Wid's Filmdom (1920)

& Sunday, June 13, 1920 & I ——___——$ $$$ ______—. ATL ’ Conventional Story That The Wise Ones Will Figure From Start Vivian Rich in "A WORLD. OF FOLLY” Fox ete LRN, , OE Srey ee Frank Beal PERE ARD IME”. 2, SRM ote ss os e's Ww Jane Grogan PES IeN Ee OIES Y 5 Focetia ie eos ere ee Louis Stevens Peers eA UA ©) Sda@er ss coc. oo ene R. E. Yeager AS A WHOLE...... Old and conventional idea given fair production with a lot of preachy subtitles ee Luter x. Doesn’t create much interest as char acters are so stereotyped you know just what’s going to happen. eee PO) Nets, Seer. fo te ees Average Pepto) atees DEL Y eee ie. oi). eng bee Average Bee PRLS Caste et mmr scare Oued As < ete Same Coren rien VVC) Ie Keres 2 2. . 6 chet so Satisfactory A Rene c-, Seems rather mechanical in very mechanical role. UMTS) OU S8 Be SR alee 7, 1 a a Average Bey Cte VC) ie aes eM os so ils ss Bok ae ee Good POE te LO) Le oe eee eS a Se Ae All right aL eee ns bce es wb Not much of it CHARACTER ORS TORY=... <<. Villain attempts to smash up perfectly happy family. GENGTH OF PRODUCTION... ... About 4,900 feet There may be a few audiences that will be interested in this presentation of very old and well worn picture material, but the probability is that the majority of them will be too wise for it. It is nothing more than a version of the eternal triangle in which the villain is represented as aiming to destroy the happiness of a husband and wife without motive other than his own desires. He goes to such extremes that his actions fall far short of conviction. And it won’t take much wisdom on an audience's part to figure the whole thing out as soon as the char. acters are introduced. They are so stereotyped that as soon as they make their appearances you know the situations through which they will be piloted. There is the pretty wife and the husband who is as much wedded to his business as he is to her and who cares little or nothing about dress and personal appearance. The villain is a societ, loafer, says pretty things at the right time. and wears nifty clothes. And there you are. Villain succeeds in compromising the wife before her husband even though she is altogether innocent. Thereafter husband and wife are estranged even though they remain under the same roof. It remains for a kindly bachelor friend to seek out the villain’s castoff and force her into a confession of his plot to ruin the wife’s life. There is a reconciliation at the end and the villain is shown being chewed to bits by a great Dane. That’s about all the meat there is to the story. to form it contains a number of scenes showing the True wife wih her children, inserted as a bid for sympathy that doesn’t get over very well. The pictured action is rather inadequate for the footage of a feature. Evidently because of this the title writer had instructions to go the limit on the length of his work. In doing this he has preached more than A little bit of this is all right, but they've certainly gone too far the average person will care to stand for. in this direction here. Vivian Rich, the star, appears rather mechanical in the mechanical role of the wife. Its conventionality seems to have borne down on her. Aaron Edwards is more effective as the husband. Philo McCullough is the lounge lizard in the case and he certainly goes the limit in effecting all the mannerisms and actions of the picture he-vamp. The production given the picture is commonplace. The one scene, a ballroom shot, that might have been done somewhat lavishly, is very simply handled and doesn’t succeed in passing itself off as the real thing. Give Prominence To Title And Story Arguments In Presenting This Box Office Analysis for the Exhibitor On the whole this is one of the weaker ones from the Fox studios. It’s just a rehash of old stuff with little to commend it except for the fact that its many forerunners along the same lines have generally succeeded in awakening some interest and sympathy in their audiences. This may also be the result where “A World of Folly” is shown, but generally speaking audiences are too wise to be much stirred up over this. If you have it written down and want to take a chance on This version of the eternal triangle affair usually attracts it play up the story in your advertising copy. when presented with taste. You haven’t got a very well known star to feature nor are any of the members of the supporting cast any more than fairly well known. Concentrate on the title and any advertising arguments that you can work out to present the story attractively.