Wid's Filmdom (1920)

a [7 MEE (Ainice eee Sunday, June 13, 1920 Dorothy Gish Again Unassisted By Story Or Production Dorothy Gish in “REMODELLING HER HUSBAND” Paramount-Artcraft DIRECTOR 23.60.5246 Se ee Lillian Gish AUTHOR >) 22.220 Dorothy Elizabeth Carter SCENARIO*BY2222 Dorothy Elizabeth Carter CAMERAMAN | i320.0e = eee George W. Hill AS A WHOLE...... Star puts very weak story over by personality and comedy business. S LOR Nag Some day they’ll give Dorothy a real one—this has a good idea but little else. DIRECTION 3.32 ee ee Satisfactory PHOTOGRAPH Yager Good LIGHTINGS 4.5925. eee Commendable CAMERA WORK 22a eee Very good SLA eee Is the whole show and a very good one SUPPORT. 0.035 See Average EXTERIORS: .2 2233 33 eee Satisfactory INTERIORS | ores eee ee Same DE TALL a: ae Star’s business surely registers well CHARACTER-OF SLORY. Squabbles of young married couple. LENGTH OF PRODUCTION ee 4,844 feet Some day they'll probably hand Dorothy Gish a real story and it won't be necessary to apologize for it in review. Recently she has had pretty weak stuff in the way of plots, but by her own personality and comedy tricks has put them cleanly over. Such was the case with “Mary Ellen Comes to Town” and such is the case with “Remodelling Her Husband.” Herewith she is introduced as a newlywed. First, however, they plant her as a very innocent little girl and fail altogether in making her scenes with the hero romantic. In fact the scenes prior to the establishing of Janie and Jack as husband and wife are pure fool ishness and register little else. Once married Janie and Jack get along very well It seems that these widows come into pictures for the express purpose of home-wrecking. They don’t have And this one hasn’t She inveigles Jack into her apartment one until a widow moves into an adjacent apartment. any real motive for their actions. either. evening and Janie sees him make the fatal entrance. And she also sees him kiss the lady after she has vamped him considerably. When Jack finally crosses his own threshold there The domestic upheaval that follows is the best sequence in the picAIC, is a very angry Janie waiting for him. It is pretty long and nothing else than a separation is accomplished in the action, but it registers as great comedy, partly due to the fact that it rings true. During it a number of titles that register for sure laughs are introduced. After Jack and Janie have parted Janie goes to work in her father’s office -in an executive capacity: ~Of He tries to see Janie in her office and they work in some more good comedy showing the cold and business like fashion in which Janie treats him. In the end they succeed in making up after Jack has threatened suicide and a title reading “And they lived happily ever afterwards” appears with a large question mark in the background. This sends you way with a final big laugh. The direction of this is best in the scenes between Janie and Jack which constitute the great majority of the action. The few plot twists haven’t been handled any too well. Dorothy Gish is working all the time and registers her comedy very well indeed. She has an exceedingly magnetic personality and so the lack of real story material may again be discounted lightly. James Rennie fairs with average success as Jackie, while others are Marie Burke, Downing Clarke and Frank Kingdon. course Jack does the human thing and repents. If They Like Dorothy They’ll Like This One Box Office Analysis for the Exhibitor This one is all Dorothy Gish, so if she is popular with your audiences you know just where you stand. As regards story and production the picture is quite inadequate. Not much attention was paid to the first nor money on the second. It’s a clear case of Doro thy Gish from first to last. You can create more than the usual amount of interest in this picture by playing up the fact that it was directed by Lillian Gish. At the Rialto a leader was run previous to the picture announcing the fact that the story was also written by a woman. You're away to a good start if you do this for it brings the attention of the audience right to the picture.