Variety (December 1922)

40 PICTURES Friday, December 16. 1922 THE BEAUnFUL AHD DAMNED PreMnte^l by th« Warner Brother* from the novel of ih« aaiiiA name by F. ScoU iPltztcenild Olj* I'rintawiu did th<» adupt- InK for the •crecn and WllUmn A. Selior directed. At tb« Strand. Dec 10. CASl" OloHa Maria Prevo!»t Anthony Kenmth Harlan Dick Ilariy Myoni Adam Patch lully Marsliall Murle! lA>uiJW Krizciicl:! Dot *'>«•« RiilK<"le> Mr. Gilbert Kmrtiett King Hull W.i ter I. "g FliMsrkman Clareiu-e Hurtun Ifaury I'arker McConncll Probably will have «onu> drawing power at the box oflice because of the novel, but the pirture isn't there. It screens »s mostly u catth- as-catch-can presentation of the story, neither coverinp the territory \vhicH the bound edition did nor Is it as interestingr. Besides 'The Beau- tiful and Damned" Is not g:enerally conceded to be Fitrgorald's best work. Additional attention to detail might have helped the adaptation as a picture, but It nlniply flicks alongr. causing no undue interest at the beginning and soon settles itself into an average feature. The title Is the film's best asset. It's a free translation, from the print to the screen, much liaving been deleted and a few liberties taken with the script. Not advan- tageously. Kenneth Harlan does nicely, so far as appearance goes, as Anthony Patch, the youthful Idler. Marie Prevost, opposite, as the social butterfly who marries and then ruins him through extrava- trance, is appealing to the eye, though her work would hardly be called convincing. Whatever honors there are go to Tully Marshall, al- ways dependable, as the grand- father, and Harry Myers as a seri- ous novelist with a decided leaning towards his liquor. Louise Frazenda and Walter Long are also included in the line-up (or small bits. The picture is unquestionably standard, so far as photography and settings are concerned. Some of the interiors and the action are almost entirely indoors. The story follows the career of young Patch, who won't work and merely Is stalling until his wealthy grandfather sees flt-to pass away. The old gentleman is obstinate on this subject, and when cornering his grandson as to just what he meant to do, the boy says he intends to write a history of the world. As a means to this end he marries Gloria. Thereafter starts a regularly formed habit of "stew parties," concluding in the young married couple moving to the country in an attempt to get away from their willing" guests. An- thony actually does some work for two months on his proposed history edition, when the girl suggests one of the old parties to relieve the monotony. It's framed up and in full sway when the grandfather happens in, takes one look and goes out to return home. and. shortly afterwards, diea The hilarity wit- nessed ruined whatever chance "Tony" had with his old relative and the will loaves him a blessing and a dollar. The edict forces the young couple back to town, where most of their remaining financial means are thrown into a law suit to tight the will. Meanwhile. Anlhuny spends the surplus for booze, and Gloria, finding herself up against it, starts to do some work around the house. It all clears up, before the youth actually becomes a drunkard, by the law suit breaking the will and the conclusion sees the couple on a steamer bound for foreign lands. Selter, in directing, has done nothing out of the ordinary with this release. He seemed to pass up one or two instances in the book which might have made good mate- rial for the camera. But. then, that may also have been the fault of the scenario writer. Either way. the film won't be conducive to Fitzger- ald for future subjects of his that might be screened, though it does .seem that his 'This Side of Para- dise" would have made a better subject, because of the logical finish of that story. If nothing else. As a money-making proposition. "The Beautiful and Damned" i.s a possibility because of the circula- tion the novel had, but it's almost a surety the picture won't drive anyone Into a bookstore to procure the story In its original form. Skiff. BROKEN CHAINS Allan HolutMir production, atory by Wini- fred Kimball, presented by Uoidwyn. R«- viewed at ("apitol. New York. Dec. 10. Peter Wyndham Malcolm McGreaor .Mi-rry Boone..... Colleen Moore Hoyf«n Hoone.... Rfnfat Torrence Hortenao Allen Claire Wlndaor Pat Mulcahy ,....,... .Jnmi.a Marcus Mra. Mulcahy Ueryl Mercer .S'dff 8alle« William Orlamond Hut!er Cera Id Pring BurKlar Kdwnnl Peil Jus Leo WiUU ' 100% Thl.