Wid's Filmdom (1920)

ee ee at | a 16 iff DAILY Sunday, June 20. 1920 ES EN Small Knowledge Of Comedy Displayed in Making This Owen Moore in “THE DESPERATEHOHETO| Selznick-Select DLE CI eee or cee Wesley Ruggles AUTO Re a serra et oe Chester Franklin SCENARIO BY 72.4 360. >. 55 ee Zelda Crosby CAMERAMAN (22): vs. oi. * eee Not credited AS =ALW HOLE =. Too much clowning around in this—they rely too much on star and never strike a good comedy tempo. ih) Re Meee caren Doesn’t adhere to one strong line of action sufficiently to create real interest. DIRECTION. == Certainly doesn’t show any real pep or comedy spirit. PHOTOGRAPH Yara ca eee Generally very good DIGEECIN GS ae Fine after a few bad scenes at the start. CAMERASW ORK. 4. -3 ce ee Average SAR: Is altogether too lazy in this to put any big laughs over. SUPPORT oes cere, Seems lost several times Pes LER LO RS eee Very beautiful suburban stuff INTERIORS 32 cee. Satisfactory DE TAL 5 i. sieges Ra amie ck, Inconsequential CHARACTHRIO Kes LO KY iar Predicament of a young man with plenty of creditors and no money. LENGTH OF PRODUCTION 2a. 5,608 feet This picture doesn’t contain the necessary vital spark of comedy to register it a success. They haven’t gone about producing it in the right way. In the first place they have neglected to center on a main line of action. ‘The scenes herein skip from one line to another and in this way the interest is lost. What there is of real plot fails to put in an appearance until the third reel and even then it isn’t briskly developed. Lack of proper comedy tempo is another fault. Comedy of the type they were striving for here needs a very rapid tempo. Instead there is clowning galore. The star is catered to in almost every scene and he doesn’t show much. He stands around with a pair of overalls hanging on him by one strap and seems to strive for his comedy by waving his arms about in a ludicrous fashion. Really it looks as if Owen Moore had just been too lazy to get up and do something in his role in this. This profuse catering to the star seems to be a common fault in all the Owen Moore pictures. The producers don’t seem to realize that they should strive to make him the exponent of their comedy instead of endeavoring to make himself the comedy. They get a few laughs after the characters have been planted by showing Moore in a scene with a flivver that: won’t stand still and let him fix it. But this spot is followed along by some pretty tedious action that registers little of anything. They eventually get down to putting Moore in a predicament where he is forced to work as hired man for a political boss. who is blocking him in his effort to dispose of an oil well. They start into this situation in a promising way, but suddenly decide to clown around some more and there is a full reel in which the plot stands still. Nor does it ultimately wind up with any brisk concluding sequence. [he father‘ol the héroinescomesiiauMccre to tell him that he will take him in his firm as partner and also give his consent to the marriage. The villain tries to queer him by bringing in a vamp who claims him as the father of four children, but the effort falls a failure even as does this final desperate attempt for laughs. Moore is supported by Gloria Hope, Emmett King, Henry Miller, Jr., Charles Arling, Nell Craig, Arthur Hoyt and Virginia Caldwell, who seem at times to be quite at sea in endeavoring to interpret their roles. You Might Chance It On This If Star Has Following Box Office Analysis for the Exhibitor It is true that this contains some laughs and it may register after an average fashion with those fans who appreciate Owen Moores work. Before audiences where he doesn’t boast of any more than average popularity the stuff in this is going to have a pretty hard time getting over. If you think, however, that your audiences are fond enough of the star to accept his rather lazy performance here, play him up and have a go at the comedy “Ever see a man auctioned off at a country fair? That’s what possibilities of the plot in your advertising. happens to Owen Moore in ‘The Desperate Hero.’ ” “He was forced to work for two weeks as hired man That’s what starts the fun See the rest of it.” These are lines that might be used advantageously in advertising the production. for his business enemy! in ‘The Desperate Hero.’