New-York tribune., 1921-04-04
On the Screen
''I'he Cabinet of DIR. Caligari" at
Capitol; ''City of Silent Men,
at the Rivoli, /,
BY Harriette Underhill

For those who may fancy as we did,
that "The Cabinet Of DR.. Caligsri is n
political story Of Austria or points
east, let us say at once that it is moth
ing of the sort. DR.. Calgari is weird
looking person who travels with cir
Gus, fair or carnival it Is rather
and with him he carries cabinet. In
this cabinet is another weird looking
person who seems to be afflicted with
sleeping sickness. The only time he
awakes is when DR.. Calgari, his mas
ter, bids him.
The picture is at the Capitol this
week and it ia advertised as the first
futuristic picture. But do not let that
discourage you. The settings are de-
signed in most ingenious way and
they do look like perfectly good speci-
mems of futuristic art; but really they
are designed merely to interpret the
word of the narrator and. the artist
has succeeded admirably in so doing.
AS soon as we learned the secret of
the thing, which you do not do until
the epiiogue, we wanted to stay and
see the picture all over again and fit
on our new found clues. Fortunately
at the theater they do not chase you
out when you arrive at tho end of the
land ferry for instance, so you may
see the picture over again on its re-
turn trip.
The picture was made abroad by
Karl Mayer and Hans Janowitz The
art settings are by Hermann Warm,
Walter Reimann and Walter Rohig so
it's not difficult to guess the land of
its birth. However. we do not see
how anyone can possibly come forward
and claim that it is propaganda, though
perhaps we do not know q propaganda
when we see one.
The picture sets itself the task of
raising your hair from your head, and
it succeeds from the moment the
actors appear in the prologue. The
apex is reached when Cesare's long,
ghosty fingers close about the sleep
ing James throat. Here, unless your
hair is pretty solid, it will be tugged
loose from its moorings. We should
love to tell the plot and the nature of
the denouement, but we are going to
keep the secret.
However, it isn't revealing any
secret to say that some Of the ghosty'
figures are strung on wires, so when
they appear to be walking in a strange,
unearthly fashion they are really never
touching the earth. 1t is ingenious, in
deed We think the scene when the
doctor goes mad would be improved by
having some member of the chorus,
without which no Capitol production is
ever complete, shout "Caligan" from
the scenes instead of having it flashed
all over the screen. Those silent mes
sages that zigzag in the background
are never convincing.
Mr.. Rothapel doesn't believe that
one picture makes q program. and an
elaborate program surrounds the fea
ture. The overture is Tchaikowsky's
1S12." Then comes Fritz Kresler's
Caprice Viennois" with ballet and
folk melodies. Drigo's Valse done by
Mile. Tambarell and Deibess Ma
zurka. Laurence Hopes love lyrics are
elaborately staged and sung by Erik
Bye. On the picture program is
"Prizma," "A Day with John Bur
roughs" and Capitol News.
Across the street at the Rivoli
Thomas Meighan is appearing in a
beautiful picture called "The City Of
Silent Men" Not until the last reel
does it become banal, and then it is
only because ii has been necessary to
have love interest. But the love in
terest did not interest us, because we
did not care for the exponent. And as
some one pointed out to us yesterday
that critic has no right to say that he
does not like thing without saying
why he does not like it, VIC are COM
PEELED to say that we do not care for
Lois Nilsson in heroine roles because
we do not think she possesses sufficient
beauty; nor has she sufficient charm to
make you forget that she does not pos
sess sufficient beauty.
The city of silent men is Sing Sing.
The picture is adapted from "The
Quarry" by Frank Condor, and while
our knowledge of prisons and prisoners
fully convincing drama. Our beloved
Tommy Meighan is jim Montgomery,
country lad who goes to look for work
in the city, and is charged with murder
before he has been in the metropolis
week. jim is sentenced to Sing Sing
for life, and when he is planning his
escape the strain was so great that we
were quite exhausted when he finally
rolled safely through the iron gates
and they changed behind him; and we
could cheerfuliy have become muir
said ~ hope they'll catch him He
needs lesson"
Meighan's performance is as salts
flying in it's way as was his work in
"The miracle Man" Paul Everton con-
tributes splendid bit as old Bill and
George MacQuarric is convincing in the
disagreeable role of the detective who
finally runs his man to earth. Only
why does successful plainclothes
man, one who seems to be at the head
Of his profession, have to eat in the
kitchen and his wife sit down to
the table in calico dress and gingham
apron? Maybe honest detectives live
that way with the cost of living SO
high.
Tom Forman directed the picture.
Some Of the titles are notable for their
excellence. The conversational ones
are especially good
There is al amusing Ollendorf
s; sshk;etchograph called ewes Leaves"
The overture is "1l Guarany" Carl
Rollins sings "Homing" and Alma
Doria sings an aria from "Ernani."
At the Rialto Mary Miles Mintcr is
seen in "The Little Clown" Norma