Judge — July 14, 1923 — page 24: what you’re looking at

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

Lions, cinema and cinnamon. THE GERMAN SILVER SHEET by George Mitchell rH the revival of the German made “Passion” at the Capitol and the initial showing of “Peter the Great” at the Rivoli, the German army of Photography has marched upon and taken Broadway. It is interesting to note that “Pas- sion,” after a successful showing some years since, has returned to be enjoyed by those who did and those who didn’t st No review of it is here Suffice it to say it's a good picture. you haven't seen it, you ought to. <i THE Great” i It was directed by Dimitri Bucho- wetzki_ and employs the services of Emil Jannings, Dagney Servaes, Bern- hard Goetzke and Walter Janssen. fine picture. Dagney Servaes screens beautifully. When we are confronted with a Ger- man made picture and find that we must like it, we are overcome with a conscious- ness of disloyalty. We are forced to admit that theirs is a sincerity of pur- pose that makes our trivial comedies look shabby. We realize, of course, that we have seen only a few large foreign productions, probably their best, but we find that their subjects are weightier than ours. To us Louis the Fourteenth, Henry the Eighth, Danton and Peter the Great are infinitely interesting than Mike the Rat. ine is as dramatic as Nellie the soap maker’s twin, plus an educational value that our American producers seem to overlook. So it is that we watched Emil Jannings in a splendid and gripping characteriza- tion of Peter the Great and compared this sincere picture with some of the stuff that has lately filtered through the screen and wished that some American director might raise his megaphone and answer the challenge with Washington and do it with as fine a reverence for detail; as well balanced a sense of accu- racy as Buchowetzki. Wecan doit... . ‘Then why not? Jannings in ‘Peter the Great” has set a splendid figure splendidly on the screen. With a resourceful technique he dominates easily all his scenes and stands out a commanding figure, stamp- ing himself upon your mind by compelling gesture and grimace. But we are certain that Ernest Torrence as Washington would sink him. We don’t remember Peter very well. He died before we had a chance to get well acquainted; but Jannings makes you believe that he and Peter played marbles together and thus was able to mimic him to the life. Dagney Servaes screens beautifully. She has a compelling magnetism and is lovely to the We'd like to see her take on Ru where Peter left off. She’d do Catherine of Russia, a great historic character, with fine distinction. We can’t understand why Mr. Lasky hasn’t added her to La Negri. This isnotatip. He's probably got her under contract as we write. A final word of praise for Buchowetzki for beautiful photography, settings and artistic detail, and a sprig of bay for Bernhard Goetzke’s picture of Menschi- kow, the prime minister. “Peter the Great” is a fine picture. You must see it. Jane Novak, Phillippe DeLacy and John Bowers. I. “Divorce” we are taught to believe that domestic bliss may be enjoyed only among those who live in poor houses. Take ii from this picture of married discontent, once a man’s income raises its head above water, he is carried over the falls in the rapids of success. Tt aims a body blow at one of our pet institutions: the successful American business man. We don’t like it. We don’t believe it. We think we'd be a good, if rich guy, particularly with a wife as restful to the nerves as Jane Novak. We seem to think that John Bowers doesn’t represent American _husbandhood. If Jane couldn’t keep John at home nights we're sure Margaret Livingston couldn't. Margaret is the gilded lady that comes into John’s life with his raise in salary. She lures him from the little woman. Ben Alexander the Great. Jane then -has John broken at the office. Margaret throws him over and, like the prodigal husband he is, he comes back sure of a dinner of fatted calf and a pair of outstretched and forgiving arms. You can be just as happy without having seen this picture—perhaps happier. E woutp ask President Harding lay off the World Court and Prohibition long enough to issue a habeas corpus—or whatever it is, that will compel every man, woman and child to see “Penrod and Sam.” Furthermore, to order a Penrod and Sam jubilee—call a pair of battleships, one Penrod—the other Sam, and to issue a stamp on the obverse of which to appear Penrod and Sam and on the reverse Rodney Bitts and Georgie Bassett. Failing in that, we would ask that he order all the picture making companies compel all their grown-up acting force to see this juvenile masterpiece. This done, we may look for a bigger, a brighter and a more perfect nation. Don’t send your children to see “Pen- rod and Sam.” Take them with you. You'll enjoy it more than they will. Pas “Oh—look! That one-piece suit fits her just like a coat of paint!” “But if it was paint you’d say she needed a second coat!” sas California has a woman bootlegger, the mother of four children. All raised on the bottle. comicbooks.com