Kelly, produce,! •«''»*S? ,W,«.i Pictures und»"r direction of W '^^^'"smallwood. lUleaaed through Hay '-• coow*y A Coowfy C.'rf. Julia Swayne (!ordon Sfe"v'/McK.nna y...AVilliani «^uirk Mpre Is a picture that is at once a .rnhination of "In UUl Kentucky" *nd ••Turn to the Right." at least J- far as certain essentials of the Sot are concerned. It has as its wo the erring son who has been Slroaded to prison for a crime he Md not commit: a couple of crooks that have met him after ho gets out of stir and who bocomo his pals «nd reform and a horse race scone for the thrill. It isn't a whale of a nlcture by any means, but it is a tvDe of feature that should go out JJid clean up considerable money on a steady grind. It was rushed into the Central. New York, this week without any crcat exploitation to put it over. The chances are that a campaign beln run in a daily paper against stock selling propositions which un- dertook to give the low down on the Pyramid Corp., which made this production, is one of the rea.sons for It being brought into Now York so hurriedly. The Pyramid people i wanted to show that th»»y were " really on the job of producing and that it had a picture worthy of be- ing shown on IJroadway. "My Old Kentucky Home" looks as though it cost the Pyramid peo- ple Just about what they claim, somewhere in th3 neighborhood of I8O.OO6, with prints and advertising, and the production looks fully good enough to gross about three times that. gigrid Holmqulbt plays the lead, with Monte Blue as the hero. The 1 two pair up rather nicely and the I Swedish star manages to again im- * press in this woduction. Blue has a tendency to overact at times in the matter of facial expression. Ar- thur Carewe played the heavy In a matter of fact manner that neither impressed or detracted from the pic- ture. It was William Quirk and Lucy Fox, however, that carried off the greatest honors of the produc- tion. Quirk was one of the crooks and Miss Fox had the role of a country girl. She is a rather pleas- ing little brunet, who photographs like a million dollars and who seem- ingly has the necessary to get over on the screen. As a matter of fact she looks like a real bet for the fu- ture. Frank Currier, Julia Swayne Cor- don and Matthew Bet/, in character roles managed to score nicely, espe- cially Miss Gordon in the role of the mother. The direction of Mr. Smallwood left much to iTe desired at times. His action was rather slow in the earlier portion of the story and later he permitted small matters of detail to escape him. One or two of those were quite noticeable. But the pho- tography Is good and the locations and sets are all that could be asked. The horse race stuff is particularly well handled. Fred, got hold of the letter through a maid at the escort's boanling house, which had a front that said it was anything but a boarding house, while the interior belled the front, but still the escort lived there in the picture. The maid copped the letter and sold it to the same politician. When Mrs. Haggard went looking for the letter, .«?he finally landed in the oHlce of the politician with $7,000 in cash. Ho wouldn't take that for the letter but offered to take it on account. When the wife refu.sed to give it up, he grabbed it from her but not before she luul attempted to stab him with a pair of shears. The escort walking home that way, coinci<lentally, saw hor leave the place, InveHtigated, found the politician was dead, found Mrs. Haggard's pocketbook on the lloor and believed she had killed him. He hurried lo the llaggard.s' home, ar- riving there .shortly after the police comniissioiur had called. The com- missioner was there on business. [ posed comliiion that she spend ithi year. He has kept in touch with the executor that ho appointed to look after his "widow's* affairs, and has learned that she is being robbed by a society friend who is managing the business and who Is trying to marry her. On his return matters are quickly straightened out and the wife and hu.sband arc together in a (ijinch at the end of the picture. iMayo gives a rather clever per- formance, but the nasal makeup is quite palpable on the screen. Miss lireamer is all O. K. until she tries to emote when she is informed of hor husband's supposed suicide, then .