*5 l.s the scenario that won the Chicago 'Dailv News" contest, which carrietl a prize of $30,000, ac- cording to the advance publicity given 'Broken Chains." If this be "de trut " it'5 a soft racket. No wonder the average human feels that he has within him the talents for potential greatness as*a screen autlior. Either the author or the director is responsible for one of the most preposterous and ridiculous fight .scenes on the sheet. It occurs be- tween the hero and heavy in a cabin on a mountain and lasts for oceans of footage. Aftei- tossing the hero through a window at the end of a wild battle the villain sinks ex- haust ted upon a bed, only to sit up a moment later with eyes popping as his recent adversary staggers back in the room via the front door. During this mad aoramble, em- bellished with all ti^ie tricks of realism up to a certain point, the heroine, a child-wife of the '"brute," is forced to watch the struggle be- tween her lover and brutal spouse while chaln'^d to the floor. Her effort to reach a gun discarded by the villain was particularly well done and her emotional responses to the tide of battte almost saved it from ridiculousness, but not quite. A bridge leading to the mountain retreat was the director's downfall in this instance. The bridge had been sawed off and tampered with by the villain. Boyan Boone (Ernest Torrance) in such a manner that by stepping on a certain board the whole structure fell into a mountain stream beneath. The cowardly youth who had re- j gained his manhood in his own lum- i ber camp, Peter Wyndham (Mal- colm McGregor), had destroyed the bridge after removing all chances for escape and after he had wrestled with his cowardness, inspired by love for the girl, but determined to die at the hands of her brutal hus- band, letting the law avenge him and liberate the girl. At the conclusion of the terriflo battle between the rivals the direc- tor has them break the world's "rolling" record by rolling what ap- pears to be an eighth of an mil« down hill to arrive at the edge of the stream. The hero wrestles the villain over the edge to a watery grave and turns to embrace the girl. who has broken the links Which bound her. Anothe-r Incongruous touch was a "money" bit. The girl, who has made an ineftectul attempt to es- cape from her captor, tells Wynd- ham the story. She has an aunt in Nebraska to whom she could go. Wyndham tells her he has 110,000 in a local bank. He makes an ap- pointment to meet her next day. This is overheard by her husband's partner in crime, who Informs the bandit. Wyndham appears at the rendezvous with five grand, the bal- ance being in the bank. The hus- band takes the money away from the wife after forcing Wyndham to give It to her. To make it more even, the bandits rob the bank and are chased by a posse to their moutitain retreat, where another battle is staged. Five thousand fish is some carfare, even in Nebrask.'i, The picture is excellently cast. Colleen Afoore as the girl-wife rose to unusual heights emotionally. Her touches were sure and flawless. Torrence as the bearded rufl^an was splendid. William Orlamond as the lumber camp vagabond was the comedy relief and scored repeatedly. McGregor as the cowardly rich boy who overcomes his early environ- ment was convincing. His athletic piowness during the "fight" was high class. The story runs along conventional lines until the lumber camp episode, which destroys whatever chance it has for a successful dramatic con- clusion. A large Sunday night audience at the Capitol "kidded" the fight stuff and the last shots of what started out to be a corking picture. Nick Carter, the James boys or Dirk Merriwell in their palmiest days never staged a more preposter- ous battle. Con. 99 THB Exhibitors of Michigan Read our magazine published every Tuesday.' Jf