Life — February 4, 1926 — page 28: what you’re looking at

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

26 TES|LENT DRAMA. “~ pens that this one | T so ha offers, for three motion ures conceiver signed and executed according t tritest’ box-office formule. The “That Royle Girl,” “Mam “Mike"—and were I to been stim equi at ated, inspired, th amused or even moderately entertair by any of them, I should be gu hearing false witness against my bor has), they are all terrible. “That Royle Girl’ 17 Litth inebriat, mnecquin in am becomes int with the Virtuow ok blackest, along » and blows Urchin and the into cach Tough thous [ r's arms HIS, then, is the basis of Wark Griffith's latest master-« which exhausts some twelve re dreary celluloid before it reac belated conclu: n, It is wild. reckless melodram teresting well arranged at vals, but for the most part iner silly, When W. C. Fie the general mélée, there is. s Is is vis cause for laughter, and, the case with Griffith productions are some telling character bits. also the hammest cai it has ever been my privilege t ness: Miss Carol De sacrifice that which is dearer th: pster, ab suddenly pauses at the br ace-filling — purpe week de the y are and I have hrilled, d ilty of neigh: date, fiste’s s Dis s Dis comes Lat istrict David frama els of na—in inter libly ib fei is usually there There ra effect that oO wit yout to life k of > FENIGRVES ° iniquity—the scene fa es to a close-up of Abraham Lincoln—and then dis solves back ately to the strait and narrow path Miss Dempster re ning There are overtones in “That Royle Girl” which are not part ant; they have bee alarly pleas t in all the “The Birth of a appare Griffith pictures, fr but never before to such extent Mannequin Formers 1 baby girl, stolen by her Vout on & ts raised in bee es nom a shop a tespaper reporter 1 series of editorials con tal juries that s to go free nvolved ina murder ry friend’ send her to the chair us th Miss F. origin of the club breakfast, received $50,000 this tremend: inte Hurst, from Liberty in its recent scenario cor test As Miss Hurst's story won first prize, it is to be assumed that it was the best submitted (please don't 1 the losing manuser’ zh). In that case, T wonder what s were like. Certainly, none of them could have been any more illogical or further from actuality than this. There is hardly a develop in the entire plot that does not exert a terrific strain on the spec- tator’s. credul mindy 5 and y, as an honest interpreter of from a writer who has been known, rig commonplace life ust to Miss Hurst Other stories of hers Perhaps 1 am ur ve been muti- lated in the movies, to her intense dis tress, and this may have been the c with “Mannequin.” But I doubt it y 1A u~ There is something phony about this work — something left-handed — which leads me to believe that Miss Hurst should be, and probably is, ashamed of herself The prod. ler James Cruze’s 1c, with effective direction, is a good « performances by Dolores Costello and Zasu Pitts. Miss Costel latest crush, is undo who is my edly the most promising discovery of the current year Her work in “The Sea Beast” and “Mannequin” justifies for her future xtreme optimism oe “Mike Forsuta: A Tough Lit Urchin, wit Irish iate father, a comic in lives in a caboose and takes care gf Fs three children. S . but she does wear her pesn't get a job reby bringing tears indulges cs of routine gays “MIKE is the latest Marshall Neilan effort; it is a reprint, on cheap paper, of all the previous Marshall Neilan efforts, particularly those where- in he collaborated with Mary Pickford. ‘or the most part, it is crude, vulgar, laborious and highly unfunny. slapstick medy, the big moment being supplied when the quaintly whimsical _ little throws a skunk int c » the saloon here here her father has been spending the -end. Miki Flower.” wee is ina class with “The Desert “Little Annie Rooney” a similar pictures, which always man to afflict this correspondent with an acute pain in the neck R. Sherwood. (Recent Developments will be found on page 33) comicbooks.com Al