^iic tlop.M. The direction docs like- wise in the last reel of the )iicture. Fred. COAST FILM NEWS Los Angeles, April 26. Reve E. Houck, Thomas H. Ince's studio manager, entered politics last week by winning a seat on the Cul- ver City Board of Trustees. HER MAD BARGAIN "Alad Bargain" is rLwlit. The bar- piiin ••onsists of a girl's accepting a 1 gift of $.')0,000 on the .spur of the mo- I mcnl from an artist under the sup- During thtlr playing engagement at the Mason opera house here Kolb and Dill were the guests of several house parties tendered by members of the picture colony. Among them wore Dr. H. W. Mar- tin, prominent ))nyslcian: Guy Price, ilramatic editor, and Mr. and Mrs. Sessuc Hayakawa. He knew Mrs. Haggard had visited Mark I'otts between 5 and 5.30 thai afternoon; Potts was the politician and had been killed between 5 and 5.30 that afternoon; why did you kill him, Mrs. Haggard; I did not, said Mrs. Haggard, believe anyrhinp you want to about me but don't believe that, and Davo Haggard himself In person standing there all the time. But he was a nice agreeable hus- band and let that pass too. Escort arrived, said he did the killing; then Vanetti happened In. Vancttl was a stool for the cops and a handy man for Potts; the com- mish knew Van, told everyone but Mrs. Haggard to hide and he over- heard what Vanetti had to say; that he had a letter and would sell it to Mrs. Haggard. Back came the commish, grabbed Van, told him to come through and Van confessed; said he should have taken the boat for Italy but wanted to sell the letter after killing Potts and copping the seven. The commish turned over the ex- pensive letter to Mrs. Haggard, wished them £Ood luck and blew. Husband DavA^around this time i^ot out of the hale and asked the es- cort why he had confessed to mur- der. Because said the escort with- out a tremor of the sheet, he had found Tess' pocketbook on the floor of Potts' office. Tess was Dave's wife You're a nice kid said Dave and come around often. That yellow pup stuff doesn't go any more Then Dave asked Tess to show him the letter. She did with halting fingers. He looked at It, turned It over in true picture fashion, then burned up the horrid letter that only said any- way Tess' marriage had been a mistake. After looking at Dave Taggart wandering through the film and not knowing what It was all about, it did seem'as though Tess had picked a flop for support at home There it is. A moral; either don't lie to your husband or don't wear a wedding ring. Miss Hawley did look good in this picture. Besides looking well, she did some acting, about the only one who did excepting Potts. Tough guy. Potts. bit over the Al Christie will .sail for ICurope at the completion of his present Dorothy Devore ctmiedy. H. D. lOd- ward.s, production manager for Christie, will also make the trip. Bloom illni laboratory. 7jJ0 Sunset boulevani, last week, doing damage estimated at $20,000. A pile of old films becoming jpnited when the sun's rays foevis9«<l through a sky- light is said to have made t!:e flatno. Cecil B. Do Mille, dlrei.'tor gejieral for J'aramount. received front page publicity In coai|t dallies last week when a report circulated that hi.i famous $25,000 diamond ring had been stolen. The ring had been mis- placed by tho director and wa.«i fomid a lew days later by a Japa- nese butler. The stono has been used in many Paramount i)icture«, hut has never been worn in a ring setting. a year and then conmiit suicide in order that the artist may collect $75,000 on her life Insurance. Her bargain is mad enough, but what of th»> artist who would survive and face prosecution for a conspiracy for fraud? The .«?tory Is absurd be- cause its foundation is false and Im- piau.sible Everything of character- ization and int^ident that is built on the framework is ruined because the l>lanting of the whole situation won't bear examination. Tho whole thing falls down on this point. If you can accept this wild condition you can swallow any- thing and the rest of the picture will be interesting, but if you decline to acquiesce (and who wouldn't?) what's the use. All the preparation Is crude. The heroine is forced to become an artist's model when the death of her benefactor turns her out into the world from a home of luxury to earn her own living. The artist is a cad and makes dishonor- able approaches. She takes flight to another artist on the floor below, and he protects her from her pur- suer. In a paroxysm of shame and discouragement sKe attempts to commit suicide by Jumping from the studio window, and the second ar- tist gives her the fifty grand. Of course, the year Is up, Alice has a change of heart and