you wan t to reach this clientele there is no better medium. Ratot very low MICHIGAN FILM REVIEW JACOB SMITH, PublUher : 415 Free PreM Bldf. " DETROIT, MICH. tur«. Reid merely went through a set of motion* aa dictated by a di- rector, and his performance Lb with- out spontaneity or vigor. It Is a case of a player out of his element. Reid has gained his posi- tion on the screen for the handling of breezy, slap-dash romantic parts with a tang of daring and plenty of zip. Here he Is a helpless sort of timid boob, the victim of circum- stances over which he has no con- trol—in short, a raade-to-order part for Lloyd. The producer several times goes off at a tangent. The story opens as a polite romantic comedy, and, although it is dull enough in these passages, the picture is in the Reid hlyle. After that It goes into the broadest farce, with several inci- dents that are nothing more than Mack Sennett comedy chase bits, toned down somewhat in deference to the polite background of the story. The net result is that the picture isn't frank knockabout on the one hand, and it isn't high com- edy. It's Just a clumsy combina- tion of both without the honest ap- peal of either. And. besides, it has tl-.e unforgivable defect that it is dull. John, the inveterate flirt, is ac- cepted by Lucille on condition that he swear oft flirtations for 30 days. To keep him occupied she busies him with the role of assistant in her settlement work. John attempts to comfort a tenement house woman and is caught in what appears a compromising situation by her high- tempered Italian husband. who threatens horrible murder. To avoid arrest for a stabbing affair the Italian has to take refuge in a quiet Job, and as luck will have it, secures the situation of butler in the home of John's mother. Terrified by the threat of Mafia vengeance. John takes the advice of Judge Hooker, a family friend, and gets himself committed to jail for 30 days, by which titne the af- fair will have )t>lown over and the Italian will have sailed, but the lat- ter gets into trouble and is incar- cerated in the same Jail. An idea of the farcical complications labor!- ouslj' erected may be gained from the fact that Lucllle's uplift work brings her to the same Jail where our hero has to think fast to explain the situation and at the same time ward off the attacks of the Italian. The complications in the latter half of the picture are ingeniously managed and for a time the top is kept spinning, thanks to the employ- m»nt of custard pie technique, but things taper off to a mild and tepid finish. Its four reels of uncertain effort are rewarded by one reel of knockabout and half a dozen thin laughs, which, by the way. is usually the final count oij a five-reel farce. Why a multipfe-reel farce, anyway, for us? on a program that customarily lias a two-reel comic anyway? It is so at the Rivoli. Snub Pol- lard is the hero of one of those slam-bang two-reelers. IVs coarser but funnier than the Reid effort, and contains as much meat in less than half the footage, A mild five-reeler can't compete with a two-reeler of the same kind and on the same bill, and that's about the trouble this picture Is going to have during its jiatural life. Ru^h, 3c PAWNED Production by J. Parker Read, Jr. Dla- trlbuted by Select. story by Frank L.. Packard, author of 'Th* Miracle Man." Picture directed by Irvin V. Willat. T</in Moore starred with Edith Roberta oppoaito. At the New York, Dec. 8. THIRTY DAYS Jpsw r.. I,aalty preeonte thin feature «tar- iinit Wallace ReiJ. Adapted from the v\uy tiy A. F.. Thom.i.-^ and Clayton Hamilton l)y Walter Woods. Diiected by Jame.t Cruxf. At the Rivoli, Dec. 10. .lohn I'loyd Wallace Rei,! I.urlile I^-d,ard Wanda Hawli>y Judge H.Mfkcr C:iiarieh OrI'- Huntley I'almer Cyril Chadwiclt Pol«'nt=» llerachell Mayall M ra. Floyd Helen Dun;..Tr Ca i l u t ttt t O armen t*ht^ttp« Wa-dcn Kall.-i Pasha Wallace Held make< a 8.*d affair of lhi.s nondescript picttire. The story nev(«r rn;ikea it(> its mind whetiier it i.