The New York herald., 1921-01-03
Last of MohicanS'
Is Thrilling Story
as Told in Movie
Producer Shows Artistic C0ur-
age in Giving Picture a None
Too Happy Ending.

100 Hdppy EHulng.
It's nothing rare for film actor TO
be playing against himself on the
screens OF two Broadway cinema palaces.
but II Is unusual for a motion picture
producer to be undergoing such double
exposure. However, Maurice Tourneur
has the experience this week with two
such divergent pictures as THE Last
OF the Moh.cans." at the Strand. which
assures the Indians of ]. Fenimore
Cooper a place In ceiluloid history, and
THE Bait" at the Rialto. which seeks
to do It's duty by the modern Apaches
Of the underworld.
With his Cooper picture Tourneur
has launched himself on the tide of
spectacular thrillers with a historic
background which is beginning to drown
out the flood of tears from sex play
heroines In the movies. Under his crisp
handling one realizes acutely what one
always suspected-that THE Last or
the Mohicans" is n dime novel. done in
fancy hand stitched language. Perhaps
this is because Tourneur's powers lend
themselves most adeptly to melodrama
but then we have for evidence those
hallowed words of the heroine herself
to the false Indian, MoguG: Come but
a step nearer. and l will jump off this
precipice"
The attack on the cave where the girls
are, the massacre of the whites outside
Fort William Henry, the struggle Of
Uncds and Mogud on the jutting rock
above the tremendous chasm and the
Anal plunge of the treacherous Indian
from a cliff into a rushing rapid are
done with extraordinary skill. so that
one has increased respect for ones
ancestors who lived in those perllous
times
Picture Is TOO bloody.
The picture sweeps along SO excitedly
that il is only when Mdgud is watching
Cora Munro through the night on the
edge of the precipice that one has time
to note that the striped white rings
around his eyes make him look like Little
Neno's friend Flip. But. The
picture Is too bloody
DESTROYS OF showing his artistic
courage by going the none too happy
ending of the original one better. Tour
neur has plunged Cora into an abyss and
into the dying handclasp of Uncds. Her
attention to the narrowing details as that
surrounding the leap of Mae Marsh in
Tho Birth of Nation" Aside from
this Barbara Bedford's pretty face Is
too clarningly mobile to meet such an
end.
From this picture, for all its finely
toned scenes of wide spaces. ii is some
what OF n relief to turn to Harold
Lloyd in Number. Please" which pages
the giggles of every one who has tried
to reason with the telephone system.
Selections from Victor Herbert's "Na-
toma :" Prizma picture. "An Indian
Summer and an appropriate vocal
prologue by Joseph Martel and the
Strand male quartet. help turn the
Strand for the week into an Indian
reservation.
For its third anniversary bill the Ri
vol offers ''The Passionate Pilgrim"
produced by Cosmopolitan, for Para
mount from the story by Samuel Mer-
win, in which the author so woefully
battered by fate, as presented on the
screen seems not so passionate that tho
National Board OF Review needs to grow
alarmed. After being harried over h
murder in which his dead wife was I'M
plcated. he falls quite respectfully in
love. with an invalid heiress whose elder
sister is trying to wrest control of her
fortune from her, with the help of n
trustee with diabolical eyebrows. The
intricacies OF the story have been we'll
handled by George Du Bois Proctor,
scenario writer, and it holds the in
terest with an exceptionally plausible
development. one of its assets being a
realistic newspaper office. with copy
boys whose shirts need stuffing in their
trousers and everything.
False Psychological Twists.
But it has some false psychological
twists. and when the heiress discovers
that she is in love and can stand for
the first time in her life. instead of the
usual faintng fit, the audience Uttered
YESTERDAY. This was evidently not the
effect for which Robert Vignola. the di-
rector. knitted his brows. But Matt
Moore gave a quietly appealing portrait
OF the writer. and while Rubye de
Rener was mainly decorative as the
girl. frankie Mann gave an attractive
sketch Of feminine feature writer who
dabbled in soul stuff.
Those who are looking forward TO the
screen version OF Barrie's Sentimental
Tommy" can fill in the time till then
very agreeably by taking IN "Bunty Pulls
the Strings" at the Capitol this week, as
we'll as brushing UP on their Scotch dia-
lect. Reginald Barker has converted
Graham Moffats stage success to the
films in commendable fashion for
Goldwyn. preserving the original flavor
OF this tale of the shrewd lassie who, one
might say. scientifically managed n
match for herself and her father. Lea
trice Joy, Raymond Hatton. Russell
Simpson and Cullen Lands skilfully pull
the strings leading to the heart and the
funny bone--for of course they're
Scotchy TO the point of being humorous.
Hope Hampton is attractive in Tour
neur's 1.-THE Bait" at the Rialto. extract
ed capably from Sidney Toler's crook
play, 1.-THE Tiger Lady" and besides
scenes OF the American criminal classes
following their bent. a man can view en-
ticing glimpses OF the "Folies Bergere"
OF Paris without fear of the wife object
ing.
A Christie comedy. Coming Through
tho Rye: Wagner's "Rienzi' overture
and solos by Gladys Rice and Joseph
Alessi are also on the slate.
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