Variety (July 1922)

■V Friday/July T^_W^ PICTURES S9 THE DICTATOR T>iAV4>rH (Paramount) adaptation '•*"l"!/HarJing DaviB- play originally * ^'^'^^ WMUam Collier, now made into K>'»'^ ''^/«-m with acenarlo by Walter pcreen ^^^'^cruzt. director. Wallace KS %tar^ s^PorieU by LUa Lee. At the Rlvoil, Ju'y^^ Wallace Held Brook Tr'iv era-. • • Theodore KoBloff carlo* R'v*" LllR !.<•€ ••Biff" Dooley ^,j^^ jjj^jg Babos ••••; •'•The Dictator" is the same happy »>it of nonsense on the screen it was 5n the stage, probably a little fun- «ler because the screen presenta- fion has an elaborate scenic back- ground which throws the humor of •h« action into more distinct relief, comedy is largely a matter of con- trasts The best the stage produc- Son could do was to use the lim- ited scenic equipment, but the Lrreen version bacio up its bur- lesque with what amounts to a pageant. The pomp of South American of- ficialdom in its settings of tropical loveliness Ynakes a perfect back- «-ound for the harum-scarum ex- nloits of the matter-of-fact Ameri- can hero. Half the fun of the whole affair is the burlesque of Latin- American politics, and the picture, gives greatest scope to the building up of the ridiculous pretense t»f nolitical magnificence. What could be funnier than the incident of a tough and commonplace N^w York chauffeur going through all the cere- monial of an execution by a .squad of highly impressive and Ijighly im- pressed soldiers of the trick repub- lic of "San Ma nana," ruled by •weekly revoluiion», official and so- cial ritual of tne most imposing kind and i the American banana trade. This execution scene was a delight- ful bit of broad travesty as it was handled by Walter Long In the character of the tough chauffeur, "Biff" Dooley, who followed the hero through all his adventures to col- lect a 160 taxi bill run up.by the hero In a tour ol Ux« Mew York stage entrances. The revolution itself is a riot of absurd spectacle, and the whole thing is surrounded by magnificent palaccH and beautiful tropical scenery which give an added touch to a situation already comic. Heid plays the blundering young Ameri- can with ju.st the right touch of casual nonchalance to give point to its broad absurdity. Lila Lee makes a charming dark-eyed hefolne, and the picture Is rich in pictorial sur- prises. The whole bill was framed to keep comedy to the fore. The two other items in the surrounding f>rogram were a whooping Mermaid farce with custard pie incidentals and a burlesque novelty. The latter was a scream from start to fiiM.^^h. They had taken a sentimental ;ilm melo- drama of a past gencrati(tn, "Moun- tain Laurel," and turned it into a roaring travesty by means of comic titles. The action was intensely seri- ous (it is probable they used • re- print of the original one-reeler) and the titles were riotous. When the hero, hunting in the Adirondacks, mistakes his friend in the woods for a deer and shoots him, the title shows a pair of dice and makes a pun on the game of craps by say- ing: "He shoots a buck." The whole thing was full of like fooleries. In the case of the feature the title writing also contributed greatly to tliQ comedy. The taxi chauffeur was always butting into thrilling situations with his demand that he be paid his "sixty berries." In addition to the comedy flavor (again an interesting touch of con- trast) they staged a capital patriotic display appropriate to the week of the 4th, with the audience standing for the national anthem while Susan Ida Clough stood posed as Liberty holding an American banner flanked by uniformed men at "present arms," representing the navy, ma- rine and artillery divisions of the service. and sang "The Star Spangled Banner." Rush. OLIVER MOROSCO presents his big stage success a m HALF BREED" A Story of Tradition's Barrier and How the*Half Breed Smashed It— with Wheeler Oakman THRILLS! THRILLS!! THRILLS!!! Thousands of steers fn wild stampede! A freight train cutting off on one side; the sheriff's ik>Hf\e on the other— all wedging a man and girl thundering for the border! • YOU'LL THRILL —AND THROB — AND THRILL AGAIN AT THIS CLIMAX TO A DRAMA OF A HALF BREED PARIAH AND HOW HE CHOSE HIS MATEI GOD'S COUNTRY AND THE LAW Tho bilhiiK uvtH forth •Arruw Film i'o. prt-Htnts Jmncs Olivor ruiwoud'o 'Clod's Country and tbc Law.' " DirectiU by Syd- ney Olcolt. Marie Gladys Leslie Andre ,.,, Kr^ C. Jont^s p(>re Wm. II. Took*-r 'f'olit'n Ceiiare Uravitia Odchi Hope Sutherland As the title suggests, the picture is a hectic melodrama, very the- atrical and mad«» more so by its cumbersome and stilted titling. The picture would be rather ordinary except that it is saved by two con- spicuously good qualities—the act- ing is spirited and the settings are gorgeous. Another item in Ha favor is a .series of striking animal pic- tures, real mooue fteding close by iipparenlly in a wild»»rneH« pond, a close-up ctf an opossum, a lone wolf posed against a deep shot of what is ai)parently a wilderness land- seape and a trio of tumbling bear cubs, pi ts of the heroine. AM these (h'tails belong in the Curwootl Htory of the Canadian noith woods and supply a wealth of atmosphere. Kxcept for thofte things, the pic- ture would cla.