^ going to be a coined\. a travesty, a farce or a Mack Sen- nfetl burlesque. For scr»»en treat- ment the thing should have been done in a spirit of farce und with another star, for Held is no farceur. Probably the man they should have hud was Harold IJoyd. He could hsve done yomethiag with ihe p<c- "Pawned" is a high class romantic tnelodran 1 with all sorts of In- , grri.ous Iw^^ifci and surprises, and it is ui: done in a capital spirit of neat comedy, without pretence or bunk. The play develops casually and naturally, with high suspense, and ends in a whale of a melodramatic climax well worth tho five reels of attention. The picture has pretty nearly all ^an adventure film play should have; romance, stirring inci- dent, real and interesting character- izations; a beginning that nail.<^ at- tention and a whale of a fini.sh. That makes a score approaching 100 per cent. The story begins in the 5<outh Sea islands, but is quickly pn the wing. IJruce, a gentleman adventurer and soldier of fortune, is down on his luck. He engages to undertake an Investigation of a chain of gambling clubs in America on behalf of the owner, who happens at the time to be on the other side of the world. That ends the South Seas chapter. Arriving in New Vnrk, he Kl.irls to play the wheel in one of the clubs. Another player goes broke and tries to borrow a staka from the man- ager. The manager wont lend money, but he suggests a "Trip to Persia," a mysterious catch phrase that leads to developments. Rruce declares himself broke, and is also I invited to the "Trip to PeLsia." which turns out to be a vLit to a. trick pawnshop rigged up in a traveling taxicab. the presiding genius of which is pretty Claire. The bizarre, experience ;uid the pretty face catch nruc<'.s fanc\ and he follows the girl to her honio. Be- coming involved in a street n;^'lit. he is wounded and take.s refuge in the girls apartment, maintained by her supposed father, barred by a:I un- just conviction from rviuning a licensed pawnshop and forced to the taxi exp<slient. Bruce Is dangerously .vounded and la a waj to die. when Cl&lrw calla la a drug flend surgeon to tend him. The doctor agree* to save the stranger's life only on condition that Claire become hi« wife. Thie la the least plausible Incident in the play, although it la skillfully smoothed over by the argument that the girl has fallen In love at eight with the agreeable stranger. The surgeon, a renegade and social outlaw, has long laid seige to the girl. When Bruce has recovered the struggle begins—Bruce to win the girl for himself and save her from the drug fiend, and the surgeon to compel her to keep her pledge. It- would be unfair to unfold the plot. Enough that its swiftly moving turns and twists make a brisk and thrilling five-reeler of underworld plotting and intrigue and a heroic defense and counter plot. There is one clever Incident built around the hero's capture by the crooks who force him to act as decoy for* the rich club owner, summoned from half way across the world, his scheme to defeat the plan by the use of a chemical ink that comes out only whfn touched by salt water. The people are made, extremely real. There is one dandy character, an old cab driver, an honest old fellow, but with a soul in pawn to drink. He serves togive the climax an additional punch. Tho finish is a whale of a dramatic surprise. The cabman has the villian and the heroine (who is really his own daughter) in his taxicab. taking them, as he supposes to their wed- ding. As they are waiting at the ferry house he makes the resolve that the marriage-shall not take place. So ho drives off the ferry slip, cab and all. and the Anal close- up has the hero rescuing the heroine while the old cabman is shown in a tricky close-up (done by means of a glass tank) holding \he villian under water in the cab. It's a high-powered kick to a colorful ■i ;"y MIXED FACTS A William VbK produettoa atarrlac WU. Ham RuMeH. Story by Roy Norton- •4apt«d by Panl Bchofleid: diracted by Rowland V. Lm. a abort ftva-reelar Shown at L<»«w's. N«w ToiK on doubte JtuHr* 3. Wood worth Qranfer Jimmy Galtop.. William Rusacll Mlaa Sayre Rme Adore« Iturray McGuira...