New-York tribune., 1918-01-28
On the Screen

teries, and even the most perfectly
trained movie mind could never guess
what was going to be in the three
trunks. nor what Signor Rodriques
wanted, whether he was a bcncfactor
or swndler, OF a lover, or whether
Arabella was really the heircss, or
whether she would take the poison.
1t is to be hoped that Mabel Normand
never will see fit to stay away from
the screen again, as she has been doing
The new picture marks her debut after
an absence of more than year She
is beautiful. charming and a finished
actress. Tom Moore is always good
and the role Of Jack Forsythc affords
him ample opportunities. J. Herbert
Frank plays the mysterious villain with
the proper amount Of inscrutability.
At the Rialto the feature picture is
a Paramount called "Flare-up SAL" in
which Thomas lnce presents Dorothy
Dalton.
Miss Dalton does one of those ingen-
uously wicked music hall girls which
she knows so we'll how to do. There is
"Red Rider" in the picture, too, who,
after becoming a psucdo-parson, really
reforms and carries off the heroine
Thurston Hall does this Jekyll and
Hyde person very we'll indeed.
Tho story is written about the peo-
pie of '49, when towns sprang up over
night, with their accompanying un-
couth vice and their parsons who
sought to counteract the evil of the
dance hall. In the mad rush for gold
"Flare-up Sal" is inadvertently left be-
hind in one of these dance halls, and
there she proves to be so clever with
the Spanish shawl and the castenets
that she is allowed to remain-and also
-,,.f,1r u.
and the men in the town humor her
scruples without in the least under
standing them.
The comedy is Mack sennett called
ellis Hidden Purpose"
The lobby of the Broadway Theatre
was filled last night with beasts of
prey and jungles and monkeys and, in
SIDE, the theatre was filled with what
Darwin would have us believe. are
their descendants.
The occasion was the presentation
on the screen of Edgar Rice Bur
roughs's fascinating story, "Tarzan Of
the Apes"
The magnitude of the undertaking
will hardly be realized until one sees
the picture and realizes how very easy
it would have been to make a slap
stick comedy of it. Had it been one
bit less cleverly done it would not have
been impressive, but ridiculous.
OF course, it was necessary to use
humans for the leaders of the monkey
tribes, and Darwin would have been
delighted If he could, perchance, have
watched the performance through some
keyhole Of eternity. Here, indeed, was
strong argument in favor of his
theory, and surely the atavistic was
calling when that picture was made
Gordon Griffith, a remarkable child,
plays Tarzan. the boy. He can climb
the trees with the most nimble Of the
apes, and it hardly seems as though he
can be human.
The scenes are laid in Africa, and
they show elephants, lions and every
sort of wild beasts Of The Jungle. and
then monheys-all sorts Of them. apes,
gorillas and every variety which
abounds in those lands.
There is Il nice mystery story to
connect the scenes in England and in
Africa, and after Tarzan is grown to
manhood the secret of his birth is re-
vealed to his own family and they set
sail in search of him, accompanied by
Enid Markey.
Of course, there has to be girl in
the case. and Enid was the girl al
to wish rich American heiress on a
man who acted like a monkey But
Enid didn't think him as much of a
monkey as any of her other suitors,
and just as every one expected her to
say eyes" in ape language came the
final fadeaway
The picture was staged by Scott
Sidney and produced by the National
Film Company of America. II. L.