Life — October 28, 1926 — page 26: what you’re looking at

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

Life the SILENT DRAMA “The Better ’Ole” SYP CHAPLIN ered the shop-worn habiliments of “Charley's Aunt” to the property room where they belong, and has re- verted to the character comedy at which he is a proven master. If you remember him as the Sergeant in “Shoulder Arms,” or as the British soldier in “The Rendezvous,” you will know that his fine performance as Old Bill in “The Better Ole” is not particularly surprising. Captain Bruce Bairnsfather cre- ated Old Bill as a composite of all the Tommies that went out to Mons with the first hundred thousand. “The Old Contemptibles,” they were called, and they gloried in the epithet imposed upon them by King George’s cousin Wilhelm. Old Bill) went through the war—as he had gone through other and better wars in South Africa and India—grou: grumbling and holding the line. was the Tommy incarnate, the blas- phemous cockney who first discov- ered that there was a mademoiselle in Armentitres who would listen to reason, finally re~ T is a great moment at the start of “The Better Ole” Chaplin, wearing a walrus mustache, thrusts his head above the crest of a shell hole and observes, through , blinking eyes, the barrage about him. “I don’t think this shell ‘ole is safe,” says his friend Alf. “If you know of a better ‘ole, go to it,” says Old Bill. Then, when Alf makes some allusion to the charms of Blighty, Bill remarks, “The trouble with you is, Alf, you can’t keep yer mind on the war!” That’s about all of Bairnsfather that remains in this picture, but it’s enough to establish Old Bill as the glorious character that he will always be. From that point on, Syd Chaplin goes into his gags; most of them are good, a scattered few not good. But “The Better 'Ole,” viewed in its entirety, is sufficient cause for cheers. : QYOR the benefit of British readers whomay chance to scan this review, I beg leave to point out that although “The Better ‘Ole’ was made in Hollywood, not one American soldier is visible in any of its scenes, nor is there the slightest intimation, at any moment, that the Yanks won the war. “Gigolo” OD LA ROCQUE proves his worth in’ “Gigolo,” and when you consider what a picture “Gigolo” is, you rea’ that Mr. La Rocque had to work hard. ages to strike an emphatic note of sincerity in a story that is utterly untruc. ~ Edna Ferber is “cre: with the authorship of “Gigolo,” but her numerous admirers should — think none the less of her because of that. It is true that Miss Ferber once wrote a story called “Gigolo”; this, however, isn’t it. “Tt Must Be Love” SELDOM can summon up much enthusiasm for Colleen Moore's pictures, which is just another cvi- dence of the well-established fact that, from the box-office point of view, I'm the world’s most unreliable critic. The crowds that support and applaud her efforts lead me to be- lieve that there may be quite a few people who pay no attention whatever to my comments. “Tt Must Be Love” is slightly bet- ter than the average of Miss Moore's past performances. She herself is excellent, and she is ably aided by that great actor, Jean Hersholt. There is one original idea in the plot, but you'll have to wait until the end to find out what it is. If you choose to do so, that’s your Tookout. R. E. Sherwood. (The following pictures, previously iewed in Lire, have been recommended to our readers.) Tin Gods. Fine work by Thomas Meighan and Re Adorée in a rather dismal drama of a man who came ba You'd Be Surprised. Raymond Grif- fith indulges in some comical and mildly satirical detective work. The Show-off. The great American loud-mouth, perfectly played by Ford Sterling and sympathetically directed by Malcolm St. Clair. Hold That Lion, Douglas MacLean performs some wild antics in the African jungle. So This Is Paris, Patsy Ruth Miller and André Béranger are great, but Ernst Lubitsch is somewhat off form. Recent Development Mare Nostrum. Rex Ingram records some beautiful pictures of the Mediter- ranean, Battling Butler. A palpable hit by the agile Buster Keaton. One Minute to Play. Red Grange qualifies as a good triple-threat film star, Ben-Hur. A vast amount of men, money and scenery leading up to that chariot race. The Strong Man. touches the peaks. Mantrap. Love tangles in the North woods with the fascinating Clara Bow. Aloma of the South Seas. Gilda Gray has nothing to work with and prac- tically nothing to wear—but she’s ex- tremely pleasant, for all that. Harry Langdon Beau Geste. Ronald Colman and Noah Beery fight it out on the blazing sands in a beautiful, glamourous, exciting melodrama. The Scarlet Letter. Lillian Gis! at her best as Hester Prynne. Variety. A robust and supremely cf- fective drama of German vaudeville, with Emil Jannings. The Black Pirate. banks in full color, Sparrows. A grim but moving st of a lonely paby farm in the Sout swamps, in which Mary Pickford is about as usual. The Big Parade. You must know how I feel about this one. Fair: Douglas comicbooks.com