New-York tribune., 1921-12-27
On the Screen
s'pardon My French" al Capt.
io!. an Amusing Offering;
'Hcni Free" at Rialio

An amusing picture called pardon
My French" is the feature at the Cap
itol this week. The story is thin aud
become if il had been in different
hands. Sidney Olcott is tho director.
however. aud he has missed no oppor-
tunity to iufusc his own humor into
the picture Oh. what boon is di
rector with q sense OF humor! lf we
were & producer we should go about
telling our favoritc story to directors,
and those who missed the point
could never direct the dcstinics of our
playlct.
Vivian Martin as tho girl. Polly. con-
tributes lot TO the pleasure of the oc-
casion and Irwin Cobb did the titles in
are familiar with Mr. Cobbs writings,
however, will no doubt miss the subtle
ties which they have enjoyed. Perhaps
he believes that subtlctics and sub
titles arc not compatible. for none OF
his humor on the screen could possibly
be missed by even the least astutc Of
his readers.
The picture is made from Edward
Childs Carpenters Polly of the
Pantry and tells the story OF some
misguided Thespians who were strand
10 New York on a private yacht
After that Polly, the ingcnuc, went
as a French maid and Bunny, tho but
lcr Of the stranded play, went rs a
butler in real life.
He said he had butlcrcd for Frohman,
Belasco and the Shubcrt Bros, when
asked for references
The first part of the picture was
much funnicr than tho last of il, but
where is the farce that can sustain its
tempo? Ard the better it is in
the beginning the greater risk it
runs of becoming anti-climactc. There
arc some amusing scenes when a fam
lily from Cyclone Center are blown
away, and when they alght they find
they have nothing left but the walls
of their home. These are papered
with old oil stock. and, of course, as
they are contemplating them the post
man walks in with letter telling
them that they arc millionaires. Grace
Studiford, looking just like Madame
Petrova. is seen as a countess in name
only. The picture is a Goldwyn.
Harold Lloyd in "a Sailor Made
Man" is the comedy. 1t is quite as
amusing as Lloyd's comedies have
fern Of praise He always can be relied
not seem TO believe that it is uprosr-
iously funny to fall down or to kick
the heroine by mistake when you are
aiming at the villain.
The overture is "Sixth Hungarian
Rhapsody.' and there is q wonderful
ballet called "Funeral March of the
Marionettes.' Erik Bye and the Capi-
tol singers render "Cantioue de Noel
Rent Free the Wallace Reid pic
turc at the Rialto. insn't up TO great
ing moments. AS we watched Reid s
help comparing his work with "The
Woman God Forgot" and some of the
other pictures which he made at that
time. How he has changed! He does
not rely at all on his good looks; at
present he acts. Not that he has not
been doing so for some time, but his
present picture is not sufficiently ex-
citing to divert your attention from
the star to the theme.
Mr. Reid is seen as an impecunious
artist who is dispossessed by a hard
hearted landlady and who takes up his
abode on the roof. Two young women
from an adjoining house are dis
possessed at the same time and they
under tent. The artist wanders
around on the different roofs until he
inds way into one of the houses, and
then he invites the young ladies 10 stay
with him. Lila Lee and Gertrude Short
arc east as the homeless ones. One
Of the scenes gives Miss Lee . per-
fectly legitimate excuse for letting
down her hair and it is the most beau
tiful thing in the picture. Clarence
Geldart and Claire Mcdowell arc cast
as the Count and Countess de Mour-
ney, and we wondered if it shouldn't
be spelled Mornay, like the eggs The
story is by lola Forester and Mann
Page, and the direction by Howard
Higgin.
The overture is "Merry Wives Of
, Windsor" Edoardo Albano sings "it
Came Upon a Moonlight Clear Tony
Sarg has an amusing new picture called
The Original Golfer