The Washington herald., 1919-03-31
Loew's PnIsce--The Girl Who
stayed ut Home

Ignoring other considerations.
David wark Griffith has manifested,
in The Girl Who Stayed at Home. "
one quality which entities his latest
opus 10 serious consideration Grif-
fth. i'm this work. has attained his
supreme height as a propagandist.
He has deliberately handicapped
himself in this picture by subdivid-
ing the romstic climaSes OF his work
TO intensity and point the pictures
moral The full extent OF that handi-
cap can only be fully realized when
one has observed the volume Of dra-
matte material that goes into the
making Of this hlm-a volume which.
ordina rily. would require the most
generous Of happy ending" climaXes
10 leaven il. Griffith. however. was
still the propagsndist when The Girl
Who stayed at Home" was made, and
his great storytelling power has been
concentrated in an effort simply to
drive home a morale stImulant.
Rather than send his audiences
home gssping with a climax or series
Of ciimsxes designed to clear the plot
atmosphere and bring the sunshine
after the rain. GTifith has chosen
the other methOd-the method Of tell
ing a story shot through with flashes
OF light and shadow. relieving his SOM
bre scenes with dashes OF spontane-
Gus comedy. thus preserving an even
balance throughout 70 the end OF a
picture OF sunshine.
Griffith emphasizes the point OF his
tale about four-ffths OF the way
through the story. The ending is hap
py but altogether incidental. The re-
union OF loving hearts has a certain
casual quality. II is acceptable like
dessert after a heavy meal, but Grifith
has spread forth a Garantuan repast
and dessert-well, a sweet cake or a
piece Of candy seems more fitting
than a portion OF plum pudding.
The Griffith fan will find sometime
else OF interest in his new picture
Grifith has manifested here the quite
Shavian tendency to make out a case
for the Hun. There Is a Hun in THE
Girl Who Stayed at Home,"-a good
0oche. il there are such things,-snd
while Griffith makes his German a po-
litical radical TO add probability tc
the Huns decency, one early fancies
the director possessed Of the mis-.
misc1ievous. argumentative ambition
10 make this Hun lovsble. And he
does. though naturally he weakens
the force OF his achievement by ad-
with the usual Hunnish handicap.
The tale is simple enough, being
merely in essence a Griffithized ver-
sion Of the propaganda picture Made
in America" that the Palace has been
running on week-ends. A pacifist
shipbuilder has two sons-one with his
manhood undeveloped. The central
tale revolves around the undeveloped
type, impersonated by Robert Har.
ron, and his cabaret-dancer sweet.
heart, who. fred by the boys develop
ment Of character, vows to stay
straight for him.
All this, though. is utterly subordi-
nate 10 the great smashing climax OF
the piece. halfway through its
lsrrth.
HaTron's comedy Is good, but il did
rot attain the heights we had ex-
pected. Clarine Seymour. as the cab
fret dancer, proves good material in
Griffith's hands. Richard Barthel-
ness draws a strong. convincing type
as the brother whose heart was in
France. Carol Dempster. in the op-
posite role OF his loved one, is an
actress of the appealing. Miriam
cooper type. George Fawcett, Kate
Bruce, Adolph Lestina, TuIly Mar
shall and other Grifith standbys give
- the usual good account Of themselves.
Congratulations go to the Palace mus
teal director for his Interpretation of
one OF the best Griflth scores. The