New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-01-10
On the Screen
polly With a Past Shown at
the Rivoli; ''The Love Light
at the Capitol
By Harriette Underhill

by k1dIIlCtlC OllQCIIllll
"Polly With Past" will spend
week at the Rivoli Theater, where she
will have as a counter attraction DR..
Leonard J. Vandenburgh's "Wild Men
Of Africa" Of the two, most emphat-
ically we prefer Polly, though she does
not intrigue US as she has done in the
past. Polly is not nearly SO effective
on the screen as she was on the stage,
and how charming Ina Claire was as
Polly, with her pretty ways and her
pretty French accent. But Miss Claire
does not screen we'll and the lighting
was bad. Also we did not care for her
clothes. They were not chic, merely
fantastic. and really in Polly With
Past" the clothes form a part Of the
plot, so one feels quite justified in
criticizing them. Especially did we OBJ
ject to the costume in the last scene, a
silver and black affair with no sleeves,
in which Polly was prepared to travel
back to her very obscure past.
The story is OF, girl from East
Gilead, whose father is minister.
But, in spite of that fact, Polly speaks
French and has all ambition to study
voice culture in Paris. She starts out,
but gets stranded in New York and is
forced to go as a maid in the house.
hold of Clay Cullen. Here she meets
the lovesick Rex Van lille and the
gay and sprightly Harry Richardson,
and between them they hatch plot to
make Rex's obdurate lady love listen to
reason. Polly is induced to imperson-
ate Paulette Badly, French siren. and
the thing works out exactly as
scheduled, only instead of making Rex
happy 1t makes him miserable, because
nc hnds he no longer loves Myrtle. but
Polly. How he ever could have loved
Myrtle in the first place is mystery.
she seems quite an an unattractiye per-
] son.
Of the men, the laurels go to Clifton
I weDo Tor MS extremely amusing por.
trayal OF Harry Richardson. He has
a wonderful comedy sense and he puts
it over without ever resorting to thu
antics or grimaces which are SO an
noylng IN some comedians. Ralph
!raus was quite wooden as the de-
lected lover. Love, delight. despair,
anger, all passed over his head and
leit his countenance unmoved. In
spite of the fact that the picture has
been considerably cut since its first
showing the continuity is very good
and the titles are a constant delight.
.SSiioA ~ 10 w June MaCn1S ana
the direction ty Leander de Cordova.
wild Men of Africa" is to rs a
grewsome and revolving picture. If
the people of Africa stick a dagger in
the !ugular vein of a strangled bullock
so that they may suck the blood as it
spurts out and if they drag their DIVING
relatives into the jungle SO that the
hyenas may eat them before they die
we prefer not to witness it.
,nT]h The comedy is Bobby Bumps as
"The Conductor" The cartoon has al!
Of the attendant noises which Mutt
and jeff have come to regard as thei,
own.
"Herbertiana" is musical sketch by
Victor Herbert. Grace Foster ana
Ralph Soule do the singing and Paul
Oscard and Vera Myers are the dane
ers. They are assisted by the usual
chorus from the New School of Opera
The overture is "Poet and Peasant"
"The Love Light" is fascinating
story beautifully produced and mar
velously we'll acted. After so long ar
absence Mary Pickford has returned to
the screen in something that is very
much worth while, for the picture, which
IS the feature at the Capitol this week,
is one of the best we ever saw. To be-
gin at the beginning, Frances Marion
, has given Miss Pickford a story in
which the interest is sustained to the
very end. 1t is war story, though it
would hardly have done to have shown
1T during or Immediately after the war,
for one of the hcr/es is German. Of
course, he turns CIT to be a spy, but he
is noble spy In selecting two men
who were not especially we'll known on
the screen to play the two lovers the
plot is not revealed till the end. Where
you have well-known hero to play
the lead you always know that he is
going to be the good one and marry the
heroine.
Miss Pickford shows herself to be a
supreme artist in this latest picture.
Her charm certainly has not lessened
and she gives a gorgeous performance
as the little Italian girl who loves, all
unwittingly. German spy. We do not
kno" the nume of the man who played
TINS spy, but he was very good I'm
usually fine performances were also
given by Raymond Bloomer as Clio
vanni who stimulates blindness as we'll
as ever we have seen it done; by
Evelyn Dunno as Mana and Albert
Frisco as Pietro
Miss Pickford is Angela, the watcher
IN the tower of a lighthouse somewhere
IN Italy, and one day marvelously
perfect male creature is washed up on
WIG AOSho from Lne ocean, Angela brings
him back to life and he tells her that
he is an American, inadvertently de-
serter from one of the battleships. She
hides him in her hut and then marries
him secretly, only to learn later that
ne IS German spy and that it is his
submarine which has sent her brother.
Mario, to his death
The lighting, the photography and the
settings are things Of great beauty. The
titles are so good that they pretty
nearly stand alone out of all the pic
lures we have seen this season, and the
direction leaves nothing to be desired.
IT The Love Light" has any faults
they were not apparent to US for the
entire eight reels. Frances Marion
wrote and directed this picture.
very elaborate program has been
arranged around the feature. The over
ture is Queen of Sheba." Then comes
the Butterfly Ballet, with Mile Gam
barelll; then the prologue, which is
called Italian Fantasy" with Eric Bye,
assisted by the ensemble and the ballet
corps. Mile. Gambarell and Alexander
OI1t,o ell,