Judge — October 29, 1921 — page 24: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

“The se ICTORIA,” I asked, inno- \ cently enough, “Did you see ‘The Affairs of Anatol?’” Vic looked at me with a startled expression, as though fearing I’d suddenly suffered some stroke, or lost my mind. Positively, her smooth young jaw sagged a trifle, in sixteen- year-old amazement. “Did I see it? See ‘The Affairs of Anatol?’—Of course I saw it! Do you think I don’t know anything? Why, everybody saw it!” “Score one for the press agent,” I remarked. “One hundred per cent. Was it good?” “Good? Of course it was good! Wally Reid was in it, and Gloria Swanson, and Wanda Hawley and Bebe Daniels ana—” “Sure, I understand all that; but the picture itself, the story and the characters and all—was it good, par- ticularly ?” Vic looked at me pityingly. “Didn’t I say that Wally Reid was in it? And Gloria Swanson? And Theodore Roberts and Wanda Haw- ley and—” “Yes, I know; but Vic, why was it so good?” “That’s what I’m telling you, silly! Because Wally Reid was in it, and Gloria Swanson, and Agnes Ayres and—” I was getting desperate. “Vic,” I interrupted sternly, “you’ve done nothing but repeat names at me like a Who’s Who in Hollywood; what I want to know about is this photo- play called ‘The Affairs of Anatol.’ If it’s so good, what has it to recom- mend it—besides a whole directory of stardom in movieland? Is that really the only good thing you can say about it—that Wallace and Agnes and Wanda and Theodore and Bebe and Gloria are in it, and Columbia toc for all I know, and the well-known Tom, Dick, and Harold as well?” Vic tossed her head scornfully. NEW MOVES IN THE MOVIES Affairs of Anatol’’ By Myron M. Stearns “Of course not! Cecil de Mille made it, if you want to know, and it’s wonderful! There are beautiful sets in it, and gowns, and cafe scenes, and everything.” “Good story?” “Yes !”—defiantly. “Exciting?” “W-e-ll, not exactly exciting.” One of Vic’s greatest charms is her down- right honesty; she’s always telling on herself. “But interesting, you see, because of Wally—” “—and Gloria and Bebe and Wanda and Columbia and the bunch. Sure!” Vic stamped her stately foot. “That's not fair! Cecil de Mille is always good! He knows what will please everybody, and does it every Pictures Worth Watching: THE AFFAIRS OF ANATOL Elaborate comedy-drama staged with apparent disregard of cost and a most Bully si uckling melodrama that does credit 5 to Doug Fairbanks and the American screen. LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY The famous child-story done into a de- epee ‘Photoplay, with Mary Pickford ining in contrasting parts. ONE “ARABIAN NIGHT Pola Negri in another Lubitsch spectacle film, of an Arabian harem. Exciting for THe EDUR SEASONS Delightful hodge-podge showing flowers and animals and soap-bubbles and insects in_a four-reel “educational.” WAY DOWN EAST. Taniling “Grifith interpretation of a reat old melodrama. THESFOUR HORSEMEN Excellent, though slightly tedious, epi- sodic photoplay of Europe and the Argentine, with war thrown in. THE IDLE CLASS Charles Chaplin, Esq., in his latest—a short-length film. Straight nonsense this time. DISRAELI George Arliss in a quiet, sincere, excep tionally fine character portrayal. DANGEROUS CURVE AHEAD Comedy-drama of married life, touching the minor happenings and misunder- standings and temptations with the Rupert Hughes touch. THE GREAT IMPERSONATION Oppenheim mystery-story of one man acting the part of another, with all the THE OLD NEST Rather dreary study of home life until the children all ieave and forget mother, with the accent of the gloom. time. And it was too exciting, where Wally Reid—I mean Anatol— smashed the furniture all up, terribly!” It was up to me to defend myself, or allow the de Mille juggernaut of popularity obtained with beautiful sets and gowns and stars to pass re- y over my prostrate form. “Listen, Vic,” I explained, “I’m on the trail of a phenomenon. Cecil de Mille is usually reckoned about at the top of American photoplay di- rectors, say outside of Griffith. And ‘The Affairs of Anatol’ is apparently accepted as one of the greatest pic- tures he has ever turned out; pos- sibly the greatest. The cast includes all the stars in the Movie Heaven and two more beside. People crowd in to see it. I went to see it myself. And all I saw was a nicely-acted con- ventional-movie hero-part, with a series of elaborately-staged episodes and sequences that showed pretty girls and beautiful men in beautiful clothes and pretty sets, doing highly improbable and not particularly in- teresting or thrilling things. At the end of part one, when your friend Wally had chased morally and platon- ically after a vamp for her own sup- posed good until he got mad and nothing came of it, the whole show seemed over; then it started along again with something else once more. Now, what I want to know is this; is there anythin more in that photo- play than a conventional movie, plus additional expense with Cecil de Mille and a whole truck load of ultra- salaried stars thrown in for good measure—or am I crazy.” “Probably,” suggested Victoria with becoming diffidence, remember- ing nicely her sixteen summers, “you’re crazy.” She considered further for a moment. “I think,” she added after several moments, “it comes of being a critic.” (Continued on page 31) comicbooks.com