New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-10-04
"The Coward" with Frank
Keenan,, Proves Best
Film on Bill.
FINE WAR DRAMA
IN KNICKERBOCKER
Theda Bara, in Sin" at the
Academy Of Music, Makes
Promise Good.
BY HAYWOOD BROUN.

cacy Of waving the Stars and Stripes,
but David ". Griffith and Thomas n.
Ince have discovered that much may
be done with the stars and bars.
In the new bill Of Triangle moving
picture plays which was shown at the
Knickerbocker Theatre yesterday i, IS
lnce and not Griffith who scores the
greater success The Coward" with
Frank keenan, as the star, ia almost
as exciting as "The Lamb" of Last
week, and it contains a much more
ambitious effort in character study.
keenan, was excellent, to be sure, as
an old Confederate soldier, but il was
a young actor named Charles Ray who
made the deepest impression upon US.
Ray was the coward. Although cow
srdice is one Of the most dramatic
emotions, playwrights have usually
Stunned IL except for comic effects.
We don't remember ever having seen
cowardice seriously considered in NOV
ing pictures before.
Frank Winslow, the part played by
Ray, is coward right enough. When
the call comes for men 70 serve
against the North Winslow funks. The
spectator need be In no doubt as 70
what Is passing in the boys mind.
His is the fear that De Maupassant
handled so exqulsitely in his short
story "The Coward" in which a man
who is 20 fight a duel shoots himself
rather than live longer with fear.
And there is nothing 20 be laughed
at in the weakening Of Ince's coward.
The boy is tortured by the fear Of be-
ing afraid. Only when his proud old
father threatens TO shoot him does he
enlist.
The thing which the coward has
feared comes upon him as he is MAX
ing the lonely rounds Of a sentry.
Goaded by his imaginings into panic,
he is terrified by every noise IN the
woods until he drops his gun and ms
home. Colonel Winslow discovers his
refugee son skulking in the kitchen
and goes to the front 70 take the place
In the ranks which a Winslow has de-
serted
So far the play is a character study
Of a high order, but of d sudden mott
walton slackens With the coming Of
the Yankee invaders the coward all at
once blossoms with courage. He holds
up @ roomful Of generals, selzes I'M
portant plans and gallops away toward
the Confederate lines. We were willing
10 grant the boy this new found cour-
age. whether IL was in the order o.
probable events or not, after witnessing
that ride The climax o. excitement
comes when the boy in his breakneck
haste tears into the Confederate lines
and is shot by his father who is doing
picket duty. IL is fine shot for the
old man, but a finer fall for the boy.
From the back of his bouncing steed
the actor drops some fifteen feet into a
river. II is the best motion picture fall
we ever saw.
Reconciliation between father and
son comes, of course, when the colonel
finds that his sons courage was' not
lacking but merely dormant.
Grifith's picture "Old Heidelberg"
goes TO prove that although a Kate may
look at a king she had better not Dor
othv Gish is the Katie, and Wallace
Reid the Prince Karl. Griffith has in
cluded several snatches of war in his
picture and some remarkable scenes Of
street rioting. This is done by having
Prince Karl come home from the uni
versity Just in time to dIssuade his
father from engaging in European
conflict
The Heidelberg scenes are done with
a nice regard for atmosphere, and there
are a number OF deft little touches
which 20 20 show that the hand of Crit
fifth is adapted for small scale produc-
tion as well as large The kitten in
high hat. and the big battle scene, with
the tiny figures of the charging men all
but obscured In smoke clouds. are both
wholly admirable
, Dorothy Gish is a most engaging
Katie, but Reid is merely $3.50 as the
Prince. Karl Fornes, jr., gives an ex-
cellent performance as DR.. Juttner, the
princes tutor
Mack Sennett's farce. "A Favorite
Fool" with Eddie Foy, is fearfully
knockabout and reflects no great credit
on actor or producer. Raymond Hitch
cock, in Stolen Magic" another farce,
completes the programme.
The first week the press agent re-
ferred 20 her as "the handmaden OF
hell" Seven days later she had become
"a daughter of the devil" But not I'M
Ill we learned that she was "the satanic
sorceress of the silent stage" did our
desire 20 see Theda Bara. OF the Will
lam Fox film forces. become overwhelm
ing. Miss Bara appeared on the screen
at the Academy Of Music last night in
picture called "S.n." by Herbert
Brenon. To the credit Of the press
agent, LEI II be recorded that "the hand
maiden of hell" looks just as wicked
as he said she would.
Theda Bara- pictorially speaking, OF
course-is so unprincipled that she
forces an unhappy ending on movie.
We suspected her from the beginning.
No good ever came from such eyes.
When her Italian lover tried 70 kiss
her she jabbed a hatpin deep into his
hand. lie knew then, of course, that
she loved him, and induced her TO ac-
company him to America. where she
ended. as she began. by tempting a
young man 10 steal the jewels Of the
Madonna.
Miss Bara il 20 be seen shortly In a
picturization OF Carmen" for the Fox
company. As she Is an exceedingly
adept picture actress, well versed in all
the niceties of film technique, she will
undoubtedly give an excellent perform
ance. Certainly her Carmen will be a
wicked one.