Life — October 14, 1926 — page 30: what you’re looking at

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

“You'd Be Surprised” N “You'd Be Surprised,” Ray- mond Griffith attempts to pand a good two-reel comedy a full-length feature. The re- sults are just about what you might several substantial laughs, ted from other by stretches of unsubstantial padding. It is a murder-melo- drama—all in one e—with Mr. Griffith as a roguish coroner. ‘There can be no complaint nst- Mr. Griffith's personal behavior through- out the picture; he is un funny. But his materi: excessively tenuous. Indeed, « quent interv “You'd Be Sur- prised” threatens to blow right off the sercen. into each myste AM, reliably informed that Ray- mond Griffith had satiric inten- tions in “You'd Be Surprised.” He intended to kid the usual, standard mystery thriller; more than that, he even ventured to direct a few sly, avian thrusts at the whole police id judicial system by which crimi- nals are apprehended (occasionally) and convicted (more occasionally). Some of this ambitious satire appears on the screen; most of it, I’m afraid, is decorating the cutting-room floor. Life ing, Thy SILENT BAHAY This is a daring attempt of Ray- mond Griffith's, but it is not the first case of the kind on record. Those who are old enough to remember back eight years will recall that Harold Lloyd produced a number of gorgeous burlesques in the wildest Benchley-Lardner manner. Further- more, they were confined to two reels each — as “You'd Be Surprised” should have been. Satire is usually rigorously avoided by the movie producers, who are naturally reluctant to poke fun at the source of their own huge profits. There is no real basis for such timorousness; many brilliant wits— from Aristophanes to W. S. Gilbert to George M. Cohan—have tried to kid hokum out of existence, but you will notice that “Abie’s Irish Rose’ is still running. “Hold That Lion” V HILE Raymond Griffith has too little material to work with in “You'd Be Surprised,” Douglas Maclean is embarrassed in the othen direction in “Hold That Lion.” This wild comedy is glutted with hysteri- cal action, culminating in a lengthy race between Mr. Macl.ean and a convincingly ferocious King of Beasts. “Hold That Lion” is just the least bit improbable, but it is comical and, in one respect at least, remarkably unusual. It fails to show a scene wherein a Negro, suddenly confront ing a lion, turns snow-whit N this connection, I hasten to announce two new cpisodes for the Great American Mo the first of which is suggested by Simonetta, The business man who is picious of his wife's fidelity come home in the middle of the day to make investigations. He is in the act of rifling her desk when suddenly he hears her gay laugh rippling down the corridors. Startled, he book from the shelf and thrusts it open before him haphazardly, sink- ing simultancously into an armchair. When the camera gives a close-1 his nervous cyes and the pri which they are glued, the book is NOT revealed to be held upside down, The same wife writes a lengthy letter to her lover, announcing plans for their elopement. She blots this with a nice clean blotter, which is subsequently discovered by the hus- band. He holds the blotter up toa mirror but can’t read a word that she has written. sus- seizes a R. E. Sherwood. Recent Developments The Waning Sex. If you like printed vaudeville jokes, you'll find hundreds of them in this picture. You'll also. find Norma Shearer, who is really good. The Strong Man. I don’t know when I've seen anything more touchingly beau- tiful than Harry Langdon’s performance in this. Probably never. Diplomacy. Sardou brought up-to- date, if such a thing is possible (which it isn’t). So This Is Paris. An occasionally fascinating farce, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, who is displaying traces of wear and tear. The Show-Off. Malcolm St. Clair strikes home in this one, thereby adding new laurels to his already verdant brow. Don Juan. High and fancy necking in the Middle Ages, demonstrated by John Barrymore. Battling Butler. Buster Keaton in a knock-down-and-drag-out comedy of the prize ring. Mare Nostrum. More about the U-boats, with Rex Ingram’s fine sense of pictorial values much in evidence. Nell Gwyn, A beautiful but some- what dull spectacle, with the overani- mated Dorothy Gish. One Minute to Play. Red Grange proves that movie acting is mere child's play for a good halfback. Aloma of the South Seas. insult. for the Polynesian arcl partially redeemed by Gilda Gray, Ben-Hur. Thousands upon thous of men, women and children in the big- gest circus of all, Mantrap. The Eternal Triar the North woods, with Clara Bow cute angle. (Oh, Mr. Whistler, you'll be the death of us all, I'm sure.) Beau Geste, The Scarlet Letter, The Black Pirate, Variety, Sparrows and The Big Parade. Yes—yes—yes. Another pelago, comicbooks.com