New-York tribune., 1921-04-14
On The Screen
Photography IN GriftilI,'s 'Dteam
Street III Central Ihcascr
Beautiful 49,
BY Elarriettc Undcrhill

AS we were leaving the Central The
ater Tuesday night at tho end OF d. W..
Gr'f'th's Dream Street" an aggressive
young man accosted us aud said: ~
suppose all of you critics arc going 20
rave over this picture; but if Griffith
hadn't made it you'd say it was bunk ="
Well we answered, "if Griffith
hadn't made it it would bc bunk. But
you sec. Griffith did make it,"
There are two ways of doing things,
alwaysa hard way and an easy way.
Now, Mr.. Griffith chooses the hard
no one else would darc to touch and
makes it beautiful. He certainly did a
risky thing when he made "Broken
Blossoms" and il was and is and ever
shall be the finest thing ever done on
the screen. But he told us that out
con the road SONG Of the theaters re-
fused to book any more Of his pictures
because they had thought that the
story of The. Chink and the Child was
so bad. They insisted on happy end
ing. SO Mr.. Griffith has tried to please
the them, and The result is Dream Street"
The aggressive young man was right.
1t would have Been bunk if anyone else
had done it. There is preacher who
sings Lead Kindly Light or Crooked
in the Cradle of the Deep with fool
ish-looking face turned up to where
heaven is supposed to be, and when
people hear him they stop whatever
they are doing that is wrong and begin
to do right
Then there is street violinist who
plays so that every one feels wicked.
He seems to be wearing Benda mask,
but perhaps this was only symbolic.
u,N Tn WIN 1,1 81 l.
ture flashes back to scenes in hell,
with souls in torment, and alligators
shifting fire. All through the picture
this device is used to prove things.
The titles are banal and many of them
ar superhuous. Repetition seems the
keynote of Carol Dempsters portrayal
She has one set of steps which de-
notes recklessness and another set
which denotes victory. What may at
first seem fetching will, in time, be-
come annoying, and her close-ups
were all lovely, but uninteresting. The
happy ending was dragged in by the
hope it will please all of those poor
souls who objected to "Broken Bios
sons; otherwise "Drcam Street" has
suffered in vain. You see, we have no
illusions about "Dream Street. All
OF these things we admit, so no one
need say to us: But didn't you
notice" etc. We did notice all of it.
The disaereeable things which we have
written are what we think. Now we
shall write of what we feel. When
Spike McFadden hears the good
teacher singing hymns in the street
and is forthwith reformed we think
"What bosh!" hut we feel that it was
very beautiful metamorphoses When
he takes the guilt of his weakling
brother on his shoulders and offers
to go to the gallows for him, we think
he wouldn't dream Of really doing it,
but we feel that it is very noble
thing for him to do. In the terrible
happy ending we though it was pre-
posterous, but we thrilled at the
sumptuous apartment and the luxury
and the grand opera contract and the
dress suit of the weakling brother
and the baby which belonged to the
hero and heroine. That is what Grif-
fifth can do! He can make you love him
even while you disapprove of him. We
cannot explain it, but it's true. Never
one of his pictures in which we have
not felt this.
Ralph Graves and Charles Emmett
Mack do excellent work as the two
brothers, Spike and Billie, and moth
ing better has been seen on the screen
than the scene where they meet in
hatred and end in each others arms.
This is young Mack's first appearance,
but we would not suspect it. 1t is by
far the best thing Graves has done