New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-04-17
CHARM AT LAST
CONQUERS FILM
Marguerite Clark Delight
full in Photoplay at
the Strand.
A FINAL ESCAPE
FROM MELODRAMA
Knickerbocker Theatre Has De
Wolf Hopper in an Unin-
teresting Picture.

Charm. according 20 the definition
most frequently encountered IN the
atrical circles. IS something possessed
and radisted By Maude Adams. It IL
a quality with which one must be per
mitted to cndow the otherwise unen-
dowable but which admits % no sx-
PLANTATION beyond the utterly made
quate one favored by dictionary
makers. But. though vague. charm -
far from intangible In the box Of
nee, for example. its tsngibility IS o.
the most concrete sort.
limo was when the quality o. an
attraction mattered little to the box
Offices of the films. But with the in
creasing tendency OF the picture-go-
ing public 20 examine the wares o.
the producer before purchasing. the
ability Of the players = speedily he
coming as important a factor in the
films as u ia upon n. stage. When
that condition becomes absolute. then
the great worth Of small Marguerite
Clerk will begin 20 make itself evi-
best and most valuable actresses ~
pictures to-day, and not even the re
doubtable Miss Pickford s barred
from the contest
Not until her arrival in Molly
Make Believe" which is being shown
at the Strand Theatre this week. has
Miss Clark had opportunity 10 come
into her own in the films. Those who
80 la
have 10 he told that charm is hers in
abundance. Until now, however. she
has been consistently and ludicrously
miscast in the pictures. Throbbing.
elemental melodramas have been her
portion rickety affairs crowded with
great mountains and roaring torrents
and six-shooters and Northwestern
Mounted Police. Now, the prime
requisite OF charm IS its delicacy. j
cannot compete with a roaring tor
rent.
Hence IL was With some relief that
one heard that Miss Clark's next film
WAS 20 be molly Make Believe" and
not "Gunga Din" OF "Moloch' Be
fore a kitchen stove Miss Clark is
adorable. but in front Of q mountain
range she is not convincing. Pos
sibly her own ambitions have led her
aotray IN the past, in which case
molly Make-Believe" should convince
her For the sympathetic, homelike
and loving characters are her forte
the sort, in brief, that live in house
with an attic and like log fires.
Molly Make Believe" tells an sp-
pealing and simple story in interest
ing fashion. and is quite good film
!. e not impossible to pick haws in
its logic. but Marguerite Clark more
than compensates for them.
Really. some kind soul should ~
out a private car with everything that
De Wolf Hopper likes, entice the
comedian into it-and then not stop
between Los Angeles and New York
Either Mr. Hopper's line is not the
films or his directors do not know
what 20 do with him. Or, on third
thought. il is possible that the mem
DRY Of the Gilbert and Sullivan revi-
walls is stronger than any motion pet
ure.
Mr.. Hopper. IN a film entitled Sun
shine Dad" is the weeks attraction
AZ the Knickerbocker Theatre. Pos
silly with Mr.. Hopper's operate tri-
umphs in mind, his directors have
given him a picture which attempts
10 reflect the bizarre comic opera st.
mosphere The only thing that can
be said about il is that 1t IS an in
suit 10 an artist Of Mr.. Hopper's
standing 20 ash him TO appear in such
diivel