agrees to marry Tom, the sensational glver-up, and they are married. It's a pity the ba.se of the story Is so weak, for the picture has been very well done In all other respects. There are some splendid Interiors, designed with utmost ;akill. and the light effects throughout are highly artistic. Also the players act easily and convincingly, and there are in- cidental touches that are highly ef- fective For example, there is a capital bit of sentiment In the use .of an amusing youngster and sev- eral pet animals. All these points of excellence, however, are wasted for the central situation—the ele- ment from which the whole talc grows—sets up a resistance in the mind of the spectator that makes him cibsolutely refuse to accept tho people or the incidents seriously. Sentiment gets a reverse twist, be- cau.se It has its roots in a situation that is essentially farcical, and the drama takes its color of travesty Rush, Bobby V.'rnon lias lined "A Hit^k- ory Hick." Marie Prevost is back from N'ew York and busy with a new picture. A. C. "Curley" Stecker. animal trainer, has returned to Universal. Reginald Dermy is btisy with more installments of "The Leather I'ush- ers." Virginia Valll Is another star keeping busy rt U. Irving Ackerman and .*^am Harrl.% western manaKcrs for Loew, visited here la.st week for the purpose of securing a number of prominent film stars to attend tho opening.of the Warfield theatre in San Fran- cisco May 1. The showmen are said to have gained the consents of 50 film eclebrltles tQ appear at the opening. VMola Dana, Metro star, will head the party. Neely Edwards' latest comedy Is titled "A Hoyal Flu.sh." l.aura La Plante and Julia Leonard support the star. Another unit production manager has been appointed at Universal City to work with Martin Murphy and M. K. Wll.son under the super- vision of Irving C. Thalberg. Charles P. Stalllngs Is the :Tian. Ho has been supervisor of the location de- partment for some time. Fire cauped by spontaneous com- bustion wrecked the Interior of the Walter Hiers left last week for Kans.-is City, where he will eom- meu'c a special personal ai^pcaranco tour. Bex Ingram Is soon to leave for New York, whero ho will further plans for "f oilers of the Sea," his next Metro special. Trial of Ihe $10,500 damage suit brought by 11. A. Morgan, picture actor, against the William FoM Vaudeville company for all«gea breach of contract was begun hero last week. Morgan alleges that he entered Into an agreement, by the terms of which he was to receive $250 a week. GOOD NEWS! THE TRUTHFUL LIAR Realart (Famous layers) release with Wanda Hawley in a morality story by Will Payne. The moral is threadbare in pictures. It Is^don't lie to your husband, or don't do what he would not want you to do, or don't be a butterfly or any one of the many don'ts picture writers thought of, long after playwrights worked them dry. But fine for the film fan. Miss Hawley is the wife of an en- frossed engineer. That permits her to wear many and handsome gowns wru* ^^*^ ^^^^* furnished home. While her husband was away on Duslness, she wanted to play and hearing about a gambling room, inuuced a nice young man to escort n«r to it, along with others of the ^hist party. The gambling house y^as stuck up, the women obliged to leave their jewelry. While the wife and escort escaped during a melee uliat never would have happened under the circumstances), the wife nad to leave without a couple of '^•Jg?' ^^^ ^^^ wedding ting. The next day her husband sud- denly returned. ITpon kissing her lUfl^ '" ^^"^ picture fashion, also in "Hto fashion, ho discovered his wife was without her wedding ring. The *^'"e said she had sent It to the Jieaner. but then, again, a policeman "om headquarters called to say the commissioner had sent him with all "I the seized jewelry for Mrs. Hag- tJt *® *'^lect what belonged to her. And so the husband wanted to know uJa ^"^^^ ^" agreeable husband ^"^.Sot over that. In ha.'^to though ^[ the bawling out Mr. Haggard had ran*^ ^^ young escort, finishing by ^«"ing him a yellow pup, Mrs. Hag- huuu ^^^^^ escort a lettter saying rmii . "^^'•'^'' a'^ wrong, that she ^n 1 ? ^ ^^^ escort at tho house but ftprf ^^^ ^'"^ elsewhere. It was all perfectly ituioccnt, for escort during "e gambling house scrimmage, had oeen .