New-York tribune., 1921-04-05
On the Screen
Norma Talmadge Startling in
'Ihe Passion Flower at the
Strand, Yet Adorable
BY FIarriette Underhill

"The Passion Flower" is daring
story to put on the screen, for. IN spite
of the fact that some people arc for
ever crying Censor" motion picture
stories arc pretty thoroughly censored
before they ever leave the scenario
writer's desk. 1t seems that a heroine
may be acceptcdon tho stage or in tho
pages of book If she is not all that
she should be, but let her aspire To
the screen and her sins must become
ut tho most pcccadilloes, and if she
leaves homo she must have wedding
ring upon her finger or she cannot re-
turn.
III tho picture at the Strand this
week all of the passion and the sur
gestion Of an illicit love, which is
never expressed by the lovers and not
even admitted by tho girl, Acacia. is
retained. Herbert Brenon has worked
out the story in broad and sweeping
lines. The play has been followed
closely. although it seems that the
story is more powerful thing as pre-
sented on the screen than it was in its
stage version.
Norma Tamadgc is quite startling in
her portrayal of the Passion Flower,
She gives performance full of fire.
color and life, and only those who have
tried 1T or those who have perhaps
learned through the lamcntabe failure
OF others know how much more diff
cult such role is on the screen than
on the stage. Few actresses, we think
could have retained the full sympathy
OF the spectators as did Miss Talmadre
under such trying circumstances.
Acacia, the Passion Flower. is be-
loved by her stepfather, and, though she
scorns and fiouts him at every turn.
there IS no doubt in the minds of those
VINO watch the story unfold that she
glorles in her chance to punish him
tor having supplanted her own father
in the household
Courtenay Foote gives an admirable
performance as Esteban, the hated
usurper. Eulalie Jensen ESSAYS the
difficult role of Raimunda, the part
which Nance O'Ncill played in the
stage production, and she is more than
adequate: Harrison Ford plays the
nero and here, too, daring thing was
Gone. When the two villains threat
ened his life if he did not give up
Acacia, instead of "throwing out his
chest and then following it slowly"
as is the way of heroes. he skunk away
and left Acacia to his rival. 1t did not
seem like Spanish Lowell
The cast is a large one and includes
Charles Stevenson, Robert Agncw, Wal
ter Wilson and Natalie Tain adge. There
is prologue in which Irving Berin's
passion Flower" is sung.
The overture is al Guarany."
"The Little Clown" at the Rialto. is
an improvement over the usual Mary
Miles Minter film. inasmuch as it
makes the star Smart instead of
merely sweet. This is in a measure
due to the titles, which are exceptional
ly good. We liked the title where the
little clown says "You think Pm
names Of Queen Elizabeths ladies-in-
waiting, and because I have legs" We
really didn't think that NJ NJ. NJ. ever
talked that way even on the screen, and
it certainly is refreshing Avery Hap
wood wrote The play, but he has been
ABLY assisted by the director, Thomas
HeHron, and the scenario writer. Eu-
gene Lewis, in making the central fig
ure anything but a BROMIDE
Miss Minter is Pat, a performer in
a small, one-rng circus. All she has
to protect her from the world are
her wit and her foster father. When
she goes away with the man she loves
she loses one of these assets, but her
wit never deserts her Finally she
manages TO win over even the hero's
crusty father and aristocratic mother,
though. thank goodness, she doesn't do
it by proving to them that "rags arc
royal raimept when worn for virtues
sake or that she is sweet or glad or
any of those things that curly haired
heroines are as prone TO be al the
sparks to fly upward
Jack Mulhall is the hero, Winter
Hall the crusty father and Helen Dun
bar the aristocratic mother; and we
mustn't forget Nicely Edwards ns the
stepfather. He gives d good perform
ance.
The surrounding program is excel
lent. The overture is Barber of
Seville" Sascha Fidelman, volinist,
plays gypsy airs, and Grace Hoffman
sings the Polonaisc from "Mgnon."
We enjoyed it more than when Tetraz-
zini does the same thing