New-York tribune., 1921-05-23
On the Screen
Marguerite Clark's Art Saves
''Scranbled Wives at Strand;
''Snowblind'' at Capitol
BY Harriette Underhill

Can it be that we do not like pictures
as we'll as we did. or are the pictures
not so good as they used to be, or what
is the trouble? We see pictures that
are heralded for weeks and we read
the advance notices and we go to the
theater full of hope and then what hap
pens? The comedies aren't very funny,
the melodramas are too mellow and the
society dramas are filled with impos-
sible people and impossible titles. Peo-
pie say "Well, what sort of pictures
do you like" and we can say pictures
like "The Miracle Man" "Broken Bios
SONS" and Gypsy Blood" but where
are they to be found.
Yesterday we saw Scrambled Wives"
at the Strand and "Snowblind" at the
Capitol; of each we had heard glowing
accounts and yet neither interested US
very much.
Scrambled Wives" has all of the
elements of success. What more of an
excuse for farce could there be than
a secret marriage between two young
people, an annulment and a meeting
two years later at a house party? What
probably ails Scrambled Wives" is
that they have been scrambled in the
wrong pan and not held close enough
d
room farce but it seems an expurgated
edition. When the former husband is
found in the ex-wife's room, he should,
by all the traditions, be found under
her bed and she should at least be
wearing peignoir. Instead she re-
clines on chaise Tongue in a tea
gown and he hides behind a portere.
Of course he sneezes. Pathetic and
laundering but innocent husbands like
oh haT lpt p,,p
always sneeze at the wrong moment so
that the real husband or the fancee
or the maiden aunt may know that they
are hidden on the premises.
AS we said, the plot is there all right,
though it seems to unfold itself so slow
ly. No farce comedy is ever plausible
enough to stand up if the audience is
given time to think, and in the case of
May Smith and John Chiverick you say,
"Why all the mystery, and why couldn't t
she say: I'm not Mrs. Smith. I'm Miss
Smith. The message over the telephone
was misunderstood
Marguerite Clark as one of the wives
Is adorable. She looks as much like a
French doll as ever, and continues to
be one of the cleverest condolences on
the screen. Her'waVe of popularity has
been permanent one. Leon Gendron
IS handsome and sufficiently dignifed as
the happy lover, and Ralph Bunker gives
perfect performance as the unhappy
husband. He is very funny, and that
Is why we could not understand the lack
OF hunor IN the picture as a whole.
Florence Martin, Alice Mann and Vir-
ginla Lee are all good and beautiful as
wives or aspirants.
Ihere are some scenes taken in color
where Miss Clark dances with the Benda
masks. These, of course, are beautiful,
toq. me picture was directed by Ed
The comedy is "The Bakery" with
Larry Semon. "The Bakery" really
hasn't any more pies, however, than its
predecessors. The overture is Naughty
Marietta" and Katherine Stang, the
clever vioiinst, plays Spanish Dance
no. g., by Sarasate. There is vocal
Duet, You Are Free" by Walter
vaughan and Ethel Bert.
AT the Capitol it seems to rs the
feature OF the program is the playine
or Sascha Jacobsen the celebrated
American yiolinist. He played "Gypsy
AIRS" and then, as an encore, "Dear old
Pal of Nine" If the audience had had
their way they would have keept him
there all the afternoon.
"Snowblind." the feature picture. is
a tale of the frozen North. Many pic.
lures tell of men who live the life OF
hermits at the top of the world. Others
tell of blind girls who love ugly men
believing them to be built on the gen
aral plan of Greek gladiator, but
@Snowblind" combines the two. The