Life — September 29, 1921 — page 24: what you’re looking at

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

Camille AZIMOVA’S screen version of “Camille” will go down as one of the ghastly jokes that the movies have perpetrated at the expense of literature. It is almost as funny as the “Camille” scene in the current Ziegfeld Follies, wherein Fanny Brice remarks, between coughs, “I have been a bad woman, Armand—but awfully good company.” The movie people have seen fit to bring “Camille” down to modern times, and have altered the story in other re- spects to conform to the limitations of the Hollywood stage. They have equipped it with backgrounds so absurd that the various scenes resemble noth- ing so much as the modern type of “tea shoppe” which has lavender rab- bits painted on the table tops. Moreover, Nazimova herself has monopolized the picture to such an ex- tent that nine-tenths of the footage seems to be devoted to fuzzy close-ups of the star. It is, for the most part, ter- ribly boring. Rudolph Valentino, as Armand, does some good work, but he never has any real chance to get started. It is only fair to say that there are occasional moments when Nazimova remembers that she is acting in the beautiful tragedy of “Camille,” and not posing ‘for a full-page photograph in Vanity Fair, but those moments are very, very occasional. Beyond “Beyonp” is billed as an_ original screen story by Henry Arthur Jones, whereas it is actually an adaptation of his earlier work, “The Lifted Veil.” It has to do with the influence of the dead on the living. Ethel Clayton, as the heroine, is moved by her mother’s spirit to go to Australia, where she learns that her vagabond brother has become the vic- tim of another and more tangible spiri the Demon Rum. Having admi tered the Keeley cure, she returns to England to find that her husband has married again. So she goes right back to Australia and waits there until the demise of the second wife permits her to play on her own home grounds again. Miss Clayton’s indisputable beauty MM M M\ ™m ST mH The weekly news movie fices she is called upon to make, one cannot help wondering how to ac- count for some of the situations of the story. For instance, there is no way of explaining how she got the price of her commutation ticket to the Antip- odes. It’s wonderful what spiritual faith will do. Serenade Raout Watsu's production, “Ser- enade,” is a strange combination of horse-play and hokum with real arts- tic merit. It is an adaptation of the famous Spanish play, “Maria de Carmen,” which has played on the American stage under the title, “ ish Love.” The scenes are laid in province which is being oppressed |yy the government at Madrid. Unwelcome officials are sent to discipline the recal citrant populace, and to apply the old iron hand. The situation thus caused brings about an orgy of love, hate, pri- vate duels, public brawls and other fa- vorite Andalusian pastimes. There ought to be plenty of goc drama extracted from all this, but the isn’t—owing largely to the fact that Raoul Walsh has cast his brother, George, in the heroic rdle. George is a combination of Douglas Fairbanks Buck Jones and Tom Mix, with a slight touch of Clyde Cook. This bespeaks great versatility, which is very well in its way. But Mr. Walsh employs his various talents at the wrong times and in the wrong places, and gets the story all muddled up as a result. Another member of the family, Miriam Cooper, is the heroine of the piece, and she performs in very satis- factory fashion. The settings are ex- cellent, and the street scenes are stage: with great skill. Notice Next week, and for several weeks thereafter, the Silent Drama depart- ment will be conducted by Mr. Henry William Hanemann, who needs no in- troduction to the readers of Lire, Robert E. Sherwood. (Recent Developments will be found on page 32) comicbooks.com