Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-03-06
REX BEACH'S BARRIER"
COMES TO OPERA HOUSE
4 Tense Tale of the North With
Lots of Excitement, but
Little Beauty

CHESTNUT sTEEET OPERA HorsE-"The
h9rrer t9d n"E Peach n rG,gres SI g., G9Tpsny spsnr
Directed hy Edgar Lewis
The Barrier" which came to the opera
House last night. where the same authors
spoilers first hourished. is in the true
line OF descent from that masterpiece OF
screen melodrama. Like all Rex Beach
tales. il h. straight story-cleNeriN twist
ed plot. well-arranged conflicts, excitement.
suspense, fight; everything that ought to
make better scenario n.an any long him
since The Birth OF a Nation has enjoyed
Gil Spear, winner of the ENENING LEDGER
scenario competition. has done excellent
work IN adopting the tale
Perhaps 1t is a certain disadvantage that
the film must start with one of those 'twen-
ty.years-agu' introductions, In which the
villain marres "A girl who loves another.
abuses her. murders her and leaves the
blame on the man she loved But when the
story gets started again in the far.on klon-
dyke. with the villain and the other man IN
the same camp. the progress of the yarn is
uuabated. 1t ends with the death OF the
villain. the vindication Of the now aged
victim and the marriage OF the daughter OF
the villain and the murdered woman to
young army officer Of very good family.
There are a large selection Of good fights
strewn along the way.
Two more points of the story deserve
consideration. one doesn't amount to much,
as the story comes out on the screen-the
barrier" Of race. by which the officer ana
the girl are separated until she learns that
a certain Indian woman * only her foster
mother The action swamps this psyche
logical difficulty. And perhaps some per-
sons wonder whether the proud-blooded
youth would do any worse IN marrying
half.breed than in marrying the daughter
OF such white father as the very VII
famous villain.
The other point is the strongest. in many
WAYS. Of the whole film II Is Poleon the
Erench.C anadian trapper. VINO loves the
rirl. saves her from tragedy. perhaps death.
and gives her into the arms of the young
officer The charm Of the character, IT'S
humor and its kindness do lot. the
actor. Mitchell Lewis. does a lot more
The finn might have been made bit
more effective than it Is. II could, in fact,
have been lifted into the first rank OF
American productions If the lighting, the
camera work the locations and the COM
position OF the figures had been given all
the artistic care which the leading dtrec-
tors and companies now bestow on program
productions To take a single case, the
departure OF 'Poleon's canoe at the end
would have carried far more than its pres
ont strong appeal II tho light on the water,
the pnsition Of the canoe in regard to the
foreground a frame Of trees or something
of the sort had made the picture beautitul
and pointed our vision irresistlbly TO the
departing hgure
yet "The Barrier" remains exciting, con-
stantIv dly--which cannot al
,voys he said Of art works-and IT stands
as a monument to the fact that good cast
OF actors whether they have names or not,
will make a good film far more certainly
than any amount Of money squandered on
stars-if you have story. IN NJ