Judge — September 15, 1923 — page 24: what you’re looking at

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

Drawn by HERMAN PALMER, When a movie star can use his double to a good advantage. VERY MOVING PICTURES Ss AY, DEARIE, I see you've been ba ting out a lota copy these d said our manicurist’ the other she picked up one of our chubby little hands and scrutinized its fingers so toil worn, and so forth. “Wrong again, Cleek,” said we, tickled to death that we should discover a flaw in this perfect ere “How come the devastated digits?” she purred sourly as she took out a mashie—niblick and started to work on what mother always considered an adorably dimpled thumb. “Mellowdrama,” we retorted — rather glibly for us. Those once perfect nails are not beaten down, they're bitten off.” “The movie chicklet. “The Cinen toitil “What didjer see?” she inquired with more than a modicum of hauteur. “Three wild fillums,” we told her. “Tell baby,” she cooed, getting out of the sand in two and teeing up on the index finger. “I ain't seen a pitcher in a y They're so common.” “We saw “The Midnight Alarm’ for one, ‘Drifting’ for two and “The Green Goddess’ for three,” we informed her wearil) “Didjer like ‘em silken lashes draggin cheeks. W: WONDE stand w ing aloud rathe communed this wise: There are three kinds of mellowdrama, my dear: mellow, mellower and mellowest. The mellow is good, the mellower is bad, but the mellowest is rotten. “The Midnight Alarm” we are afraid is in neither the first two classes; “Drift- ing” is in the first class and “The Green Goddess” is in a class all by itself. The difference between “The Green Goddess” and other melodrama is in- telligent direction plus a sense of humor, on the one hand, and a grim seriousness that totters on the brink of burlesque and usually falls over on the other. * she queried shifting her * we corrected her hoity- her long in the paint on her ep if she would under- we had to say but, think- than talking to her, we as the novelists put it—in by George Mitchell In “The Midnight Alarm” we have a set of hams who work like beavers and get nowhere. In “Drifting” we have a cast that doesn’t work quite so hard and ge’ somewhere, and in “The nn Goddess” we have a group of actors who seem not to work at all and get everywhere. You must know that the essence of all melodrama is Justice—not the justice pictured by sculptors and_ painters, with blindfolded eyes and a seale in one hand and a carving knife in the other, but a wide-awake young lady with a pair of perfectly focused binoculars who never misses a trick. She may fool you ever so often into the belief that she isn’t peeking, but she does that only because she likes to know that you are biting your fingers and squirm- ing in your seat. She's looking all the time and is waiting for the moment when all must be properly adjusted to fit the scheme of things entire. She’s a great little waitress is Melo- dramatic Justice. If you knew her you'd sit complacently with your hands idly folded in your lap, secure in the assurance that God's in His en and all’s well with the fadeout. W VER you do, don’t worry about i y get away with murder for ten or twelve reels, but he hasn’t a Chinaman’s chance of escaping Melodramatic Justice. ‘The hero, on the other hand, no matter how black it may look for him, will clear his good name all in good time and ulti- mately be brought to a blissful, happy ending that includes the heroine's ecstatic kiss. Melodramatic Justice overlooks noth- ing, and if the law courts of the world could but use it there would be no un- solved murder cases, nor broken hearts in a world that seems overcrowded with them at the present writing. You may realize from what we are telling you that “The Midnight Alarm” made but a poor impression on us. You may further gather that “Drift- ing” was liked more. ‘And you may read between the lines that we liked “The Green Goddess” and all of this is true. The beauty of “The Green Goddess” 22 is scintillating, gorgeous and manifold. Firstly, George Arliss is a consummate artist. whose sinister personality, tem- pered with much humor, is delicately balanced. He doesn’t. rant any more than an infant with a bottle of milk. His bland smile, his happy comeback and merry quip in the tight places of his villainy endear him to you. You're rather sorry in the end that he hasn't gotten away with his deep-dyed rascality. He's a jovial criminal—a philosopher in crimson, and when Alice Joyce slips away through his fingers, does he tear his hair and dag himself with a jewel poignard? Not a bit of it. He lights a fresh cigarette, smiles as serenely as if she had promised to marry him and quite philosophically whispers: “She probably would h. caused me a lot of trouble anyw yur grapes,” say you? Very well. Sour grapes! But Arliss gives you the impression that he likes sour grapes, for he knows life, does this Batic prince, and believes that the next airplane may bring him a more beautiful woman. You never can tell from their height what's in an airship. He knows also that it’s the necktie you didn’t buy that you discover later on is the one you wanted. Life must be a lot like that or Reno wouldn’t have made the name it has. Tue GREEN DDEsSS” is an enjoy- able film. Being as well done as it is we'd like to have seen more of it. Besides, we can get along without the young men and women who rush about in thin draperies before the picture begins. Interpretive dancing will never be in- terpreted by us. We don’t understand it and get very little pleasure watching a woman with a soap dish in an imaginary butterfly all over the st The young lady who performed before “The Green Godde did imitation of the Atlantic Oce storm. We know that she was. trying to tell us, in her silent manner, that a green goddess was about to engage our attention. But she swam about, w her arms and all but yelled for'the life guards to come on in and get her before she went down for the third time. comicbooks.com