New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-03-22
On the Screen
1.-The Virgin Of stamboul,"
Filled With Thrills, Opens

"e virgin OF Stambou," the Uni
versai production, featuring prsc,,la
Dean. which opened yesterday m on
gagement of four weeks at the prood
way Theater, has as its preates+ rooo,,
mendation to prospective audence.
h'gh percentage Of action to tho thon.
sana feet. This action. mornovor !,
realistic enough to brine The avo,aa 30
notion picture fan the thrill that CONES
after belief in the veracitv of what ;s
seen on the screen. "'"' 10
Cast IN Stamboul, in the heart Of
Islam, the picture brings prisc;lla
Dean as an unveiled virgin. a beppar
slrl' Wild as an. Arab steed. It is her
laIe TO WIN the love of an American
soldier of fortune, the leader Of The
Black Horse Brigade; it is also her f .te
to witness the murder of anothar
american, who has invaded a Turkish
narem, by the sheik whose sharem it
was, Between these two incidents ia
developed the struggle between sheik
and American soldier of fortune.
struggle which involves furious riding
and bloody combats. Speaking of these
combats. there is the note Of realism in
them; the falls from heights are true
to life enough to make one svmpathize
WIN those who have to make them At
~ 'N' "ie q great zeal OIL SURFING
battle, the American wins the bepgar
girl and the sheik wins his just reward
death.
The work of Priscilla Dean in this
picture Is vivacious but it can scarcely
be called exceptional. The remainder
OF the cast is satisfactory, but never
beyond that
The picture is introduced by brief
prologue, devised by Tod Browning,
who directed the picture, which brings
the atmosphere of the film home to
the Broadway is made up of comedy
and topical and musical features
At the Strand this week. idol
Dancers the feature picture. bears
no less stamp than the name of.D.
w. Griffith; but this is not enough to
bring this picture beyond its place as
a good picture, into the class Of super
pictures. 1t tells the story of the ;ri-
angle, with beachcomber CON
sumptive Puritan, and beautiful
beachcomber is handicapped by love
for .gn the Puritan by his New Eng
lend conscience and tuberculosis; and
the dancing girl by her excessive re-
spcct for the devil-devil in wood
that she worships.
When the consumptive New Eng
lander comes to the South Sea isle,
the beachcomber's monopoly of the
love of the dancing girl ceases to
exist; in fact, the maternal instinct
Of Mary makes her more tender of
the invalid. Into this triangle comes
the ruthlessness of an exploiter Of
natives, tyrant with his little band
of black followers, who seizes upon
the absence of the villagers on a fish
ing expedition to swoop down upon
the village itself with loot and pllage
and the capture Of Mary in view
This breaks up the triangle With
the attack there comes to Walter Kim
kaid. the Puritan, the chance for ad-
venture that fate has denied him be
fore, and he tastes death in battle
against the blacks. Before death
comes, he had beaten upon a resound-
ing native drum, whose reverbera
tions were heard by the fishing party,
and these natives, led by the beach
comber, return in time to save the
missionary, uncle Of the Puritan, and
his wife, and Mary, the dancing girl.
That leaves Kinkaid to die in The
arms of Mary and Dan, the beach
comber, and that, in its turn, leaves
Mary the chance to admit that She
had loved the beachcomber all along.
Richard Barthelmess, as Dan Mcclure,
the gln-loving beachcomber, gives the
most satisfactory acting of the pic
ture, although both Clarine Seymour.
as Mary, and Creighton Hale, as Waite.
knkaid, the consumptive. are salts
factory. In the story itself or rather,
m the over sentimentaized treatment of
the story, lies the weakness of the pic
ture. the titles evidently were written
by some one who wanted to produce the /.
first motion picture prose poem. There
is much talk CT "velvet moon flowers"
and such strange fora; this more or
less maudlin titlng and the treatment
OF several of the episodes, noticeably
the death of Kinkaid, greatly weaken
a picture which has Photographic
beauty and a certain interest in its
story.
Jerry on the Job" appears as
Bray Animated Cartoon for laughing
purposes on the Strand bill. and
Chester scenic, with the remarkably I
fine photography that characte rizes
the Chester SCENES, and topical re-
view complete the picture program.
On the musical portion of the bill
are to be heard selections from Mos
kowsky's "Boabdil'' as an overture:
Este!!e Carey, the soprano, and special
Hawaiian music, appropriate to the
feature picture.
Five Big Hotels Crowded