Wid's Filmdom (1920)

LESS ae et Fi a 16 iff DAILY Sunday, January 11, 1920 SS SSS A CL Badly Handled Climax Spoils Good Effect of Picture’s Body Alice Brady in “THE FEAR MARKET” Realart DIRECTOR caise.toc i. a ea eee Kenneth Webb AUTHOR ess. pei eee eit Amelie Rives SCENARIO OB Ys ote woken Clara Beranger CAMERA MAN oe a.cee e e George Folsey AS ASW HOLE Sais Interesting and lavish produc tion of novel plot; works fascinatingly to climax which slumps badly. mee Oe Yer soem Is motivated by a society scandal sheet ; all the action has to do with a high-class underworld which is realistically pictured. DIRECLION yc Speaks pretty well for Webb but he should have treated climax with greater sense of the dramatic. PHOTOGRAPHY eee ee eee Very good PIGH TINGS. sean Good effects when necessary CAMERAW ORG ee ee ee: Noticeably good SAR. Sie Is not given her usual big emotional opportunities. SO Ree aes Frank Losee as father has next largest part; all support very good. HALTERIORS (eee on Unusually appropriate and in clude a number of Italian exteriors. INTERIORS Excellent DETAIL....Star’s make-up poor in many close-ups CHARACTER OF STORYVaer.. Girl on trail of professional blackmailer finds he is her father. LENGTH: OF PRODUCTIONS) About 5,000 feet This picture certainly starts off like a whirlwind and gives promise of developing into something extraordinary. But the pace is not maintained through to the finish. In fact, it starts hitting the chutes at about its middle and when everything has been prepared for a smashing climax and you have been led to expect something unusually dramatic, they proceed to just walk through it and hand you a big disappointment instead of a thrill. The picture opens by introducing Stone and his confederates, the owner and operators of a blackmailing society sheet. Large sums are paid into the company by fearful women to keep indiscretions, either innocent or real, from being printed. Stone’s only love is his daughter, Sylvia, played by Alice Brady, whom he contrives to keep in Italy far away from the scenes of his nefarious dealings. Of course it doesn’t take a great stretch of the imagination to see to what end such a beginning is headed. Sylvia, vowing to put the paper out of business, because it directly caused the suicide of one of her dearest friends, enlists the aid of Oliver Ellis, publisher of a reputable paper, and works against the scandal sheet with the ultimate result that she discovers that its owner is her own father. The ending may be quite obvious at the outset but the interest is intrigued and held to the scenes immediately before the final sequence by the introduction of a wealth of interesting detail, all of which is staged and enacted exceedingly well. Subsequently, however, there comes a bad slump in the action due to padding taking the shape of scenes in which the players do a terrible lot of walking from one side of the room to the other, etc. Then the climax which has been approached definitely from the first fails utterly in dramatic power. They just walk through it. Sylvia condemns her father, then promises forgiveness if he will kill the paper and the last scene shows her in the arms of Oliver. Miss. Brady has by no means her usual emotional opportunities in this and doesn’t give as satisfactory an appearance as usual because of lack of makeup, principally on her neck. The supporting cast, headed by Frank Losee, is very good and includes Richard Hatteras, Henry Mortimer, Edith Stockton, Bradley Barker, Nora Reed, Fred Burton, Alfred Hickman and Sara Biala. Star and Exploitation Possibilities Are Good Box Office Analysis for the Exhibitor Krom the point of advertising this is a very good drawing card for Miss Brady has come into great popularity during the last year because of her combined screen and stage work. The name of the author, the title, and the interesting manner in which it lends itself to exploitation are still other points in the picture’s favor. wouldn’t be business to boost Llowever, it good “The Fear Market” too extensively in advertising and publicity inasmuch as it certainly will fail to live up to expectations, owing to the very poor way they handle the climax. You may be able to get cleanly by with it owing to the interesting subject matter and its unusualness but it is really one of those pictures that sends you home dissatisfied—just because they haven’t gotten all they could from very unusual story material.