Wid's Filmdom (1920)

Short Bray Pictograph, No. 429, Goldwyn Pheasants, bred on New Jersey farms and photographed by permission from the New Jersey Fish and Game Commission, occupy the opening footage in an acceptable screen magazine. Chief Zat Zam, an Aztec Indian, throwing knives with astonishing accuracy is seen in the second part. He gives a remarkable exhibition while blind-folded, and is followed on the reel by a Krazy Kat cartoon which is just fair. “Kids and Kidlets,’’ Christie Should you happen to need a single reel comedy with the spirit of childish play predominating, book this. Most of the fun in it centers about an exchange of babies being taken care of by their older sisters, themselves quite young —one white and the other colored. Jimmie Harrison and Helen Darling are featured, but have little to do, most of the work falling on the able shoulders of the youngsters. Kdgar Washington and Warda Caulfield are the other credited performers, and one of the little girls certainly deserves mention. W. Scott Darling’s story is up to the mark and they have done very well with it. “The Race for Glory,’ Pathe Needless to say, the bout started in the preceding episode of the Jack Dempsey serial, results in the champion’s putting over the swat sophorific on the chin of his opponent after taking a beating. Jack lacerates the atmosphere savagely for the better part of two rounds and is floored with astonishing frequency. He gives his college mates a chance to whoop it up, however, when he sends the pugilist who opposes him into the land where happiness reigns supreme. The footage that follows is occupied mainly with a race between an auto and locomotives. Our scrappy hero is tossed off the rear of the train as the spectator is advised to see the next episode. “A Philistine in Bohemia,’ Vitagraph Combining realistic production with titles from the original O. Henry text, Vitagraph has injected into this two reeler, much of the spirit of the noted short story writer. Edna Murphy in the feminine lead gives a highly satisfactory performance and is quite attractive, while George De Winter who plays the Italian spaghetti expert holds his own. It is rather unconventional in films to have the heroine agree to wed the over-polite foreigner, but then all of O. Henry’s stories are unconventional, wherein lies their charm. In this, he has gone to the heart of New York, selected a girl residing in the East Side, and an Italian, associated with a Bohemian restaurant as his leading characters. Visualizing the tale in suitable style and adding some excellent shots of New York’s Union and Washington Square sections, they have made a worth while offering, a oe obvious perhaps, but one that should play many 1ouses, “Teasing the Soil,” Paramount-DeHaven “Teasing the Soil,” the latest comedy in which Mr. and Mrs. Carter De Haven appear utilizes the rather conventional idea of city folks attempting to run a farm. The gags run on the order of the impossible and show such scenes Reels as the city fellow placing a pail beneath a cow and requesting her to give milk and attempting to shoot a chicken with a shot gun. The cow trick gets the biggest laugh, wid this, together with a few others that cause ripples, get the comedy over but it is very slack in spots. Keene Thompson wrote the story and Charles Parrott directed. “The Vanishing Dagger,’ Universal From an Nnglish estate to Arizona, where the bucking bronchos buck and eattle rustlers rustle, Eddie Polo goes through yarious dangers, in order that he may gain posession of a jeweled dagger referred to in the title as ‘“‘The Vanishing Dagger,’ butwhich does not seem to do very much vanishing. .lddie does it all for the woman in the case, he does,— gets himself tossed off a cliff, mixed up in an auto smashup, dropped from a hydroplane and dragged in the dust at the uncomfortable end of..a-lasso. Certainly, there is variety in the production. At first, the arch villain is an Oriental prince and after that an international crook and his lady pal send him to other worlds. Of course his dusky wife, who was beginning io be peeved at the interest shown in the English girl vows vengeance, but is side-tracked for a few reels, during which Polo tried to apprehend the newly introduced evil-doer. Polo incidentally does not seem to pay very much attention to the customs over in dear old Hngland, for when his shirt is removed, he wanders about quite comfortably without it. It has all of the elements that go to make up a successful serial. There is hypnotism, more of the supernatural, some Oriental stuff and a multiplicity of complications. The star executes several dives and performs other thrills that will win favor and the production should hold interest right up to the finish. Technically it is weak in several places, but it has the necessary thrills. “Strange Fish,’’? Mentor Peculiar fish, abounding in the Mediterranean, have been screened for this Mentor production, the first section of which has been colored acceptably. The water was not always verfectly clear. Nevertheless, the results are interesting. A train’s course from Christiana to Bergen, Norway, is followed in the footage which concludes. This has been photographed well, and much of it is pleasing to the eye, but there is also some dull stuff. They will probably get a fair-sized amount of booking on it, but the reel is not as good as many of the others turned out by this organization recently. ‘‘Mary’s Nightmare,’ Christie 6 Little trouble will be found outguessing the story of this. “Mary’s Nightmare” explains just what it is all about, and thereby detracts somewhat from the suspense in the offering. Billy Rhodes is featured, and Cullen Landis occupies the only other prominent role. It has a few bits of footage that will cause titters, but as a whole, is not up to the best Christie standard. Two young lovers are dealt with in it. They are about to be married (they hardly look old enough) on the following day. While strolling about on the beach, they see a girl having two of her front teeth broken. Mary asks her escort if he would continue to love her should her front teeth be removed, and he replies in the affirmative. Thereafter, she dreams that two of her teeth are false, that she loses them and faces being wed without them. The groom discards her upon seeing her in such a state and she is most unhappy until she wakes up.