Life — March 15, 1929 — page 27: what you’re looking at

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

New York Life 25 “The Iron Mask” OUGLAS FAIRBANKS again D steps out of the pages of Dumas as D'Artagnan, the best blade in all France, and as he marches with Athos, Porthos and Aramis, his feats of agility and swords- manship which accounted for the tre- mendous success of “The Three Mus- keteers,” bring the same spirit of ro- mantic adventure to “The Iron Mask.” The story is based on the suppesi- tion that a certain masked prisoner of state during the seventeenth century was the rightful heir to the throne of Louis XIV. Mr. Fairbanks has taken liberties with the historical facts, hut no more than Dumas, and these minor details are forgotten in the mag- nificent picture he gives us of court life in France during this period. The architecture is faithfully reproduced, the court pageantry is depicted with fine regard to detail, and the photog- raphy attains the pictorial excellence which features all Fairbanks’ produc- tions, There ar& two points in connection with the plot which may not meet with approval generally, The early death of D’Artagnan’s sweetheart, Con- stance (Marguerite de la Motte) robs the last half of the story of active love interest. The second point is the lapse of twenty years which takes place during the later sequences. Doug appears to be as active as ever, but the fact remains that he is not the dashing young gallant of the first few reels. Somehow I hate to think of age in connection with Douglas Fairbanks. Of course he is not a young man now, but time has failed to take any notice- able toll of his remarkable athletic ability. He can still mount a horse, climb a balcony or handle a sword with a rhythmic grace which has never been equalled on the screen. There is never a lost motion. He is all con- fidence and high spirit, like Youth «and perhaps that is why his ad- mirers do not like to see him become old, even in a movie. Iivans FAULT in the sound accom- panirhent is the attempt to regis- ter unimportant noises, such as the clinking of coins, the turning of keys in locks, and the barking of a dog. These are not accurately synchronized and detract from the effectiveness of the scenes in which they occur. The two short sequences during which Mr. Fairbanks speaks are interesting but not important. They are obviously included so that the advertisements may state that Doug talks. There may be criticism of D'Artagnan’s ability to engage six or seven men at once in a fencing bout, but I am one of those Fairbanks fans who are ready to believe that he can do just about anything. The entire cast turns in a fine per- formance and it would not be amiss to say a word of recommendation for each one. “The Iron M: is not quite up to the pace of “The Three Musketeers” but it is an excellent pic- ture and very much worth while. “Lucky Boy” HEN George Jessel was signed up to do this picture for Tiflany- Stahl it was rumored that he would (Continued on Page 34) some GENUINE WAPORTED PIN\FLORIDA |D.SC. SAND J a6! comicbooks.com