New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-01-10
Marguerite Clark Is the
Second Founding in
a Week.
GOOD FILM PLAY
AT THE STRAND
Mice and Men" Proves TO Be
Agreeable Perturbation Of the
Well Known Drama.
BY HAYWOOD BROUN.

Every moving picture HltlNl lkhl H"'
a soft spot in his head for the orphan.
Toddling at the heels Of Mary Pichord
comes another founding. Marguerite
Clark is the current orphan at the
Strand Theatre in the picture version
of mice and Men," which was taken
from tho play Of Madeline lucette
Ryley and performed by tho Famous
Players Film Company.
1t Is hard TO draw distinctions be-
tween orphans, but in our opinion Mary
Pickford is still the finest founding OF
them all But at that Marguerite Clark
is mighty fine orphan. Charm cllngs
to her in bingham. silk and cambrie.
We mention cambria under the impress
sion that 1t is a nishtgown material.
A moving picture playwright always
gets his chief orphan into a night
gown. 1t is a sound custom. and in tho
case of Miss Marguerite Clark ono
which deserves critical encouragement
To watch Miss Clark crinkle her toes
before IN open fire Is one OF the
plessantest sights which the screen has
offered this season. Tnen there Is
bit where she runs across n shaded
lawn in the face Of a breeze which
pillows her hoopskirt.
mice and Men" is most agreeable
picture. Its story is bit too simple
for a film. Following the play, the
picture tells how Mark Embury, a well
TODD bachelor, adopts an orphan with
the idea Of training her as an ideal
wife for himself. only to lose her at
last 70 his young nephew.
Miss Clark Is well cast. or course,
she is pretty, but beyond and above
that she has at her command a number
of those small tricks of expression
which enliven the art Of moving picture
acting. Marshall Neilan as Captain
Lowell Is the best member OF the sup
porting company.
We wonder II those folk who think
that moving pictures are no good would
fail 70 enjoy the scene where Mar
guerite Clark as Peggy sits on a swing
ing gate and waves goodby TO the sol
diers. Perhaps they would muff il.
How utterly incomprehcnsible is this
bHAAAAiAik lAkA4c bdNN NIIIn NOtN NOT
like the movies Fortunately the group
cannot perpetuate itself, for il is i'm
possible to propagate children who DO
not like moving pictures.
The spoken drama has embraced the
heresy of free will. Plays ask US TO
watch and wonder what a certain per
son viii decide to DO in given crisis.
VIII he marry the girl or not? The
decision. so the playwright tells US.
lies somewhere in the heart or mind
Of the much perpleXed young gentle
man. and presently he will figure out
the matter and make choice. Things
in these plays of to-day happen be-
cause of what people are. The fins,
on the contrary, move In the spirit Of
good, old-fashioned. hard determinism.
Floods and cyclones, snOwstOrms and
forest fires are the agents which swing
the plots Of picture plays. In lesser
measure, too, there is realization
that the prospect of rolling country
and bit of late sunlight at the far
end of it may have fully as much in
huence on man as seven platitudinous
sentences Of good advice.
If Thomas Hardy were not 80 old
he might write a wonderful motion
UlClUIt DidNs TUT Llidl INoANtit hbtAf
is a film to be had for the making in
"The Return of the Native"
II will be called the Stock Company
Of the State of Texas. Isn't Texas as
big as Germany and France and Bel
p GUM and Italy combined, o. some
+ thing like that? At any rate, it IS
plenty big enough to have a stock
company of its own David Carb, out
of Harvard by Professor Baker, is 10
be the director Of the company. which
will tour a circuit including the eight
largest cities Of the, state The com
pany will have repertory OF from
/ eight to twelve plays, and viii give
three-day engagements in each city.
One or two new plays viii be tried
ont each season. The plan sounds
feasible and seems TO open a way TO
the development of local drama, which
ia one of the things much needed IN
these United Theatrical States OF
Broadway.