Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-10-19
FARRAR TRIUMPHS
IN FILM CARMEN
The Stanley Displays a Bril-
liant Impersonation in Beau
tifully Staged Production
Rr the Photonlnr EdItor

n anybody needs further proof OF what
beauty and emotion a photoplay can
create, he has Il IN Carmen" There
have been longer, more elaborate and
the Lasky ilm which came to the Stanley
last night. But this Carmen" is evil
6ence enough that the photoplay Ia an
art-fortn OF exceptional possibilities
Carmen" deveiopes two Of those pos
ribilities 20 the fuil-acting and produc-
tion. In the hitter must be Included not
only glorious wild mountainous settings,
but the slSiiful posing Of the human ele-
nnente against them; invariably the drama
- made 20 gain by the contrast OF the
human and the natural. II includes not
only ingenious business" rapid, effective
posturinG. but the lighting OF all this In
. way that heightens the action above
anything we see In the theatre. The use
Of direct and only mildly suffused light
M almost every picture emphasizes the
figures and the play OF facial muscles,
and creates a quality akin 20 the tone
OF oil painting. The significance of
every bit OF action In Carmen Is height
ened by the mastery handling and light
ing OF Cecil dc Mile and his directors.
As for acting-that is Geraldine Far
fnr's part. There is good playing beside
her, though the. Don Jose Of wallace
Reid never becomes more than hand
some bey. even In the final murder. Miss
Fsrrar overshadows It alias is generally
The case when a trained actress of pic
torial quality invades the screen. Her
Carmen Is not to be described. II is
beauty. neither innocent nor evil Just
free. spontaneous. natural colored to
tragedy by the life about her. The slow
smiling charm of eyes and lips are the
rare bait Of this Carmen. It lured the
audience last night quite as easily as
Don Jose. And II was backed by tech
nique. good. hard. dependable technique
which registered on the screen quite just
as well as on the opera house stage
As for the story, William c. De Mile
has made his own set of Incidents, his
own plot. 10 carry the characters and
their relations as MerTins- prescribed
them. II is neither the stage story nor
the book story: but II Is effective. 1t
drives on with singular force from the
moment Carmen first sets her snares for
Don Jose till he has slain fellow SOL
der in q fight over her. Rapidly. from
q retreat to the mountains, IL leaps to
the final catastrophe at the bull ring.
The whole is admirable.
The third bill Of Triangle plays at the
Chestnut Street Opera House this week
has a little bit Of everything. Some of
the bits are very good and some are not
20 good. One bit is intoierably bad, "A
Game Old Knight" The usual Keystone
Keystone ability for getting hearty
laughs-possibly because Dick Jones in
stead of Mack Sennett directed II, and
the actors were negligible. Anyway, a
break in the film which saved the audi
ence from the concluding scenes at the
matinee was a veritable salvation. The
other Keystone. also directed by Dick
Jones, was only average As Her
Painted Hero Hale Hamilton, who
knows a lot about good farce acting,
hardly had a look in. The rest Of a
Keystone cast knocked themselves about
In the usual manner.
The really good bits were divided be-
tween The Martyrs of the Alamo" pro-
duced by w. c. Cabanne, under the SUI
pervision Of Mr. Griffith. and THE Dis
ciple." by Ince. The Griffith film was
practically one long and excellent battle,
revolving about the historic Alamo in
san Antonio. The cast, almost entirely
OF MIN players, carried the historical
parts well and gave Sam Houston, Davy
Crockett. Santa Anna and James Bowie
quite semblance Of reality.
The Ince contribution to the program.
The Disciple" turned w. s. Hart from
bad man" Of the West into "shootin'
IRON parson' who goes out to get his
congregation when II doesn't come TO him
The frontier town and the frontier life.
which Mr., Ince has always done so well
made striking background to the con-
ventional story Of the eternal triangle"
given a novel close.
Last night the Metropolitan began its
third week as glorifed photoplay house
with THE Better Woman" a fve-nart
feature, In which Leonore Ulrich plavs
the leading part. With the photoplay 20
a number of one-reelers of lighter weight
and variegated musical entertainment,
Il Includes grand opera selections by Ar
thur Aldridge, Mary Cassel and chorus in
costume. "A Bit OF Popular Melody"
with Louise Beaman, Harry Luckstone
and chorus. and a medley Of old and new
Irish songs.
The program at the Arcadia this week
10: Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday
THE Soul of Broadway" with Valeska
5uratt and William e. Shay. a William
and Saturday. THE Final Judgment f"
tion.
Monday and Tuesday at the Regent
this week are devoted TO "Emmv 2
btork's Nest" by ]. Breckenridge Ellis.
with Mary Miles Minter. Metro produc-
ton; wednesday and Thursday, 10 SAL
walton Nell" with Beatrice Michela, a
World production. and "Shanghaied.
with Charley Chaplin. and Friday and
saturday to Divorced" with Hilda
spong.
Yesterday the Palace showed "sin."
with Theda Bara. William r. SHAY ana
Henri Leoni. a William Fox production |
passed on the well-known opera. The |
Jewels OF the Madonna" The rest OF the |
week runs as follows: Tuesday, John |
0layde's Honor" with c. Aubrey Smith: |
Wednesday and Thursday. "The Soul OF |
Broadway" with Valeska Suratt, a Fox |
production: Friday and Saturday. "a |
Voice In the Fog" with Donald Brian.