New-York tribune., 1921-12-05
On the Screen
''All for a Woman" at Strand;
''Cct-Rich-Quick Walling-
ford" Riyoii and Rialto
BY Harriette .Underhill

1t was our duty and our pleasure to
review the lives and loves Of two
famous characters of history which
were portrayed on the screen at two of
the Broadway theaters yesterday. One
is GeovNes Jacques Danton and the
other is j. Rufus Wallingford. Let us
take first the case of Georges jacques
Danton, because it is the more simple
Life in the period of the French Rcvo-
luton was not the precarious thing
that it was in j. Rufus Wallingford'a
time, when every trolley line magnate
who wore suuare-toed shoes looked like
q chief of police to j. Rufus and
Blackie Daw.
The life and love of Danton are pic
tured at the Strand Theatcr in drama
called "All for Woman" which seems
tainly not Danton, did anything very
much for woman. Indeed, it seemed
that in those days they deemed both
love and life things not worth sec
ond thought. The attitude Of the men
was Excuse me, my d daar, Robespierre
has invited me to have my head cut
off this morning. You will probably
join me later" But, Of course one
gets no romance at all with history.
They never seemed to do anything save
be born, fight and get killed. Dimitri
Buchowetzki, who directed the produc-
ton, has pictured the turbulent period
fancied it must have been. The Ger
man actors anl actresses lend them
selves to that sort of thing so much
better than our people do here at
home. They do not repress; they do
not look handsome; they DO not stop
for close-ups.
The story which GAIL for Woman"
tells is depressing one, and we have
not the slightest doubt that people
whose mark in history was 90 or so
will enjoy the picture much more than
we, whose average in history was As.
Indeed, if it had been necessary to
pass" in history we never should have
reached high school. Cutting off poo
ple's heads isn't a pleasant pastime,
and Macmillan Robespierre, the villain,
beheaded the hero with impunity, and
besides, Danton was not our idea of a
hero, anyway. So we could not accept
the story as romance; we had to just
view it as history, in spite of the fact
that each of the three heroes had a
love affair. There were Yvonne, Ba-
bette and Lucille. Having been terri
bly, misund in our little joke
about Ian Maclaren and the brier bush,
we shall refrain from saying that the
life story OF Lucille, Danton's sweet
heart, has been prettily recorded by
Owen Meredith.
Emil Jannings makes g real and b
powerful person of Danton. Jannings
is without doubt a remarkable actor,
but then they seem to take good act
ing for granted over there. In the one
picture are a dozen persons who would
be stars over here. There are Werner
Kraus as Robespierre, Robert Sholz as
ST. Just, Joseph Rumich as Camille
Desm oulins, Ferdinand Alter as Herault
de Sechelles, Edouard Winterstein as
Westerman, Frederick Kuhn rs Tinville
these gave splendid performances, but
performances Of Kraus and Alter as the
radical aristocrats Among the wom-
Ell there were no Pola Negris, and no
foreign lin seems complete without
her. Hilda Worner is spirited and
pretty as the beggar maid sweetheart
of Sechelles and Charlotte Ander is
beautiful as Lucille. AS with all for
eign films, the mob scenes are splen-
did and thrilling, and the reason seems
to be that in foreign films the multi
tude is made up of hundreds of actors,
while over here they are made up of
extras. The picture was titled and
edited by Randolph Bartlett and is re-
leased by First National. 1t was en-
Enthusiastically received.
There is short epilogue, also a
prologue, showing real scenes from the
revolution, while the orchestra plays
"Robespierre." Egbert Burnham sings
"Gypsy Love Song" and Estelle Carey
is heard in the epilogue.
At the Rivoli and also at the Rialto
Get Rich-Quick Wallingford" is play
ing: This is Famous Players adap-
tation of George M. Cohan's popular
play, and if you think that it has not
in it the stuff that screen plays are
made of, go and see 1t. 1t is one of
the most successful adaptations we have
seen, and whoever did the casting is
to be congratulated. The types are ex-
ce!lent. For instance, wouldn't you
think that Sam Hardy was j. Rufus
himself? Mr.. Hardy is leading a
strenuous existence this week between
lodging the police as Get Rich Quick
and lodging Kiki as Victor
1t seemed to us that Mr. Hardy was
even more convincing in the part than
Hale Hamilton had been on the stage.
And as for the role Of Blackic Daw. it
Is the best thing Norman Kerry ever
aid. a short space back we said that
y