Variety (November 1922)

PRIDE OF PALOMAR CoMnopolitan feature (ParamouiU) cu- ■larrinfir Marjory LHtw and Formal Htanley. VVom Ihe novel of I'eter H. Kyno; scenario by Grant Carpenter and John I.yneh. Di- rected by Prank ilorsage. At the Kivoli, Nov. 1». Don Mike Forr*;** Stnnlry Kay Parker Morjoric )>aw Pablo Tote Df f'row Father I>(>minio Jainct> Harrow Don Ml;;uel jL«t>ph D.nvlinK John Parker Alfred Allen Conway Ceorue Nlchollt Okada Warner Oland Mrs. Paiker Mrs. Jes.'^ie Hebbard Batler Percy Williams Caroline Mrs. George Hcrnandex I^stulet Ed ward lirady Mrs. Supaldlo Carmen Arscella Norl Bacle Eye Alexandria Moat Mattoe The whole picture has as its sin- Slo object the exploitation oC the Californian'8 bogey man, the men- ace of the Japanese on the Pacific coast. Peter B. Kyne. the novelist, has all the patriotic fervor of the native non, and the producer is William Ilandolph Hearst, who.se attitude toward Oriental immigra- tion, and especially Japanese land- owners in California, is well known. It would not be at all surprising If the State Department n^ade some comment on this production, al- though the war-time situation which brought a protest over a almiliar subject put out by Pathe no longer obtains. But the anti- Japanese feeling is here expressed In pretty raw terms. One of the big scenes of the screen play has a scheming Jap. defeated in an under- hand transaction, make this decla- ration: "You won't sell me the land now, but some day I'll conif with a Japanese army and take your damned ranch." At his elbow as he speaks stands a marble bust of George Washington, and with the speech the Jap scratches a match across the face to light his cigaret. What happens to the Jap immedi- ately thereafter is ample. The story doesn't look or listen like Kyne as It comes on the screen. One gets the iQipression it has been doctored In the producing process'. Usually Kyne has a fine sense of dramatic sincerity and a good deal • of honest humor. This thing is forced and unconvincing. Its melo- drama is crude and nobody with a lively sense of fun could deal with the enormous sums of money with- out a grin. The penniless hero has to raise 1300.000 In a year to pay off the mortgage on the ranch; he wins a Kentucky turf classic with his pet horse, which goes at 100 to 1; and then he gets 12,000.000 for the property. For no good reason except that It makes a scene for the movies he di.sgulHcs himself as a Mexican when he goes to the track, and there are a lot of other Jarring artifices in the piece. But one thing about which there can be no adverse comment is the scenic beauty and splendid photog- raphy of the production. In its di- rection the play Is perfect and the old mission atmosphere of southern Californ'a gives It an enormous charm, a pleturesqueness of wlilch the cameramen has taken full ad- vantage. Some of the views around ancient mission churches are lovely and interiors and exteriors about a venerable Spanish ranch house are as delightful. But the story Itself is as artificial as the backgrounds are convincing in their loveliness. An eastern capitalist plans to foreclose on a mortgage on an old ranch property and turn It into a Japanese colonization operation by an irrigation project. The owner dies while his son Is in France with the A. E. F. But the son. Don Miguel (Forrest Stanley) returns in time to halt the plan. The war moratorium gives him a year's grace against eviction. The capitalist's daughter, Kay Paf-ker (Marjorie Daw), conspires with Don Mike, while the conspirators are opposed by Okada. a Japanese agent, partner in the colonization scheme. Okada summontj his secret agents to plot against Don Mike, and one of them shoots the soldier down from be- hind, but not mortally. Dou Mike is supported by a plc- ture.sque old contractor. Bill Con- way, amusingly played by George NichoUs. and an ancient servant of the household. Pablo, played by Tote de Crow. The contest goes on throngh six reels or so and has some efCecLive bits of screen melo- drama—such as the passage in which Pablo ropes the Jap assassin and drags him across the country, and a horse race; but its all pretty forced and an unconvincing the- atrical play without much sym- pathetic appeal for the eastefn au- dience to whom the Japanese men- ace is pretty remote. Ruth. PICTURES * EBB TIDE Oeorse Melford production presentod by Jesse hasky with practically an all-star cast. Adapted by Waldemar Tounr from the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson and I^loyd Osbourne. Shown at tb« Rlalto. New York, week Nov. 19. Ruth Alt water... ' T^H* I^* Robert Herrlck Jamas KIrkwood J. I.. IIulHh , Raymond Ilatton Captain Davis Oeorne Fawcett I Richard Attwater Noah Beery Tehura Jacquelino Losan r-«r.t Friday, November di, 1922 Charles Server, former city editor of four New York newspapers and for several years prominently iden- tified with motion picture produc- tion, has Joined the staff of in- structors of the educational depart- ment of the Palmer Photoplay Cor- poration. Here's Proof That SHADOWS Is a Great Picture f "One of the best pictures of the season." Phlla4elphia North American, Nov. ti. 9 "Gripping picture, designed to hold the interest of audiences from the start to finish." The PhiUutetphia Inquirer, Nov. tl. 3. "The capable, gifted and always dependable Lon Chane'y here accomplishes the charucterization of a Chinaman with that adroit artistry which ha^ made so outstanding the many varied roles he has assumed before the camera." ^ ; ; Philattelphia Public Ijcdger, Now tl. ^^ Thei;p Is an intricate and thrilling plot, and the setting makes the most of Its many opportunities for realism in the way of wind and weather a's in human emotions." Philadelphia Record. Nov. tl. s. 6. "The strongly human qualities of the characters, the developments of the plot and the atmosphere of of the tale are convlnclnply set forth by the pro- ducer and by Lon Chancy and his associates in the cast." , V . ' Neuxirk Ne%P3, Nov^ tO. Lon Clianey is the Chinaman. At first it seemed to us he was just acting the Chinaman, but doing it very well. F.iit in the closing reels of 'Shadows' he won us cntni.lctoly until we wanted to cheer and clap and stamp for bis Yen Kin." Newark Star Eagle, Nov. 18. hUmfdW PREFERRED PICTURES-Inc. DiitriWtil if AL-LICHTA4AN coapoa.ATi o n f!t iNswyoMKcnv "this started out as though It was going to be a whale of a picture, but Hlmmered down, lost its punch and finished as one of the usual run of program features that the Para- mount are releasing. Nothing out of the ordinary about it that will lift it above the class of the fair calibred box-office attractions, al- though it seemingly could have been turned into a sure-fire commercial hit. There Is one thing about it that is saleable and that is the South Se* Island dance that Jacqueline Logan does. Of course as a South Sea dance it doesn't hold a candle to any of them that Gllda Gray does, but in those parts of the country where they won't ever see Gilda the Jackie Logan wriggle will serve as a fair imitation, providing of course the censors don't break loose on it. James Kirkwood and L(la Lee might be picked as the two -fea- tured members of the cast. But with them are such clever* players as George Fawcett. Raymond Hat- ton and Noah Beery. That alone is a five-name fi'm combination hnrd to beat. The performa«»ces of Fawcett and Hatton are gems of character work and stand out. The direction is capably handled and the miniature sailing sloop <n a tropical storm is well inserted, although in the cuttin and editing there are a couple of shots shown supposedly days apart of the boat in sunlight that are identical, mark- edly so because of the wonderful manner in which the shadows fall upon the sails. That's bad detail in editing. Noah Beery plays the role of the heavy, who holds an uncharted pearl island as his liingdom. after he has slain his wi*e and his closest friend because he suspected them of having'an affair. The daughter is held by Him on the island and the natives are his subjects. To this island the storm-driven craft comes manned by its motley crew. Here James Kirkwood as Robert Herrick is regenerated through his love for Lila Lee. playing the daughter, and in the end after a couplo of deaths by violence, the burning of the boat and some cork- ing under-sea pictureJ^ the couple are found clinched in each other's arms for the final fade-out. The dance of Miss Logan as a native islander and the under-sea stuff are the best selling points that the exhibitor has in the picture, in addition to the cast of names. _ Fred. fortunately. Farnum