New-York tribune., 1919-02-23
IN THE TRAIL OF THE MOTION PICTURE
The ReUie1uex Searches for
The Glasses of Illusion
By Virginia Tracy

Couldn't a law be made to prevent
pictures about which reviewers can't
find anything to say?
And there are so many of them
Before we began reviewing we were for
ever seeing pictures so bad that we
painted for the tigers throat to hiss
out hate, pictures so good that for
their sake we pined to immure our
selves in a temple and give forth a
prophets praise But now the lantern
of Diogenes scarcely reveals a produc-
tion about which we foam more hotly
than pretty nice" or mot so nice" or
nicer" Where are you, golden
dreams or glares Internal? Do the
producers withhold you out of spite or
have we lost our glasses?
You may be always just round the
corner, so we sought, for instance, On
the Hollow of Her Hand" having long
wished to register the peculiar honesty
and singleheartedness of Alice Brady's
work, which apparently asks nothing
but to give and give and give itself in
n constantly growing achievement and
suggestion. But ain the Hollow of Her
Hand proved to be a barely passable
mystery story whose only miracle was
the stars surrender of the whole-and
far the most striking first reel to an
other actress.
Then we pursued THE Long Lanes
Turning" All, too we'll did we remem-
ber the black, added murky pictures
in which for years we had seen Henry
Walthall tied up as if in wet blankets!
To the last of these "And a Small
Voice" we do not hesitate to offer that
weirdest palm of being the very worst
pictures we ever encountered and as
wa venomously suspected that the
black addlers were incapable of any
thing but smearing Mr.. Walthall up
with such another we sailed there
armed to the teeth. Have l found you.
o mine enemy? No. we hadn't. We
found THE Long Lanes Turnng' a
fair to middling picture which COM
mitted no crime beyond the dull blight
of muff1ing its hero in a beard. If the
long lane often turned awkwardly
enough it gave us the sensitive acting
of Mary Charleson again and cheerier
photography which no longer took it
self for something to obscure scenes
with, so that if Mr.. Walthall's pictures
continue improving at this rate we
shall, easily within the next five years,
get something worth his handling.
We went rather timorously to
Bonds Of Honor; Of late we have
feared that Sessue Hawakaya. going
somewhat soft on sacrifice, Is inclin-
ing toward a manner too consistently
angelic. But in Bonds of Honor" the
realistic impishness of the bad
brothers exit, after he has preferred
disgrace to suicide, consoled us in q
breath and the grave, fresh beauty of
the production charmed US like morn
ing till, in the last reel, ii sank to
ordinary melodrama. SO we went seek
ing our talkfest at "Virtuous Wives"
"Virtuous Wives" stunned us with
the money that had been spent on
1t and with wonder how anybody ever
came to- engage Conway Tear!e as a
cave man. The picture, having bought
itself the best of everything, includ
ing photography, entertained US very
agreeably, as we are always entertained
at fashion shows, but it is not other
wise considerable except as it gives
us one more performance by Edwin
Arden.
So presently we found no subject
left US but "The Squawman," and not
quite knowing our own mind about
The .Squawman" we had been fighting
shy of it all along.
Everybody tells US that it is a beau
tiful picture 1t is indeed beautiful
and, what is more, it is a picture-no
carping at Mr. De Mile this time about
his wanting his pictures to be plavs.
Never were true lovers more meant
for each other than the story of "The
Squawman" and the flexible form Of
the motion picture, in which it achieves