<?8ify as a lalher trashy rotnanee. It is full of literary arlilicialities; too many things hap- pen at the behest of the dramatist and tlie long arnx of coincidence is stretched to the breaking. Dramatic situations are well t^nough if they grow up naturally and the literary device is concealed, but in this case the hand of the playwriglU is too apparent. The climax v/hi^ brings the villain to his punishment in the presence of all the persons he has wronged, assembled with more en- ergy than skill from distant places, is exceedingly transparent. The wickedness of the villain is grossly overdone and his punishment (he goes mad in the lonely forest, ap- parently the victim of a bad con- science) is rather blatant melo- drama. Curwood is usually better than this in his writings. He has a certain dignity and knack for cre- ating illusion. This picture has done for his story about what Rob- ert Service's verses do for Kipling. That is to say, the picture overdoes everything that Is Interesting in the original. The story: Dore, a whisky runner in the Ca- nadian borderlands, Is driven to flight by the Mounted Police and takes refuge with 'l*oleon, a white native. In return for the kindly woodsman's hospitality ho attempts to dishonor his daughter, and is driven off. He strikes through the wilderness and takes asylum with Andre, a young trapper, and his beautiful wife, Marie. Their kind- ness he al.'W) repays by assailing the young wife. While Andre Is away he abducts the girl, although how he proposed to carry a buxom young woman through the north woods woukl balk anybody but a scenario wrlti'r. It balked Dore, anyway, because when Marie recove'red consciousness she promptly escaped by leaping into the whirling rai)itls (the stunt would have been impressive if it had not been poorly faked), and Dore goes mad under the inlluence of the oppressive wilderness and his own evil deeds. Of course, Marie is rescued by the Northwest Mount- ed trooiKTs and is brought safely home in time to put the frenzied Andre into raptures. Obedient to the tcchniijue of the "movies," Dore's crazy wanderings bring him straight to Andre's door, where he conveniently falls dead at the feet of the constables who have been ordered to catch him "dead or alive." It takes a preity naive picture fan to swallow it all, but the scenery was unqucplionably ex<iuisite. Rush. on the death of her mother is left in the hands of her stepfather. The old boy likes the chickens and hangs around Ott's all night cabaret. I^etty Is supposed to go to work there selling cigars and cigarettes, but manages to make her escape on the advice of one of the girls In the place who Informs her that the river is pleasanter even though a quicker death. She is about to take a leap from a bridge in Central Park when the hero, who has been just turned down by the girl that he has been engaged to and vowed that he would marry the llrst woman ho met, walks in and carries out his promise. "When ho gets home with hia bride he discovers that there Is a note from a repentant fianeee-that-was and he Immediately tries to figure a way out of his situation. However, ho reckoned without his butler, who disliked the Mrs. Allerton that was to be and preferred the Mrs. Allerton that was. In the end the hero turns down the haughty society girl who gave him the mitten and whips the wicked stepfather. The picture does not appear to be of recent vintage, otherwise Row- land Lee has adapted rather olil stuff in the p.irading of models in evening clothes as one of the tricks to take up footage. Judging fmm what the models wear on parade in the majority of motion i>ictures women evidently go around from breakfast to bedtime in nothing but evening gowna. The cast has a quintet of out- standing figures. Miss Chad wick is most convincing at times, although overacts somewhat as the slum kiddie. James Rennie Is an Ideal hero In this case and Mona Kingsley nils the bill wonderfully as the haughty society dob. The haracter of the butler as depicted by Claude Gillingwater will endear him to the fans and Edward Plel a- the heavy more than registered that. So much so that the Capitol audience Sun- day night applauded the beating the hero administered, and when they do that on Broadway on a hot night It speaks well for the villain. Fred, THE GREAT ALONE Produced by the Went Co.isl Film Corp. under the, direction of Jacques Jaccard, with Monroe Salisbury star. Prewntvd by Isudore Bcrnstdn. Fiv«-reel north- western snow picture, released by Amer- ican. "Silent" Duval