Wid's Filmdom (1920)

Sunday, Tune 13, 1920 iff DAILYW : STORET ABH PT ee ee TA ET Fine Comedy Idea Spoiled By Unsympathetic Treatment Edith Roberts in “ALIAS MISS DODD” Universal Peete ass. Bt x «As Harry Franklin eR ROOINE ES eos os ERIE Ss te ee Edgar Franklin Ut ER LCS IS YS ies. Charles J. Wilson, Jr. Ser SEAN, SV aa coat? ds «3 od Ben Reynolds AS A WHOLE...... Very fine comedy idea poorly treated in production—results are tedious. STORY......Contains fine germ of feature comedy, but hasn’t been developed capably on screen Pee mLAING Sem ee oe ce Not sympathetic ORE TE FLY ere eee RE RE Good SUEUR ESERE NCIS et Ser Seen eT ee ee ee Plain Seve Pa VV ORR of Siege he eis ecstasy: hs All right BARC Merch) oo» Fails to show much comedy sense SUPPORT... .:..: Doesn’t take advantage of opportunities. Pemeele Hite LCD Sem cs e eacite, ws sca. oo st Sen Plain Peete ISLO) RR Sie. fg ne ote e’s + 03 «ss > Meee oe Same epee Late ee ors, ps cts ies wv Se os a ee All right CHARACTER OF STORY...... Girl enters family, believing its members are rotters, to reform them. PN btn Or PRODUCTION: 2... .a.. 4,475 feet Edgar Franklin, writer of many successful farce comedies, contrived another fine idea in “Alias Miss Dodd,” but the treatment accorded it in the production here is in no way sympathetic with the spirit of the original piece. The director hasn’t brought out the comedy values of the story, in fact, many of the twists are not clearly delineated, with the result that the picture seems very confusing at times while at others the action is just flat without being funny. The story has an artificial beginning, but it certainly contained a wonderful number of possibilities. Jeanne is a girl who works in a book bindery and one day she 1s given the job of binding old Thomas Dodd's private diary. Dodd, it appears, has made himself out as a villainous wretch in every sense of the word, a heartless betrayer of a woman and the possessor of a daughter, Jeanne, of A few pages catch her eye. whose whereabouts he is ignorant. And Dodd has misrepresented every one else in his family. His nephew Kent he has also made out as a villain, while his brother Jerry he paints as a meek and mild gentleman. Jeanne, horrified at what she reads, gives up her job in the bindery and presents herself at the Dodd home posing as his ‘daughter.’ Her idea is to straighten out the affairs of the tangled household and see that justice is done the various wronged members of it. The surprise comes when it develops that Dodd has just written the diary for his own amusement and that everyone represented in it is the exact opposite as regards character. Naturally the possibilities lieing in such a situation seem manifold to the mere onlooker, and doubtless in Mr. Franklin’s ‘script he presented many a fine comedy situation. Throughout the picture there are just faint suggestions of what these situations might have been. The true spirit of straight comedy or farce is lacking. Jeanne’s experiences with the Dodds instead of being amusing as they should have been are tedious long before the picture has run its length. Edith ‘Roberts has.the role of Jeanne and plays it earnestly, too earnestly in fact. The other members of the cast have small sense of comedy and play with a rather surprising lack of spirit considering the material involved. It doesn’t look as if any one of them had a very good idea of what the story was. The cast includes Walter Richardson, Johnnie Cook, Harry Van Meter, Margaret McWade, Vida Johnson and Ruth King. Might Prove Attractive To Star’s Following Box Office Analysis for the Exhibitor Edith Roberts’ following may appreciate this picture to some extent, but certainly the producers spoiled a very good comedy idea in their treatment of the original story. It doesn’t register as intended many times during its run. Ii you believe that the star’s popularity warrants a showing of the picture concentrate on her name and also on the name of the author, Edgar Franklin, Peo ple will remember him as the author of Neilan’s “Don’t Ever Marry” and “Everything But the Truth,” in which Eddie Lyons and Lee Moran starred. You will also be able to arouse some interest in relation to the peculiar circumstances under which the heroine enters the Dodd household. Most people will recognize in this initial situation the possibilities of a real comedy.