The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1919-08-26

TN MOST cases the old adage. com
PARSONS are odious,' obtains but
Klein photoplay, The Third Degree"
with the first picturized play from Mr..
Klein's pen, The Lion and the Mouse"
the critic finds the comparison in favor
of the latter play unequivocally and
absolutely.
Few people have ever written more
gripping melodramas for the legIti-
mate stage than Charles Klein, and TO
those who have never seen his play.
The Third Degree the picturized
version gives most stunning recital,
being shown for the first time in this
city at the Alcazar.
In the first Charles Klein play, The
Lion and the Mouse if you recall. a
large bit of the dramatic situation
was sacrificed for the purpose of per-
uniting the leading lady" Alice
Joyce, to reap the stars reward, but in
The Third Degree" the text of the
play is closely followed, showing grip
ping climaxes. the result being that
splendid melodramatic picture has no.
been emasculated to make a stars
holiday.
Never has the director lost sight of
the fact in The Third Degree of this
vital message of faith and humanity
which the stage play carried; the sense
of proportion throughout has been fol-
lowed developing the plot progress
sively and thus realizing all the keen
dramatic values.
The story of THE Third Degree" has
to do with certain Howard Jeffrie5,
Jr, who has married a girl far be-
meath him socially and who in conse-
quence has been, disowned by his
father, and who happens to have been
in Robert Underwood's rooms when
that gentleman shot himself. Sleeping
off the effects of drink, Howard is
found alone with the body. Police
Captain Clinton puts him through the
third degree" and the boy, dazed and
helpless. is bulldozed into confessing
that he murdered his friend.
Annie, his wife, denied the help of
the aristocratic Jeffries family, starts
out tc prove her husband guiltless.
Her first step is to secure the aid of
a famous lawyer, Richard Brewster.
a task in which she experiences great
difficulty, because Brewster represents
the elder Jeffries. The scene in which
she finally induces the attorney to I'M
dertake the defense, winning the audi
ence by her wretch edness. abounds in
heart interest. The same may be said
of the scenes showing the tortured
prisoner, going through the third de-
gree"
Thl- grip of the story loosens trifls
with the Introduction of a compliCa-
ton involving Towards stepmother, a
person who has no especial claim upon
the sympathies. Mrs. Jeffries holds
letter in which the dead man declared
his intention of committing suicide, but
to show it would be to jeopardize her
reputation. The boys wife, whose
name, of course, is the same as that
of the older woman, pretends that the
note was written to her. This sacri-
flee is rather theatrical and not entire
ly convincing, but happily the incident
does not consume much time The lat
ter part, showing the release of young
Jeffries, and Astounding in deft human
touches in scenes between himself and
his wife, is very appealing and makes
a pleasant conclusion to a production
containing every possible element OF
popularity.
Alice Joyce is seen as Annie Sands,
the waitress in the local restaurant,
and who becomes the wife of the hero
of the play, and her portrayal of the
waitress wife shows force individual
ity and girlish charm withal that Is
quite fascinating and gripping. She
dominates the play completely, but, as
said before, the spectator does not
feel as he did when he saw her in THE
Lion and the Mouse" where the story
was sacrificed for the benefit of the
leading lady.
or course, tense exposition of the
cruel methods of the police force
known as the third degree" from
which the play takes it's name. is the
main thing, and while 1t may not be
known. yet it is quite true that
through the agitation of the Charles
Klein drama this vicious system has
become largely obsolete at the pres
ent time. Those who saw the stage
play will recall how graphic the scenes
were which exposed these methods and
those who see the screen version will
see an even more graphic display of
the police force at work. administer
ing the third degree"
Before this depression I meant to
Smith, 9th infantry; Leslie M. Friday,
6lst infantry; Benjamin c. Tucker, S/h
infantry, colored.