Judge — March 8, 1924 — page 24: what you’re looking at

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

SCREENING STAR DUST by George Mitchell HE VAGARIES of motion picture nomenclature are perhaps perfectly set forth in current offerings. Maybe you can untangle what seems puzzling to us. It’s this: “Mon Homme” (My Man), a play by Andre Picard and Francis Carco, bears the film title “Shadows of Paris,” whereas “A Tale of Red Roses,” a novel by George Randolph Chester, is called “My Man” on the screen. It’s very simple when you get to know the formula, but we're very stupid about such matters. EAKING of the “Shadows of Paris,” other day. We don’t often bet. sure enough of our judgment to risk half a dollar on it. We are enough to we put a bet down the We never seem to feel honest admit that our opinion of our judgment isn’t worth half a dollar. But we've been watching Gloria Swanson lately and we've been watch- ing Pola Negri lately and we bet half a dollar that Gloria giv Pola more headaches than Pola gives Gloria. In “The Humming Bird,” Gloria plays an Apache and so does Pola in “Shadows of Paris,” and the two characters are so similar as to in- cite comparison be- tween these Ameri- can and Polish Frenchwomen and. . . well, we've put up our’ half dollar and we're not as worried as our bank book would cause you to be- lieve. We would say to Pola, were we in her confidence, that she needs Mr. Lubitsch. With the right direction we are not so sure that we would risk another half dollar. If Mr. Lubitsch were megaphoning Pola and Von Stroheim were directing Gloria, we don’t think we'd risk a nickel on the result. But it would be a splendid race to watch. “Shadows of Paris” is a good enough film. Pola is always interesting and compelling. She screens brilliantly. But the story is a little out of kilter and we liked “The Humming Bird” better. Charles de Roche is a picturesque figure or chunk of manhood. In this kind of rdle he is as forceful as the command of a stepmother. Huntley Gordon (the name alone—not Huntley—brings a breath of fragrant juniper to the jaded nostril) is an upstanding figure of righteousness and Adolph Menjou plays with his accustomed spicy French dressing. IF THE “EDUCATIONAL FILMS” Attainments of the average eight-year-old child after seeing three of them a week for six years. To us, one of the mysteries of the screen is how and when Adolph Menjou spends as much time with his tailor as his personal appearance prov Mr. Menjou is the Beau Nas|i of filmdom. He is the nattiest, nobbiest, groomiest villain that ever flapped the heart of a flapper. He is also the oftenest- shot actor in the films to-da A picture without him in the line-up is as scarce as oys! n oyster stews. Probably, like Bully Boy Brewster, he sleeps in his shirt. Perhaps he doesn’t sleep at all. Or do producers lift his scenes from one film to another? We don’t know how he does it, so much of it, or how he does it all so well. Maybe he’s a very good actor. Yes. That must be it. We highly recom- mend “Shadows of Paris.” It will keep you awake duri the time you are in the theater and some of the night that follow after you have pyja- maed yourself off to bed. hours a picture but Dustin always a good cigar. Farnum is He is one of our few cigar-smoking lea ing men. Theodore Roberts, the Saint Nicotine of the Screen, by reason of his age, is be- yond the smoke barrage of romance. With Dustin it’s another matter. He is, or is. still thought to be, youthful enough to play the young You agree with us that he isn’t. But that’s that. The cigar. ctte is symbolic of youth. ‘The sere and yellow leaf is the-cigar. long asa man clings to the cigarette, at least one of his feet is planted on the firm foundation of youth. The Connecticut wrapper is the Mother Hubbard of domesticity; carpet slippers and the radio are no more emblematic of home and fireside. But we were going to say something about “My Man,” the film in which Dustin smokes so many cigars opposite Patsy Ruth Miller in a love story that might have been a much better film had Patsy played with somebody else. Perhaps you will like it. We didn’t. lover. EDUCATED may D« BarTHELMEss is our idea of a good screen actor. Dick has done some history-making films. “Broken Blossoms” was one. “Tol’able David” was another. So was “Fury.” But “Twenty-one,” we are afraid is not. comicbooks.com