Judge, 1927-11-26 · page 23 of 36
Judge — November 26, 1927 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a film review column by Pare Lorentz titled "Judging the Movies," accompanied by an illustration and a caption-joke unrelated to the main text. **The Review:** Lorentz critiques "Sorrell and Son," a film adaptation of Warwick Deeping's novel directed by Herbert Brenon (a prominent silent-era director). His core complaint: the movie faithfully followed the book's structure but failed as cinema. He argues that novels and films require different storytelling approaches—novels develop characters gradually, while films need tighter pacing. The adaptation's multiple climaxes caused audience members to leave early, suggesting poor dramatic construction. **The Illustration & Caption:** The sketch shows a chaotic street scene with cars and pedestrians. The caption references "Eliza" crossing ice—likely evoking the famous scene from "Uncle Tom's Cabin" where the enslaved character Eliza famously crosses a frozen river. The joke appears to be that navigating a modern street is MORE dangerous than Eliza's theatrical peril. This is primarily a film criticism piece rather than political satire, reflecting Judge's coverage of contemporary entertainment and culture.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE re | JUDG VN Ge THe MIOW VES BY PARE LORENZ: 0 AL. The Movie Guide us unless of} ) wise noted) rise” —Reviewed in this i Buster Keaton in a ver the picture does not stand on its | own merits, but is merely a well phot novel. ov frequently hes arized story criticized be- eit “did not follow the book. Sorrell and Son” is not a good motion picture because it did follow the book. If you go to see this movie because you read the book, you may enjoy it. If you go to see it because you did not and you want to know the story of Warwick Decping’s best seller, you may like it. But if you go to see “Sorrell and Son” because you want to sce a great picture, you will be disappointed. It is extremely disappointing when one of the oldest and most experienced dircetors in’ Holly- wood, Herbert Brenon, turns out Undencorit’ Good sating and din a motion picture this. It is tography of the war in the air disappointing for this reason: — LS" aphed synopsis of the The novel carefully disposed of all its characters. Unfortu nately, the movie followed this same procedure, with the result that there were at least three different climaxes before — the final, and supposedly big scene. After each of these climaxes sev- eral people in the audi up to leave, and, considering the negligible drama of the last scenc, they should have followed their impulse. In a novel the author has time to develop his characters mi nutely, to subtly build them up (Continued on page 26) ice got pod acting and dil | Eliza was lucky at that—she may have crossed the ice, but she didn’t have to | cross the street. comicbooks.com