Judge — March 29, 1924 — page 22: what you’re looking at

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

THE GODS OF CELLULOID by George Mitchell LorIA SWANSON, if she doesn’t havea care, will soon be pro- claimed the first lady of the Strand. By sheer strength of personality she is outstepping her sister filmsters. She has become so interesting, so absorbing a personality t she easily overtops the picture interest. It doesn’t so much matter what she docs as the compelling manner in which she her most s slight stuff. Ordinarily it wouldn't amount to much but with Gloria aided and abetted by Rod La Rocque, it becomes one of the best pictures we've seen this month. Speaking of people who are coming through we would mention the name of Ricardo Cortez, that suave young skunk who so gracefully mixes himself up in celluloid scandals. No young matron of society is safe with Ricardo on the set. He's a vest-pocket edition of Valentino and we seem to think that if he wants to he can give Rodolph a run for the gate receipts. But to re- turn to our first love. Gloria is given a chance in this film to show off and she does it. We need say no more. You probably are as interested in her we are and, despite our praise of her, you'll go to see her anyhow. ‘o much has been S said of “America,” the Griffith spectacle dealing with the Revo- lutionary period in this our land of the free, that little remains to be said except to praise it as a work of great beauty. It is a film of intense interest, masterfully produced. No movie fan will neglect to see it. No word of ours need be added to what has already been said. Mr. Griffith is a past master of hokum. If the Rockets had cheapened Abraham Lincoln with a love story, the film would not have suffered a short run. As his- toric material Lincoln outfoots“ America” inch for inch. But Mr. Griffith is theatric. He knows that the great American public must throb to the romantic interest. He stresses the senti- SPRING FEVER “I'd throw ya this rope, Bill, only I’m layin’ on it.” “°Sall ri’, Ed, don’ wanna hang onta nothin’.” mental till it groans and the boy and girl in the audience wilt in their chairs. May the celluloid gods be praised! “ Tcepounp” is all that it is cracked up to be. It’s the kind of picture that makes you glad that winter comes but once i year and has Christmas tucked away in its frosted lining to give you a lift up from the frozen map. We profess to a gentk regard for the warmt] of other seasons. We don’t like frostbitten ears, toes, and fingers Neither do we lik« frostbitten personal ties. They remind us of our stepmother. Speaking of mothers, step and out of step, the mater in) “Tce- bound” is an ani- mated icicle, without heart or humor. Thi film does not give the date or location of her birth but we hav: an idea that she was born in January some- where about three in the morning, her mother tightly im- bedded in’ the very heart of an iceberg. She migrated to New England where — the milk of human kind- ness is delivered in bottles that may be opened only with the aid of a jimmy and a small stick of dyna- mite. Spending a wet Sunday in the country with a woman of that type is our ideaof hell, all theology tothecon- trary. Her children are drops of hail and flakes of snow who sit about waiting for the : cold snap of death that is to crack her from the grip she has on life and the roll of long green she has accumulated, we suspect, by the rare methods used by. the shrewd New Englander—thoroughly honest but awfully careful. We would not have you believe that we are in any way knock- ing the picture. It’s k Absorbingly interesting and if you are not inclined to dislike the cold you'll enjoy it. “ vowrnc Gorn” tells a story of the oil fields. It was written by Rex Beach and for some unknown reason bears the (Continued on page 28) comicbooks.com the mal acl Tan thir eno you sup dizi foo! day dre mo! peo