^ Da Witt Jenninca lira. Bayra KUsabeth Uarrlaoa Mr. Sayra ....Charlea French lira. Molly Crutchar KUeea Mannlns picture play. Rush. A rather fair program feature in which William Russell plays a dual role, which has him as a rather up< stage self-important candidate for political office and then as a flip traveling salesman given to practi- cal Jokes. The combination works out rather well ii^ an interesting manner In the development of tho story, for while the Judge v. ins the political office he is after, th« sales- man wins the girl that was engageil to him. After all. that is what matters to a moving picture audi- ence, who gets the girl and why M gets her. This is a comedy-drama of small town stuff and as such It will get by anywhere in the daily change houses. U isn't strong enough for a ionger run than that anywhere, , Rowland V. I.ee handled the direc- tion^ rather cleverly and wltn his camera man has the girl walk through a double exposure In which he ham Russell on one side of the picture as the Judge and on the other as the salesman, with the girl Walking away from the former tmd going to the arms of the latter. That was a clever piece of ^rick work done, and it is done almo.st so smoothly that the averag.^ picture house audience won't get the divid- ing line. Russell and Rene Adoree vail: away with about all there is to tne picture, although DeWiti Jennings makes a corking political boss. Ird. .t-'.. 22 First National Winners to Start 1923! • ''THE DANGEROUS AGE" A John M. Stahl production preaented by Loula B. Mayer. An up-to-data romance and drama of married Itta. "A MAN OF ACTION*' A Thomaa H. Ince production with the Ince punch. With Doui^laa Mac- Lean. An original atory by Bradley Kins *nd directed by Jamea W. Hume. • . ■ ' -' '■■'-*-. RICHARD BARTHELME89 in "Fury- with Dorothy Olah. A thHlHnr atory or the aea by Edmund Gouldinr and directed by Henry Kinir. Presantad by Tnapiratlon Picturea. Inc., Charle* H. Duell, preaident. KATHERINE MACDONALD in •*Money, Money, Money^ Adapted by Hope Lorlnir from the ■tory by I.arry Kvana Directed by Tom Porman and presented by B. P. Schulberc NORMA TALMADGE 1 ' in "The Voice From the Minaret" From the famoua novel and nta^e buc- ceaa by RoMrt Hlchena. Adapted by Franoea Marlon and directed by Frank Lloyd. Preaented by Joaeph M. Schenck. JACKIE COOGAN- in "Daddy" The boy marvel of the acreon In an- other of hi» heart-winning piclurea ITeaented by Sol Leaaer. ''WHAT A WIFE LEARNED" A Thomaa If. Ince apecial written by liradlpy Kinj; and directed by John Grirath Wray. AN EDWIN CAREWE Production A ayniphony of life in the high and low places and one of the yenr> very beat. Title to be announced later. "BELL BOY 13' A Tliornaii H. Ince produrlion witlj Douglaa M.icLean. DiitrleU by W.li- lam Selter "THE SIGN" A T.wurenj'o Vrirnblc-.Iune Murfln pro- | ductloii. (.Not a Strongheart picture > I "SCARS OF JEALOUSY" A Tbomaa H. Ince production taken from the thrilllnn atory hy Anthony H. Rudd and directed by Lambert Hlllyer. "THE WHITE FRONTIER" An Allen Holubar apeclal preaentlng the charnitnff Dorothy Phllilpa. KATHERINE MACDONALD in "The Lonely Road" Adapted by Lola' Zellner from the famoua atory by Charlea Lorue. Di- rected "by Victor L. Srhertsinfer aad presented by B. P. Schulbers. RICHARD BARTHELME8S "The Bright Shawl" Joseph Heryeaheimer'a famova atory and one of the year'a best aellera Directed by John Kobertaon and po>- duced by Inapiratlon Pictures, lac, Charlea H. Duell, president. -THE SUNSHINE TRAIL* A Thomas H. Ince production with DouKlaa Maclean. Directed by James W. Home. NORMA TALMADGE in "Within the Law* The famoas Al Woods prodnetlon which playe dto millions with Jane Cowl starring. "THE GIRL FROM THE GOLDEN WEST" An Rdwln Carewe production taken from the famoua Itclaaoo play. "MONEY LOVE AND THE WOMAN" A John M. Stahl production presented by Louis B. Bayer. "THE ISLE OF DEAD SHIPS" A Maurice Tourneur production taken from fapt. Marriolt'a famoua aea ■tory. Pre.iented by M. C. I,evee. KATHERINE MACDONALD in ' "The Scarlet Lily" Pre.»ented by U. P. Schulberg. ' "TRILBY" .A P.i.-hard -Walton Tully produ< tion taken from the famoua novel bv (Icorje Du Maurler. A JAMES YOUNG Production Title to be nnnounced later. , First National Pictures J ■•I 1 4 .c i ■1 ^ -^ Miiiiiliiiiiki