sent for the Denver sharper, but when he ar- rived he turned against his own superintendent and tried to kill him. Almost succeeded, too. But when Farnum recovered and gave the Denver man a talking to on the sub- ject of mine business ethics, he was ashamed of himself and immediately signed oVe^ a half interest In the property to Chiquita. the heroine. Then the hero and the heroine got married in the ordinary course of events. The acting Is .s bad as the pro- duction and photography, with the single exception of Shorty Hamil- ton, who always Is a genuine sort of player, although his part was reduced to a mere bit in this pic- ture. Ruth. WEST IS EAST Sanford Productions sponsor* this inde- pendent Western distributed by Arrow. Pete Morrison ia starred. Story by- Marcel Perea. At the New York Stanley. Nov. 17. Crude melodramatic story ad- dressed to Juvenile fans and suit- able only for the most unsophsti- cated of audiences. Made acco'dlng to the dime novel formula of plenty of action regardless of plausibility. As illustrating the type of story, it may be related that the villain, who is scheming to get control of a western ranch, puts a spy in the household of the owner who reports to his chief via a radio oiilfit hidden in a discarded trunk in fne garret. The villain sitting in his Chicago office receives the aerial reports without getting up from his desk. When the villain wants to commu- nicate with his spy he merely un- hooks a telephone transmitter from his desk and goes to it. | There is a complicated plot hav- ing to do with a will which deprives the present ranch owner of his property and puts it possession of a poor girl whom he befriends, but how it got into the villain's hands is not clearly ahowa. There ar« other confuslnir angles. The real owner Is discovered as a servant In the house of an adventtiress who tries to marry tne ranch owner during a vlalt to Palm Beach, but how this wftfl brought about Is a mystery. It was also a confuslnir detail that the servant is on strictly business terms In a cap and atron at home, but goes bathing with^tbe fanlily and their guests on a basis of social equality. The picture Is full of raw breaks of this sort. For the finish all hands are on the ranch—adventuress, vil<- lain, hero and the poor girl—but how they got assembled is not d s- closed. By some scenario magic the villain had possession of a deed to the property and ho got the hero- ine Into a remote shanty, where he tried to force her to sign some sojrt of a paper for a vague purpose. When she wouldn't sign he strug- gled all over the place with her. Nothing more came of this scene until the hero arrived, whereupon • the hero ard the heavy clinched for more business of strugglng. When it was all cleared up it ap- peared that the heroine owned the ranch and the hero had no right to it. So the heroine tore up her deed, or maybe It was a will, and they got married. That much was satisfactorily plain, but -the intermediate stages by which they achieved this des r- able situation were badly confu-ed. It Isn't often they make 'em quite as bad as "West Is East." The title, by the way comes from the fact that the Western hero travels as far East as Chicago to engage in the contest over the property. They didn't seem certain about the title at the Stanley. The main screen title called it "West Is East.", which Is pretty s milar to the new Constance Talmadge picture from the Fay Bainter play, "East la West," but It was billed outside the theatre as "East A.gain8t V/es'." Not that a little discrepancy in titles means anything to a pkture like this. Rush. GOLD GRABBERS W. M. Smith pruduction apparently with a stock company headod by Pranklyn Karnum and with "Shorty" HanniRon. Al Hart and Ocnevieve Bertc in the cast. Western story by William Wallace Cook. Director not credited. At the New York Stanley. Nov. 21. This W another In a series put out by the same people. They all have been bad. but this is the worst It hasn't even reasonably good pho- tography and, in this day of tech- nical perfection, bad photography is inexcusable. The film has scarcely a merIL Its titles are long and wearisome and several of them con- tain grammatical breaks, such as the heroine's declaration. "The mine rightfully belongs to my father and I." This stock