New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-04-19
On the Screen
Elsie Ferguson a, Her Best in
kialto Presentation of Sacred
and Profane Love-
BY Eiarriette IJndcrhill

IL, VIC nave ncuritiS tcrribly-but we
also have Elsie Ferguson. She is at
the Rlalto in picture called Sacred
and Profane Love- and it is the first
time we have seen her in more than a
year Whom we had her all the time
we sort of got used to her and didn't
realize quite how splendid she was,
put nashlng on our mind as she does
now, We know that she is, without any
reservations, the finest actress on the
screen, She has style, poise and bear
ing, personality and beauty Of form
ana expression to greater degree
than any other actress we know.
1t is probable that with some one
else in the leading role we should not
have cared for this picture, but as il
is presented it holds us spellbound.
Miss Ferguson is Carlotta Peel, young
girl who knows nothing of the world
until one night she runs away to hear
the great pianist, Emile Diaz, falls in
love with him on sight and passes the
night in his apartment. When she
returns to her own home in the mora
ing she finds that her aunt is dead. so
that the explanation which she had
concoctcd was not needed. Carlotta
goes through life carrying her secret
WIN ner, and 1T was many years before
she and Diaz met again.
Conrad Nagel is cast as Diaz and his
makeup, as we'll as his performance,
~ remarkabie Neither in looks nor
The blond and youthful Conrad.
Thomas Holding plays Frank Is
penlove, Carlotta's other lover. But
Mr. Holding as hero has never been
very convincing to us. He seems, al
ways, too good looking and to con
scious of it. AS the music publisher
who deserted his wife for Carlotta
and then upbraided Carlotta for it as
ne took his own life he is more &C
ceptable. He seemed like that sort
OF person. Helen Dunbar and Wni-
1rsd Greenwood play small parts. Boil,
of them are killed off before thev
have gone very far.
We missed Miss Fcrgusons per
Torrance when she appeared on the
stage in the Arnold Bennett play. but
we beard that she was charming, beau
1Iful and wore exquisite gowns All OF
these things arc also true of her in
her screen appearance. The picture
Is William D. Taylor production,
presented b. -Adolph Zukor.
't Is anniversary week at tho
K'aitc. Tho ovs rturc is LISTS Sixth
m'n'noli's wonderful Prelude is rcn-
dcrcd on a mechanical pianc. hut il
las The novelty, of showing Rach.
mincf' on the screen playing syn
Edoardo Albano sings tho
prologue from 81 Pagliacci"
"The Sky Pilot" directed BY King
Vldor. produced by Catherine Curtis,
released by First National and written
~ Ralph Conner. is at the Strand.
Now pictures Of Canada or the West
which show cowboys and tcndcrfoots
Tor Is 1T teet1 who. beat them at their
own game, and Little Nells with wicked
Kermit fathers. who are reformed whom
the hero, who has been plotted against.
rescues the daughter and carries her,
dead. to her fathers hut,
and good men who stand up nj the bar
and say "I'll take plain water, ploasc"
and then get advised to drink it and
like it, by a tough-locking customer
who lays his hand menacingly on his
gun-these pictures, we say, always
bore us SO we do not know whether
"The Sky Pilot" is a good picture or
not, but probably it is, because every
one says SO. This we do know-the
is beautiful and there is
one scene whore The hero prevents the
heroine from being trampled to death
by thousands Of wild steers which is
perfectly thrilling. We never saw any
thing just like it before and it, looks
to be real! If so, what made John
Bowers or Colleen Moore think that
they would ever live to do another
picture? Even if they earn as much
money as we think they earn, we would
not change places with them.
John Bowers is always attractive
If nd l,;
a preacher who can shoot and ride and
fight, but Colleen Moore is too DELHI
erately dcmure; we refuse to forgive
her. Her features are not beautiful
enough to be so distinctly outlined
with makeup, for many a plain girl has
made herself irresistible on the screen
by saying "I'm not beauty and Pm
not trying to make believe that
am. But please like me anyhow"
David Butler, as Bill Hendricks does
excellent work.
in commem Grafton of Shakespeare
birthday there is picture called
"Stratford-on Avon" The male quartet
is heard in the prologue to the feature
picture Larry Semon is seen in p
Nltagraph comedy, "Thc Hick".
Mother Eternal" is the name OF tho
latest picture which Ivan Ahramson
has made to entertain and instruct
the public. 1t is being presented a.
the Casino Theatcr. Mr.. Abramson is
an artist when it comes to choosing
titles with distinct box Office value.
and he has not erred this time. Vica-
rlous parenthood is the fondest thine,
New Workers are of, to borrow from
Ray Octavus Cohen. Vivian Martin is
seen as the mother. She. plays we'll at
all times, but in the second part of the
picture, when she was supposed to be
about fifty years old, her make cup was
terrible. She looked at least ninety
eight. The cast is good. Earle Met-
cate was too self satisfied as the
nhilanthropic doctor. Mr.. Thurston
Hall and j. w. Johnston and Jack
Sheriff. and Pearl Shepherd were vii
more than adequate.
Ihc happy ending, of course, seems
a PIT illogical and sugary. In it the
millionaire forgave everybody and was
apparently about to invite everybody to
come and live with him. He was a
good-natured man, however, for he
never said word when he saw the
mother eternal walking out of the
house in his dead wife's moleskin dol
man and her satin slippers with dia-
mond buckles. 1t didn't have a thing
to do with the plot, but we couldn't 20
on and enjoy the rest Of 1t until we
found out where she got them. Luella
Parsons explained to us that Jack
Sheriff. had lent them to her to wear
after he rescued her from tho river /