The Washington herald., 1919-06-02
SUNDAY THEATER OPENINGS

her doctor. who has been her only
friend in her great trouble. and
they search various notorious places
Of amusement without success.
In the meantime the wild party
pursues its way from cafe to
roadhouse and cabaret with q run
ming accompaniment Of vari-colored
drinks and maudlin lovemaking. One
of the men in the party falls out of
the motor and Is left in the road
and In the morning Coleman finds
himself accused Of murder. Circum-
stances tighten around him, but
finally are cleared up and the con-
clusion. though not happy, holds
potentialities of future happiness
when wife and husband are reunited
permanently at the bedside of their
dead baby.
The play throughout is a forceful
argument for prohibition. the ease
OF the first step on the wrong road
and the sordidness Of so-called
life" being depicted with unafraid
candidness.
Loew's Pnlace-''The Woman Thou
Gavest Me-
The directorial genius of Hugh Ford
has never shown to greater advantage.
probably, than in his splendid adapta-
tion OF Hall Gaines famous novel.
The Woman Thou Gavest Me-" which
had its first showings in Loew's Pal
ace Theater yesterday. and which will
continue the attraction there through
/ tho present week.
Ford seems to have caught, with cum
ming skill. the highlights and shades
OF Gaines oftimes somber though ever
magnificent characterizations and mar
rative moods. The picture. like Caine's S
work, Is altogether epic in scope. and
is one which would easily prove a
snare and a stumbling block for a
lesser master of the art of adaptation.
but from the first flash to the final
fadeout the director seems to have
limned his characterizations and his
situations with an eye and a mind
def and sure.
The Woman Thou Gavest Me- is
one OF those master pictures the screen
only too occasionally gives US. 1t is
powerful and sweeping in its message,
| strong and virile in its storytelling
power. cinematographic in its flashing
INSTALLATION OF human emotion. Sum-
married. it Is the tale of a woman's
rebellion against the social and legal
with a scoundrel and impossible. for a
time. her marriage with the man she
! loved. Her father, a commoner, per-
! secuted, in his youth, by a nobleman,
grows wealthy in his old age. and
! addresses himself to the task of ac-
curing not only the possessions. but
the very title of the hated nobleman.
This is accomplished by the commoner
| through the unwilling marriage of his
| only daughter to the nobleman's scape-
| grace son. and the story takes its
| keynote from the woman's rebellion
against a loveless union and her de-
! hance of the code by accepting love
without marriage from the man she
cherishes.
Ford has visualiZed his adaptation
with the help of an unusual cast
Katherine Macdonald. player of in
/ creasing note. lends power and au-
thenticity to the role of the woman
who defied everything for love. Mil
| ton Sills gives a rugged and tender
! portrayal of the man she loved Jack
Holt is thoroughly villainous as the
nobleman's son. and Theodore Roberts
draws sure delineation of the senile
! old commoner to whom life has come
to mean nothing but revenge. Fritzi
Brunette gives a lightsome portrayal
/ of the nobleman's sons inamorata.
and Katherine Griffith also has an i'm
| portant role.
i THE Woman Thou Gavest Me" is
p strong and gripping photodrama.
| and ono which well merits the i'm
J pcrtance of a weeks run.