Life — November 25, 1926 — page 28: what you’re looking at

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

“The Sorrows of Satan” ITHIN reels of “The Sorrows of Satan,” David Wark Grif- fith has managed to combine bril- liance and dullness, art and hokum, genius and stupidity. He has made some of the most flagrantly bad scenes that it has ever been my ill luck to witness; he has made other scenes of startling power. Thus, “The Sorrows of Satan” is not easy to classify. It is at once a terrible picture and a great one. Per- sonally, I had rather dwell on the virtues than on the faults—for the latter are commonplace, and the former are rare. R. GRIFFITH starts out with an amazingly appealing de- scription of the romance of two strug- gling writers, who starve and freeze in London’s Latin Quarter. The de- tails of their lives, the intricacies of their emotional activ » are set forth on the screen with the same direct simplicity that distinguished “The Last Laugh.” Here, in scenes in and about a humble lodging house, Mr. Griffith demonstrates the real genius that is his. Then the shadow of Satan (and of Marie Corelli’s ridiculous story) falls across the moving drama, and all the interest that Mr. Griffith has been at such pains to build up is dissipated in a series of pagan routs, with un- draped young men throwing even the ten or twelve more undraped young ladies about as though they were so many tackling dummics, The grip upon the spec- tator is relaxed, and “The Sorrows of Satan” becomes a flabby, spineless mess. Some of the early strength is re- gained at the finish, when Satan sud- denly develops the traits of a Mes- siah, and passes the third floor back with an actual benediction. SATAN, as played by Adolphe Menjou, is never a very terrify- ing figure at any stage of the pro- ceedings. Mr. Menjou represents the devil as a thoroughly engaging, well-meaning, kind-hearted charac- ter, with all the fiendish, diabolical qualities of Santa Claus himself. Ricardo Cortez appears as the young hero, and Carol Dempster as his neglected sweetheart. Both of them are far, far better than they have ever been before. Mr. Cortez’ performance, indeed, is a positive revelation to those of us who have never held him in particularly high esteem. “The (THERE is one thing about Sorrows of Satan” that surprised me and afforded me great secret sat- isfaction. I have seen many pictures in which the heroes were Northwest Mounted Policemen, Rising Young District Attorneys, Rich Idlers, Cow- boys, Quarterbacks, Buck Privates, Mayors and what not. But this is the first picture, so far as I know, in which the hero is a Critic. “So’s Your Old Man” FTER making a discouraging start as a movie star in “It’s the Old Army Game,” W. C. Fields has retrieved himself with a violently funny comedy called “So's Your Old Man.” It is based, ostensibly, on a story by Julian Street, but it has traveled far from that basis, as Mr. Street will be the first to concede. Its origin, however, doesn’t matter. The net result is that Will Fields manages to keep his audience in a fairly continuous state of loud laugh- ter, by means of the gags that he employs and, to a greater extent, by means of his own superb acting. Passing Tribute F I were Will H. Hays (which, they tell me, I am not) I should pass the hat at the next general meet- ing of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors’ Association, and I should hand the resulting million dol- lars to Terry Ramsaye as a token of gratitude for all that he has done for the silent drama by his book, Million and One Nights.” As one who has read every word of this two-volume history, I am of the opinion that it is the finest, most intelligent and most interesting work that the movies have produced. R. E. Sherwood. Recent Developments Bardelys the Magnificent. A fairly entertaining Sabatini cloak-and-sword melodrama, with John Gilbert as Douglas Fairbanks. The Magician. The somewhat silly story of a sorcerer who tried to operate on Miss Alice Terry. The Temptress. There may be some- thing besides Greta Garbo in this picture, but [ wasn't looking that way. The Ice Flood. An Oxford graduate in a lumber camp, completely surrounded by studio ice. The Prince of Tempters. Rich food for Ben Lyon fans. Kid Boots. Eddie Cantor's broad humor screens well. The Ace of Cads. Something that the children thought up on a rainy Saturday. Gigolo. Cradle-snatching in Paris, with Rod La Rocque doing what he can. The Waning Sex. I'm very partial to Norma Shearer—but there are limits. It Must Be Love. The revolt of a delicatessen keeper’s daughter, with Col- leen Moore. The Better ‘Ole. Syd Chaplin in riotous shenanigans behind the British front. You'd Be Surprised. Raymond Grif- fith, but not quite at his best. The Strong Man. This Harry Lang- don comedy is urgently recommended. John Barrymore in a ion of a famous tale. Haven't you seen this yet? Beau Geste, The Scarlet Letter, The Big Parade, The Black Pirate and Variety. I'd like to get some new names for this required list. comicbooks.com