Judge — July 7, 1923 — page 15: what you’re looking at

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

The merry-go-round owners of America meet in solemn conclave to make, if possible, the merry- go-rounds more artistic. ECHOES OF THE SILENT DRAMA by George Mitchell ‘ X Jitn Betry Compson a_pepful s well as beautiful crook; Richard Dix a district attorney fallen in love with her and playing crook for the nonce to reform he George Fawcett a venerable and dignified judge, and with Theodore von Eltz, Joseph Kilgour, Charles A. Stevenson and James Farley all mixed up in an underworld drug combine to serve those who feel the need to’sniff it, we say, with all this talent, one looked for an interesting film—and one not wholly. dis- appointed. Not that it An airplane recreation was isn’t exciting enough. swoops down on a prison ground and snatches up a prisoner, Impossible. ay. Well, it’s not one of a daily on stunts pulled off in jails, but it gives its thrill. Fights—hand-to-hand and brain-to-brain and tense moments in which your hair (if) rises in pompadour. It’s the kind of picture you would pay ten cents to read under paper covers and if there wasn't a body found at the bottom of each page, you could exchange for another. Betty and tes work like ants. You've never seen such activity. Betty in’ particular. She walks the copings of tall buildings, holds up inno- cent but pearl-collecting females, cracks safes, engages in hand to hand struggles and gencrally disports in a highly exciting manner and almost gets away with it. You'll certainly like Betty if you do laugh at the picture. It’s a little too incredulous, this “Wom- an with the Four Faces,” and but for a few scenes is cluttered up with more double crosses than a tuberculosis hospital. Our conclusion is that it wi to the screen to beat Mrs. W drug film, “Human Wreckage. But if you are willing to shake a little salt on the plot, you will be amused. And Betty is there. All kinds of ways. associa her s rushed Reid's Deroy Dartoy may always be relied upon to give you a run for In “The your mone Law of the Law- less” she is picturesque in the costume of a Tartar maiden who loves not wisely but too often. Like all good moving picture actresses, "however, she pulls her emotional chestnuts out of the fire for a final fade-out that promises a long life and a married one. The story is as wild as the country in which it is set, but it keeps the action out in the open air and your nerves at breaking point, and that’ won't do you any harm these warm days. Charles de Roche is the young French- man who was sent into the bull pen to warm up when Valentino threw the bull into Famous Players. Ne hold no brief cither for or against Valentino, but de Roche is not the man to fill his vac: He's a big, handsome, woman's man, picturesque and romantic, but. his pantomime su nd opera school of action exploited in the early Verdi era. Theodore Kosloff is at home, and when you’ve said that you know he has a dizzy dance and a chance to use his sword, If- the stock market in its recent gyrations has beggared you and you contemplate buying a bottle of K. O. drops, spend the money rather on a icket for this picture and you will be a better man for it. We have come to recognize Miss Dalton as one of the few film actresses who is willing to ride a horse, jump a minarette or swallow fire. All of this and much more she does with the grace and ease of an acrobat. We like to sit in on a Dalton picture for we are reasonably certain that our sluggish blood is going to run up hill, though not far cnough to re: brain. It’s good physica gives, and we get the thrill we need every 13 now and then to blot out the dullness of everyday life. This is one of the best things she has done, for the picture seems cut to her measure and fits her smi I “Davcuters oF THE Ricn” we observe Miriam Cooper, Ethel Shan- non and Ruth Clifford, three comely women, the dashing Gaston Glass and the subtle Stuart Holmes, all) snarled up in a plot that is as probable as a Mother Goose story and no less childish in conception. If the Silent Drama doesn’t watch out somebody will come along some day and call it The Dumb Drama. But it’s full of beautiful sets, generally excellent direction, reflects a mint of money spent on it and wanders along the high spots of frenzicd society in a manner that will make you feel that if this be wealth let us have poverty. We can especially recommend you to Miriam Cooper for a straightforward, carefully worked out bit of characteriza tion. Ruth Clifford is cast in a réle that would try the ability of a Duse, and Ethel Shannon is pretty and languor- and generally feminine. Glass is sincere and manly and does well in spite of the highly improbable plot. Stuart Holmes looks the part of a moni duke, His pantomime falls its too frequent recurrence to the bo~ and hand kissing maneuver. acquaintance with dukes is limited, but certain. they possessed greater ‘ of deportment. Glasnier, the director who scorns all but one name and thereby makes a big hid for fame, has done some fine dire despite a story that is hopelessly lac king in sensible psychology But the as portrayed by these five i actors will hold you, and_ it's with so splendid a'sense of the artificiality of high society that. you will probably be entertained, though’ not instructed. ous stiff Our