The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-05-05
NAZIMOVA SHINES
IN RED LANTERN
Mystery, Plots and Battles
During Boxer Rebellion
Outlined.
THRILLS AT THE STRAND
"The White Heather" Drury
Lane Melodrama, Is Seen
at Rialto.

Speaking OF ALA Nazimova in The
Red Lantern" which started at the Riv-
oil yesterday, one might say with tho
Mohammedans, ALA is great!' How
ever. though the actress admirably fits
the exacting requirements of her double
role. she hardly merits such worship
unless one Is an orthodox member in
good standing with the Nazimova cult
The festival Of the Red Lantern is the
Chinese New Years-the authority for
this being the writer who adapted Edith
Wherry's novel for the screen--and
from this It can be readily seen that the
photoplay is a reduction to terms Of cell
luloid Of the yellow peril that has lately
been making itself concrete--in the the
atre 1t Is dated during the Boxer re-
bellion. which Of course provides plenty
OF basis for mystery, plotting. thrills,
promiscuous shooting and the final and
satisfactory triumph of the Allies, just
when It looks as though every one be-
fore the camera must have exhausted all
the ammunition that the Allies recently
left In Europe
The action of the Aim Is carried by
Nazimova as Mahlee, a Eurasian girl,
daughter OF an English nobleman and a
Chinese woman. who is made unhappy
and led TO precipitate world events be-
cause she has large feet. They're too
large by Chinese standards, though they
could earn a living with many a Broad
way chorus She attempts to reshape
them with sword, but Is rescued by the
son OF an American missionary, with
whom she Promptly falls in love-which
gives an opening for Kiplings most time
tried quotation:
Missionary Proves Tickle.
In fact the young mission worker
turns his affections over to a visiting
English girl. She is In reality Mdhlee's
half sister. accompanied by her father,
who recognizes but does not acknowl-
edge this Oriental memento of his youth
Malice, rejected by the white people she
claims, is driven to the side OF Sam
Wang, another half caste. who is the
crafty Pekin stage manager OF the Box
ers. He uses the girl TO start the rebel
lion-but the Allies become too rough
for them.
NaZimova gives a highly differentiated
performance as the vivacious English
girl and the sombre Eurasian, In the
latter role looking more like an Oriental
than appears to be the style among our
more self-conscious ingenues. Her final
scene of tragic dignity Is so impressive
one imagtnes even n laundryman would
cry over 1t. She has able support. no.
tably from Noah Berry as the Chinese
Machiavelli. and the Pekin scenes are
80 picturesque one becomes nettled that
the producer did not take them in Prizma
colors
the whole programme Is lacQuered
with Chinese finish. A China" Prizma
somewhat remedies the deficiency of the
feature picture; Mary Ball sings the Chi
reese lullaby. while you can hear persons
all over the house whisper, That's from
East Is West" the orchestra plays Sc
lections from "A Chinese Honeymoon"
and there is a Chinese ballet fantasy
presenting couple OF the funniest Ce-
lestial soldiers that ever danced classical
steps.
Burleson Boosted on Screen,
At the Strand Anita Stewart In Mary
Regan' astonishes one by showing the
Burleson telephone system in q favor
able light. Right at a critical moment,
when a young woman has only a few
seconds to telephone her lover, the First
Deputy Police Com missioner about a
gang Of crooks who mean to fleece a
wealthy young man. the system does
not break down and spoil a couple of
good tempers. No, she Is able to get
her message through Immediately, which
enables the gang TO be broken up during
one of the liveliest cabaret fights that
over exploded over the GLASSWARE
The story. an adaptation from Leroy
Sootts novel. concerns the efforts of a
criminals daughter to go straight"
despite the too solicitous attempts of her
fathers crowd to show her all the easy
money in the world. Anita Stewart
gives one of her best portrayals in the
story which reveals that there is a Grim,
wave herein the movies.
The White Heather" at the Rialto
| swept away any lingering doubts one
might have had about the value OF the
armys system OF copying everything in
triplicate. . II the heroine In this YER
sion of the Drury Lane melodrama had
only copied in triplicate the record of
her clandestine marriage to Lord Angus
Cameron OF Throgmorton street and the
Scotch heather. then the lives OF three
persons might have been saved. But
that would have prevented several ex-
citing scenes, including an undersea fight
between two men in divers costumes
that Jules Verne could not Guido.