The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1918-11-29
HEART OF THE SUNSET
NEWEST FILM STORY, A GOLD
WYNN SPECIAL FEATURE, A
TALE OF ROMANTIC
LOVE.

The Overwhelmed fact that Rex
Beach writes about real people, not
puppets, has never been better illus
trated than in his newest film story,
Heart of the Sunset" distributed by
Goldwyn, and to be seen at the I'M
hero and heroine to the lowliest
comedy relief" character, there is
not a figure who isn't a human being.
Perhaps the most striking example
of the authors skill at character
drawing is Dave Law-Texas ranger,
gentleman by birth and rearing, hot
tempered, happy-go-lucky soldier of
fortune, nimble of wit, d%exterous
with a brace of .44's and master at
the game of love. College bred,
Dave Law so successfully hides this
fact from the woman of his heart
that she has promised to become his
wife before she realizes he is not the
crude fellow he pretends to be.
The character of Law presents an
interesting psychological study. Ut
terly unafraid of anything that walks
on two legs or four, he becomes a
trembling coward in the face of n sit
uation he cannot hope to control
the belief that a Texas "killet" who
died a maniac "a his fatlet. In the
business of love he likewise presents
paradoxical attributes. Ne is a bold.
brave fellow, made a gibherinS idiot
by the sorcery of a
Quite as fascinating is the cIarac-
ter of Alaire Austin, beautiful Young
wife of a wealthy and obsolete ranch
owner, wretched in her marriage to a
extensive properties of her. own,
Alaire puts in much of her time at
tending to them, roaming thousands
of acres alone, daring worse than
death to pursue cattle thieves who
are taking steady toll from her graz
ing ground.
Love comes to Alaire and Dave
to the when her beastly hus-
band is slain by a hired assassin of
an enemy, to the man at his first
sight of the fair-haired girl who later
becomes his wife. Anna Q. Nilsson is
Alaire in the picture.
Among the other figures in the
story the character of Longorio, reb-
ell Mexican general, is a refreshingly
odd combination of pomposity carried
almost to the point of clownishness
and an underlying earnestness of
spirit, an Unborn sense of courtesy
and a burning ambition strangely
contradictory. Mr.. Beach brings
Longorio dangerously close to the
border of burlesque at times. only to
jerk him back into the esteem of his
rather shamefaced admirers by a
twist Of situation that reinstates the
strutting soldier as a patriot of hon
est though selfish purpose.
AS Blaze Jones and his daughter
PalomG, William Frederic and Irene
Boyle lead the lighter characters.
Blaze is a Texan who bows to no
man, but who is shy of women-one
in particular. This one happens to
be an oldish young person uncon-
sciously offended by Blaze upon an
occasion when he, in bathing toys
was without much needed glasses.
The lady was STOPPING over on the
beach when Blaze, installing her for
a boy. playfully pinched her. Right
there began a feud which cost Blaze
a failing and made him uncomfort-
able the better part of the remainder
of his life.
Paloma is the girl who couldn't
grow up, because everybody insisted
on treating her as a child. She is in
love with Dave Law, but Dave rum
pies her hair and admonishes her to
go play with her dolls. 1t is neces-
sary for the poor girl to blow the
head off her sole remaining doll with
a shotgun and lengthen her skirts
and put up her hair to prove that she
put her childhood behind her.
With human beings to work with
then, it is not strange that Rex
Beach has evolved a human story.
Heart of the Sunset" is all of that.