Life — April 24, 1924 — page 26: what you’re looking at

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

“Beau Brummel” i movie version of Clyde Fitch's Brummel,” achieves deficient continuity Beau greatness in spite and a story that is too frequently in- Like its parent play, it is es- sentially dependent on its players—and in this respect it is nobly equipped. The screen has known no perform volved. ance finer, stronger or more perfectly modulated than John “Beau Brummel he flashy habili- Bryan Brummel, which once encased the cloquent form of Richard Mansfeld, fit John Barry- but his realization of rrymore’s. in ments of George more perfectly ; the rdle goes far beyond his ability to He gets under Beau Brummel's skin and brings to life this wear the clothes. romantic ancestor of the young men appear in the back pages of Van- Fair. As the Beau grows older, Mr. Barry more keeps up with him. His aging is no mere matter of painted wrinkles, silvered temples and simulated palsy There is actual, visual evidence of de- cay—physical, moral and spiritual. It is a great piece of work Nor does Mr. Barrymore play a lone hand. He is ably supported by Willard fat and fat oa lesser degree, Hall Mary Astor. Incidentally, when John and Mary Astor confront each other in mus George by Winter Louis, as the IV, and, Barrymore the closer close-ups, the spectator has the opportunity to behold the two most perfect profiles in the Anglo-Saxon world. A. sight like this certainly makes us one-hundred-per-cent. Nordics feel self-conscious “Singer Jim McKee” is extremely di ficult to pan one of Bill Hart's pictures. Nevertheless, “Singer Jim McKe taxes the most long-winded patience up to and beyond the snapping point. It is unquestionably as bad as it is possible for any six thousand feet of film to be. Bill Hart impersonates one of thosé tender, unselfish, molested, misunder- fellows who divide their affec tions between a little bebby hoss. stood and a paint It is his favorite type of réle, and it gives him a chance to do an incredible amount of acting. As I have said, it is terribly hard to utter unpleasant thoughts about a Bill Hart production. But this publication has a reputation for honesty which must he upheld. MARY ASTOR AND BEAU JOUN BARRY- MORE IN BRUM MEL.” “The Hill Billy” HERE may be little romance in the stark there is Southern mountains, but estionably an enormou amount of — high-pressure — drama ‘ David” 3 this, and the point i 1 jal home by “The Hill Billy It seems in the Tennessee, Kentucky and the Ca every family cc ‘ol'able nd “Driven” proved hill country s at least one se an look beyond the izon and can appreciate the fact th life isn’t ex feuds and hardships and Revenue officers. This standard but always appealing character is played, in “The Hill Billy,” by Jack Pickford. He does remarkably by it Young Mr. Pickford has achieved a great f deal of second-hand fa Mary's brother, and ags of that classic remark ofMarilyn Mill er’s, “Youth must have love.” There is no reason why Jack Pickford should not be prominent on his own account—f Richard Barthelmess, tive boy who irely a matter ¢ well as the inspirer without being a he is a sme “The Hill Billy” may be reckoned a “Tolable David.” n, competent, sensible actor worthy successor to “Flowing Gold ITH so much talk about oil in official circles, and so many jokes about it in humorous periodicals (« it seems that we might be spared from it on the screen, But no—there are so many oil wells around Hollywood that they will obtrude themselves into. the background occasionally wing Gold.” wh: my petrol bt henticity of a form letter from ex-Dr. Cook—with none of the literary elegance which marked that master’s The book upon which this dreadful picture is based was written by Rex Beach, but he should not be blamed for He probably feels as bad about it as do the rest of u Robert E the result wood, comicbooks.com