New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-07-11
On the Screen
Will Rogers in s'An Unwilling
Hero" al Capitol Provides
Lively Portrayal
BY Harriette Underhill

Gan Unwilling Hero" with Will Rog-
ers as the hero, is at the Capitol. This
is a lively story, which was originally
celled "Whistling Dicks Christmas
Stocking" and was written by 0. Henry.
AS always, Mr.. Rogers seems bit
sophisticated or, rather, his character
does, and this is probably because he
himself writes the titles. They are
reminiscent of the lariat and the Zieg-
field Roof. 1t is only these titles which
are too glib, for Rogers's performance
Is perfect.
< Dick is a tramp, pure and simple
more the former than the latter, as
events proved He is in Vermont when
the story opens, but when ne sees the
geese going south he gucsses he has rs
much sense as goose, and he goes,
TOTO New Orleans by freight. There,
through his talents as a born whistler,
he wins the attention Of the richest
heiress in Louisiana, and has series
Of romantic happenings. 1t is an in
teresting and amusing picture, though
we couldn't get as much JOY out of the
bathroom scene as a lot of the folks
seemed to do. Any hero, even if he be
an unwilling one, must take kindly to
the bath tub if he wishes us to take
kindly to him. We hoped till the last
that he would say "I'll wait till morn
irg and jump in the river; that's
where ! take my bath" But he did
nothing of the sort. Therefore, we are
sure he had no future as whistler.
lie could not even qualify, we fear, as
q Greenwich Village poet John Bow
ers is the real hero of the story, be-
cause he marries the heiress, Molly
Malone. The whole cast lis more than
adequate and the direction is good.
Clarence Badger is responsible for that,
and he may also be responsible for the
continuity, which is excellent.
Goldwyn has another amusing COM
edy on the bill called "Edgar's Feast
Day This is one of the Booth Tar
kington series, and shows what hap
pens to a boy if he eats cake dough,
PLUS raisins, plus bologna, plus pie,
plus pickles, plus lemon soda, plus ice
ca eam, plus gum drops, plus doughnuts,
Plus hot milk, in one afternoon. There
Is picture called "The Bonnie Briar
country and the Copitol news; Mile.
Gambarelli and Alexander Oumansky
dance Souvenir" The overture is
"Robespierre," with a tableau. The
most popular number of the music
program seemed to be "Tuneful Memo
res" sung by the Capitol quartet and
Erik Bye and Joseph Sheehan. There
were memories of "Then you'll remem-
Der me- from Bohemian Girl" "Say
au fevolr," Just Song at Twilight"
and other old favorites.
Some years ago when we first began
to write reviews of pictures we saw
picture which was shown at the Rialto
and named "The Conquest of Canaan"
Yesterday at the Rivoli we saw another
picture called 1.-THE Conquest of
Canaan Both were taken from the
novel by Booth Harrington, but that
was the only similarity. Perhaps it is
because things viewed in retrospection
are always more attractive, but at any
rate it is certain that we enjoyed the
picture which we saw then more than
the one we saw yesterday. Also our
tastes may have changed, but, be that as
1T may, we are quite sure that the old
picture was told more Interestingly
than the new one. Jack Sheriff. and
Edith Taliaferro played in it, but we
do not remember the rest of the cast
nor the directors name.
Thomas Meighan plays Joe Louden
in the version which is at the Rivoli,
and while no one will dispute Mr..
Meighan's charm, good looks and abil-
ity, he seems totally unsuited to the
role. Surely Joe Louden was boy
when the story opens and it is difficult
to take any real interest in hero of
Mr.. Meighans apparent age and size
who earns his living by shooting craps
and running errands. However, when
your affections are as firmly fixed as