company appears to have gone in for mass production. They are using the same locations and It seems at times they are using the same script with minor changes and a new title. Like at least one of the others, this story is based on the struggle for a mine and a battle between the new manager and a gang of claim Jumpers. This is economy and efficiency gone to the extreme. The picture is machine-made. Whenever fertility of story runs out. four or five bad men Jump out of the bushes and the hero single- handed lays them out cold. Farnum. one of the least appealing of wild western heroes, fipjhls In all styles in this picture. One of his battles, however, has some stunt angles. He rolls down .a steep cliff into a swiftly running river and continues the combat in midstream. There was a touch of thrill in this episode, but after he had manhandled a dozen or so huKkics it began to pall. There was no following the in- tricacies of the story of shifting mine ownership. First the heroine's father bought an option. Then he was cheated out of it and it fell into the hands.of a Denver promoter, who hired Farnum to operate the property. The original option holder and his d -ughter somehow managed to support a gang of hirelings to prevent the profitable running of the mine and these forces were the ones that the new nupertntendent I had to fare. They shot at him from I trees, rocks and from the corners j of houses, hut nev*r hit him and [always had to close i« and take a thrashing. In the end the heroine let Farnum in on a secret ledge of fabulous richness, but why she spilled the .secret to her family's enemies \Nasn I i>!aln. But it worked out WHAT FIRST NATIONAL BIG TIE AHRAaiONS ARE DOING •».;; "EAST le WEST" IS STAR'S BEST PICTURE "Ever expect the unexpected of Constance Talmadge. Her sudden leap from cOmedy to the poignancy of Ming Toy In 'East Is West' will catch many unawares—and delight them all the more. This is the star's most distinctive achievement. We forecast a successful season."— Washington (D. C.) News. STRONGHEART WINS HEARTS IN "BRAWN OF THE NORTH" "I doubt li Rodolf Valentino has a larger or more admiring follow- ing than that remarkable actor, Strongneart, the police dog. Now he coones in 'Brawn of the North,' a snow-laden picture. In which he fights for his friends and his friends' foes. You will enjoy this picture."— Chicago Tribune. -, FAMOUS BEAUTY IN HER BEST PICTURE i. "Quite as interesting as a picture as a story—and the story was very interesting. The direction is clever. The story Is quite unusual. Kath- erine MacDonald's impressive beauty would alone fit her .for the part, but she also brings to it an expression of deep feeling. I've never seen her act a part better. And certainly she has never looked nxore beautiful. The rest of the cast is well chosen. One of the beat pictures Miss Mac- Donald has played 4n."— Chicago Evening Pott. t ''"'■."■■.. ■". "LORNA DOONE" A DISTINGUISHED PICTURE " "'Lorna Doone' is a distinguished picture—one with vUrile action A sweet love story that rf^ches spectacular proportions. It Is surpris- ingly good screen entertainment. A well-told story with excellent act- ing." — Indianapolia Star. — ^ , ; •^■ > ,.../.., ■..,.•-.'. "LORNA DOONE" ARTISTIC AND ENTERTAINING "A great amount of entertainment will be found In 'Lorna Doone." Artistic sums the verdict. The setting.s, the directing and acting are un- usually good."— Cleveland Plain Dealer. # "THE ETERNAL FLAME" STUPENDOUS PRODUCTION "Norma Talmadge In 'The Eternal Flame" outdoes all her previous work. The picture played to capacity, and rightly so. because Miss Talmadge never projected anything more beautiful, more entrancing and delightful—scenes of splffhdor and rare beauty, and with great bus pense. A stupendous production."— Trenton (N. J.) Gazette. "HURRICANE'S GAL" A SURE-FIRE PICTURE , '"Hurricane's Gal'.is a swiftly-moving drama—with sure-fire stuff plenty of color and speed. It is Dorothy Phillips' best, and the fines thing Allen Holubur ever lUrccted."—Winnipeg ^Manitoba) Free Press "'Skin Deep' in good entertainment. There are many thrills in n good crook play, which inolude.s a novel e.icape from prison In an aero- plane. Done in a now way writh new thrillers."— ATctt" York Ilvcnint/ Post FIRST NATIONAL PICTURES ■..*■>' ^ ■',■■■ 1 ,1 1