The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1920-12-22

And so much bad IN the best OF US,
That Il III behoueS any OF as
To talk about the rest Of uS.
TT was heours after I'd seen the
wonderful picture "Helitrope"
at Moore's Garden Theater tnIo
week beginning sunday, that the
oft-quoted quatrain of Robert Louis
Stevenson's came into my head II
was the last OF flashing series OF
Impressions and ideas furnished ny
a hauntingly vivid experience. For
seeing "Heliotrope" Is In experience
"A wonderful one.
"Heliotrope" has become for me
slice of life-a revelation OF the
tremendous motives and ambitions.
loves and hates, longings, desires,
and sacrifices-and the instincts
bigger than all OF them which ac-
tuate the human beings who ride
downtown next to me In the street
cars or sat at my right when go 10
lunch.
Under the masterful direction OF
George ID. Baker, Richard Wash
burn Child's story comes to the
screen as a story-not rack on
which a few "shots" of fancy pho
Biography are hung.
"Heliotrope' is first of all
thrilling. gripping story. Then It's
a mastery play. acted in the fash
ion ii merits, and thereafter it's a
motion picture directed by an artist
with the courage of his convictions.
Wen come to those convictions and
the courage" later.
On UNUSUAL PROBLEM.
The problem of the play is as I'M
usual as 1t is interesting. A beau
tiful young Convent orphan" strays
| into the land OF romance. She is
on the eve OF happy marriage to
| the young brother of her school
chum. The Sunday supplements
devote a page to the charming love
story of the little convent girl and
the son of the country's great lum-
| Der king. And the illustrated page
, falls into diverse hands.
spike Foley sees it and sends
! the page to his chum-"Heliotrope'
| Harry Hasdock, lifer in the peni-
Tertiary. Hasdock's wife sees 1t
also-and as Spike" and "Helio-
trope" Harry could have foretold
without the evidence OF one move
on her part, the woman makes her
plans to win fortune at the cost
Of the girls happiness.
Now the young heroine or the
| great romance is known as Alice
| Hale. She fancics herself an or
| phan. She has never dreamed that
| her father is crook and h,r
mother worse. All her happiness
| and all her security, all her faith
! in herself and In life depend on her
! never knowing what scarlet threads
! bind her to the warp of life.
But Josephine Hasdock rummages
through musty corners of a shabby
trunk and finds there the birth
certificate that will prove Alice her
child and will give that child ashes
and dust instead of happines and
provide Josephine herself with
possible share Of the lumber kings
millions.
Cleverly and In . fashion that
gives the story delightful comedy
twist, spike" Foley, who is as loyai
pal" as he was once success rul
crook, discovers the woman's plans
and conveys them tersely in letter
to 'Heliotrope" Harry.
In Harry's life there is one clean.
sweet, fine and utterly unsmirched
thing. 1t is his love for his daush-
| ter. He has starved his own Ire
of his love for her SO that she may
! rise 10 Dettet thiHSo sh1h 80 $1,000
| over known.
THE CONVICT GOES MAD.
When he finds that the woman
who brought Alice into the world
and then forgot the girls exist nee
is ready to cloud that existence
| the convict goes mad. There are
no words to portray the magnin-
cence Of the scenes In which FREQ
Burton conveys the changn MOODS
and the terrible passions Of the man
who Is forced to face the grim TACT
| that he is no longer man, but
| merely a number.
Insane with rage, the convict
brings group of guards TO deal
| with him after their own fashion.
| He is saved from their hands by the
warden-a humanitarian who be-
| Iieves in all men and in particu ar
in his "trusty'- 'Heliotrope" Harry
| and when he listens to the story or
! the man who is mad with the long
| ing for freedom the warden under
| stands.
! "Heliotropc" Harrys desire to
meet the world again on its own
terms becomes a driving force. =
mania. He needs his freedom for
! The sake OF Tile girl wh''ss hapn''
ress hinges on his src1,! ; In saving
| her from en- unsc9Ipuloua aha
| noney-mad oman.
When Thomas J. Fia1loy ana
Fred Burton depict the gentle,
| rdep and