New-York tribune., 1919-06-15
Warner ReUiUes the
World of Ouida

chief and. as we have said, the Scourge
Of the Desert. The Scourge, about to
work his vengeful will upon a captured
| lady of his forsworn race, becomes
greatly Embarrassed when she gets to
see strip Of his chest, untanned by
the African sun. Thus identified as a
white man he cannot lay his hand
upon woman save in the way of kind
ness-though if he were to cast an eye
upon almost any big scene in movie
land he would soon see that his
scruples were quite out of place-and
sends her home. This loses him his
job as Scourge of the Desert and re-
generated by q glimpse of q pure
woman, ne returns to civilization-th
civilization of Ouida again, where
honor and reputation are interchange
able terms, where you accept caste as
poignantly valid and exciting bust
ness and realize that any little pecca-
dillo which the hero as an Arab chief
I must have dipped his hands in to have
gained the title of Scourge Of the
Desert pales out of sight before the
Unmentionabl able-the fact that as a
British officer he had an affair with
married woman; a world where proud
young outcast aristocrats in elegant
clean white fannels finch and shudder
at the we'll bred taunts of their own
class and stand swooning with dread
before the verdict of young ladies who
address a kind word to such one at
their social PERIL the world, in fact
that is SO valid and so thrilling to all
of US in the brave days when we are
seventeen. There must be in exist
ence a great many persons of that age
and we would not have one of them
miss the look with which the Scourge
follows across the desert the girl he
has set free, still Iess the rough alb
sorption with which Captain Rand
slams her down behind the sand rune
those desert brigands.
Of course, the first requisite for
carrying off story of this kind is to
be really sublime liar, and We con-
gratulate Mr.. Warner upon his success
along those lines. With nothing
whatever by which to convince US of
Ali Zaman's desperate character ex-
cept a couple of close-ups, in which
he had nothing to do but to stand
still, he contrived to throw round him
self so dark a mantle of sardonic
mallgnity that our picture innocence
returned almost to the hope that he
would turn out really bad-indeed, we
think we have never seen any one
stand still in quite so powerful man
ner. 1fsby mere expression he could
thus deck in all the glories of Lucifer
life SO far as we could see. of mere
superstitious innocence, when it came
to stride, gesture, he easily per
suaded us that the adventure worthy
of the desert was that moment soaring
our souls, though, a matter of fact
nothing was going forward but an alb
duction, the merest bread and butter
of movie life. Even the awful come
down from an Arab chief to a gentle
man in fannels he supported with ex-
traordinary dignity and interest, never
encounterng another character with
out creating, through that infinitely
varied and subtle byplay of express
sion which picture acting lives by, a
past, background, a sense of resumed
relationships, of which the bald face Of
the scenario is as innocent as q sheep
we really aren't sure, but there
!, L. l.
teen again. But it is when we come
to the fight in the desert and see him
so ingleheartedly get down to tragic
business, turning his heel on all the
pretty stuff that lies ready woven for
him to falsify and sentimentalize
everything with if he only will, that
tolerance sharply ceases to be vir-
tue.
Are there really no stories in the
world in which an actor of this quail
Ity could be better employed? 1t is a
question we have long grown weary Of
asking as picture by picture, play by
play and year by year the beautiful
stream of acting ability flows past us
with >ut being caught up in mills Of
opportunity fit to work it to it's utmost
for the world. But yet every now and
then, as before talent so strong and
rich, so gay and wise as this so vari-
ously accomplished and yet so specifi-
cally equipped, we again rouse to ask
What, really, is the trouble? Can't
you producers get the plays? Or
don't you trust the public? However
we have failed you in the past, don't
think we aren't learning. Maybe now
adays we really might prefer bread to
stone. Give US another chancc,"