Monroe Salisbury Nadlnc Picard I>.iura Ansun Winston .SaHsonn Waller l^uw Mary MaclJonald Maria DrnKa liradley Curstairs CJoorgo WaRg«)ucr MacDonuld Hiihaid CuiniiiinKN THE DUST FLOWER A Panil King production made and re- leaKPd by <toldw.vn. Directed by Howlatid V, I^ce. A "t'inderella" story in five reels that ha5) appeal. I.,etty Ilelene Chadwick Ila.shlcigh Allerton Jamrn Hmnle .Strptoe Claude Oillingwnter Karbar.a Wallbrook '..Mona KingHlejr Judson Fln.sk Kdward I'eil Ott Ueorgo Poriolat A combination of society and slum stuff with a little Cinderella, type of girl raised from the dive by mar- riage to a wealthy m.in. The pic- ture Is prefaced by a title to the effect that the* cynical will not be- lieve it possible, but that it Is romance. Nevertheless it is inter- r.stiiip and it looks as though the majority of audieneeH will lik<! it, but it holds nothing unusual a.s a promise to the box office. Just a good program picture, but «ven they ! are few and far between lh*'se days. The production lia« lleleno Chad- wick as the principal player and her roles calls for h»r to be a hab- itu.'il runawa.v. First she runs away 1 from a cnnl stepfather wh«> wants li«r to become a ci^aret rirl in an all night cafe, then .'ifter the marriafje to the wealthy young so«'i«ty man she Tiiake.'-' two attempts to b<at it from th«; mansion wlM-r^ she is in- stalh'd li»'fore sh*- is HUee<;ssful and Mrially on tlw third try sli«' k« ts away. It doesn't sound thrilling hut It is inK'i♦•sfmg. f'.asil King wrote the story whiW' he was orir of tiM> Famous Authors f'olleff on that (;oldwyn ass« mbl« d. Ih< r«toi« it is rehaseil as '*A Ra.sil King I'ro(tn< ti'in." fiowl.nid V'.'I^e*- <lir< cl« il the story and haiulNd H V«'l V \i "11. Miat <:h.'idwlrk F>l.iyH T-etty, who A northwestern snow picture that must have been written according to Formula No, H. It cont.iins all of the stereotyped stuff usually, seen in this particular type of feature. Tho particular fault is in tha tempo, which at times tak«'a on the aspect of a "'slow motion" picture. In tho regular daily change houses tho picture will get by nicely, for it ha.s everything that ever made a good northwestern, and therefore this ono must perforce also be good; all th« others were. In direction there Is an effort matle to beclouti the plot and cre- ate suspense, but all it does Is to make the average auditor try to guess what it is about until just be- yontl the half-way point a series of cut-backs reveal what all the action has been for. Usually it is advis- able to let the audience In on tho secret, no matter how much tho players may be supposed to be in the dark as to the causes for variou.«» happenings. The story is that of a h4ilf-bre€Ml educated at college (refer back t«> "Strongheart") wh<» because his full wliite brothers snub ^ini decides to return to tho land of his people. Ho is sent north by the head of a min- ing and trading company, who had been befriended by the boy's father^ to investigate Irregularities at a cer- tain trading i)Ost. At the Opening of the film he is at the post, and it is New Year's eve. Word is brought in by an Indian guide the factor's daughter la snowed in at a cabin down the pass. The half-breed hero starts out to rescue her. A co-worker of the fac- tor, who is responsible for the Irreg- ularities, sends two men after tho hero to 8e<> he doesn't return. Ho outwits them and returns with the girl, leaving behind at the cabin hl« Indian cohipanlon to try to nurH*> back to life thQ.mftn accompanying the girl. The latter Is one of those who snubbed the boy at college. When the girl returns to health and her lover is rcBtored to her ami the half-breed in the meantime ha.«# compelled the villain to walk out of the scene, he resigns from the company and In the final fade-out is at a cabin In the "alone" with a half-breed woman. There are a lot of snow In the pic- ture and some particularly goo<l storm stuff. Also the usual dog nled, ftome shooting and a corking fight between the hero and the heavy. Salisbury overacts throughout and hangs onto the lens to the laAt fraction of a second, seemingly largely responsible through this for the slow action. Maria Draga, who plays the girl, docs some clever emotionalism and scores. Walter I..aw' as the heavy handled his role at about the same tempo as did Salisbury. In one scene In which the two meri^and Laura Anson, aa the half-bre|^ girl, appearedHhc ac-* tion was so slow as to be painful. Fred. Booked by the Keith Circuit for a Total Number of Days Given to Very Few Productions ^ ,5&- of the NORTH SI A lentation at the Capitol, New York; an dinary house-filler wherever shown; characters ized by S. L. Rothafel as one of the four mostj distinctive features he has ever shown and th«^ sensation of 1922. It'a unbelievably good! A Revillon Freres Production Produced by ROBERT J. FLAHERTY, F. R. G. S.