«hot m the arm (pistol), ^ut this led up to a murdor of a ^-Z. ^^^" 'rooked politician, the «ame oiio who brought about the Kambllnff hold up when the [""staohed young man who ran the ^joint wouldn't give up. The politician The feature runs a „.. _ - ,^ ^, • v, i i usual length. Probably the moral | ^rom this absurd angle won't stand any more cutting. It's an ordinary weekly release other- wise, Interesting enough for the readers of the Sunday magazines. Sime. THE MAN THAT MAKRIED HIS OWN WIFE A Universal nve-reeler starringr Fr.ink Mayo. A Boclety drama that holds intfn st. but rather peters out al the end. JJirected by .Sfaurt Paton. ^ , ,. John Morton... Frank Mayo Mrs. Worlon Sylvia Brtamer Here's "Our Star Dick'* again in a new Here is a real blood-and-thunder tale of the sort that one finds in the cheaper fiction magazines. The title, "The Man That Married His Own ^Vife," sounds as though it might mean something to the box olli<e in the smaller town.««. but at Loews New York tho picture share;! a double feature bill early this week. The story has a lot of pep at the openmg. but it slows down toward the finish, at the time where there was oppor- tunity for some real screen susi)cnse. Tho wallop at the opening is the crash between a steam yacht on nhi«h a number of society folk are cruising and a sailing schooner com manded by John Morton (Mayo). IJoth boats go down, and out of the wrecks but three people emerge They are Morton and his mate and .Sylvia Preamer, who plays the hero- ine Just prior to the crash Morton had b«>en hit across the nose by the main boom and that feature shat- tered, marring his fadnl expression to a great extent. The society girl that is rescued by him becomes his wife, and during the war he becomes 1 ^.^j,,^ peddle a factor on the west coast and finally Haymond the most powerful single factor »n 'hipping circles. ^ ^ When he has achieved his fortune ho believes that his wife has ceased care for him and ho decides to THROUGH A GLASS WINDOW May McAvoy is the dainty dough- nut dipping star of this Realart that is being released by Famous Players. It is a corking little pic- ture of New York's east side life as the audiences in the hinterland un- doubtedly like to believe it Is, and therefore the picture' should be a pleasing one to that type of movie fan. The story is a cute tale that was evolved by Olga Printzlau, and Maurice Campbell directed the of- fering. The production suffers from the com..ion trouble with all Realart pictures. They have to be made within a certain figure, and there- fore street scenes and sets that have seen service on other occasions must be called Into use. Miss McAvoy, however, makes a charming little head of the family for scrc<n purposes. She is the doxjghnut wielder who lives with a widowed mother and younger brother, who sells papers. The kid gets into bad company, shoots craps and finally resorts to robbery, but only to get sister out of a nasty jam. He is pinched and sent to the reformatory, and sis in tho mean- time opens :i doughnut joint of her own and takes all the business away from tho man who formerly em- ployed her and accused her of being a crook. The result is that she has a neat little business going by the time hrr brotht r get.*; out of the can and turns it over to him while she Roes off and marries a wop vcge- * "■ r. McKec plays ihe lead one! ^ It has the big punch! It has the heart inter- est! It combines a big star with a big story taken from a Broadway suc- cess I f an d it'j We've seen it- got the goods! INSPIRATION PICTURES, Inc. CHARLES H. DUELL, President presents Richard Barthelmess in his third big feature for First National <<SONNY f f to pass out of her life, first arranging for a suicide plant to be effected. .Seemingly the story is quite pal- pable at this point, when one takes ♦ho title into consideration, but it ;. k.s a slight twist which brings added interest. Morton monies east opposite the star with comedy ef- fr.f. Ijurwell Hamrick, a youthful player, Is her brother and manages to get over his points nicely. Car- jie Clark Ward and Fannie Midg- f']y both 'Ontribute character old women that held interest, especially the comedy work of tho former. In sets the pieture does not show any expense; the big street ecenc, with the elevated road. etc.. has been seen lime and again and is as familiar ahno.st as one of tlio real corners in the city. Perhaps in time oiit-of-to\vn f.-«ns ulll come to New York and get lost trying to find the O'tual location. . Fred. From the play by George V. Hobart; adapted by Franci* Marlon • nd Htnry King Directed by Henry King A First National Attraction -^. •fj . ii