Judge — January 8, 1927 — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

JUDGING, ‘ne MOVIES* © More fascinating chronicle N has been told on the screen than “The Gorilla Hunt.” It hasn't in it the beauty of Flaherty’: pictures or theepic quality of “Gra: —these are the films which naturally suggest themselves for comparison— but it has quite as much if not more educational value, combined with an excitement and pace that leave one tingling. The giant Kivu gorilla is appar- ently as formidable a beast as the Bengal tiger, almost as formidable as man himself, and hunting him, there- fore, has its high spots. But this feature is merely sauce for the meal, which consists of a remarkable pictorial exposition of the gradations that divide homo sapientissimus from the brute. This demonstration of the theory of evolution is not inten- tional. Neither is it accidental. It is inevitable. The expedition, in- spired and led by Ben Burbridge, enters Africa at the mouth of the Congo, travels 900 miles up the river on board an old Mississippi stern wheeler to Stanleyville, and from Stanleyville sets out on a two-years’ hike to the gorilla country. In the course of its travels it captures for the “The Big Parade"—Shows may come and shows may go . “Moana of the South Seas*—Beautiful. “The Black Pirate’—Neatly romantic. “For Hearen’s Sake"—Lloyd laughter “Aloma of the South Seas"—Grass skirts. “The Road to Mandalay”—Chaney 01 “Variety"—The Emil Jannings cla “Mantrap"—Medium melodrama. “Nell Groyn'"—Good British film. “Battling Buster”—Buster Keaton triumphs “Beau Geste” iting hokum. So This Is Paris"—Sophisticated comedy. The Scarlet Letter” —Lillian Gish at her best. The Strong Man"—Harry Langdon ditto. “Sparrows"—Tepid Mary Pickford. “One Minute to Play"—The Galloping Ghost “The Campus Flirt"—Bebe wins the race. “Tin Gods" —Renée Adorée loves not wisely. “The Treasure”—Properly named. “You'd Be Surprised” —Subtle Griffith. “The Temptress" —Miss Garbo is the whole show. “Rid Boots"—Eddie Cantor is good. “The Ace of Cads"—Mediocre Menjou. “The Better ‘Ole”—Old Bill himself. “The Magician”—Well photographed bosb. “London"—Poor British lm. “The Sorrows of Satan"—Florid Corelli. “Bardelys the Magnificent”—John Gilbert becomes an acrobat. “We're In the Nary Now —Very funny. “Ererybody's Acting” —All-star comedy. ‘orener After” ‘petage”—Fair. “The Eagle of the Seas"—Unconvincing. “Potemkin” —Amazing. “What Price Glory?” —Pictorially great. “The Canadian" —Meighan plays safe. “Faust"—Excellent. “Old Ironsides"—Excessively patriotic. “Michael Strogof"—Exciting. screen a cross-section of the step- ladder of the species. To begin with, you have your two or three white men, the directing brains and moral spine of the under- taking. Then you have the native safari—the hundreds of carriers re- cruited from the comparatively civil- ized tribes bordering on the navigable Congo. As the travelogue unfolds you come to the cannibals of the interior with their filed teeth and other grotesque disfigurements, then to the pygmies—pygmies in mind as well as in body—and finally to the gorillas, or ape-men. The step from pygmy to gorilla certainly seems no greater than from white man to pygmy, especially as on the return journey one of the captive gorillas gives an amazing exhibition of its powers of thought. As I say, it is a fascinating and exciting picture and a splendid monu- ment to the courage and skill of Ben Burbridge. But it will be more ex- citing still when it reaches Tennessee. I" must be that I am succumbing to the lure of Bebe Daniels, or per- haps it is merely softening of the (Continued on page 22) comicbooks.com