New-York tribune., 1922-10-02
On the Screen
"lhe Man Who Played God''
at Strand; ''On High Seas
at Rialto
BY Harriette Underhill

A picture called "The Man Who
Played God" is at the Strand Theater.
George Arliss plays the title role and
the picture has this strange name be-
cause the man, after being stricken
with a deafness and wishing no longer
to live, suddenly found that life was
very sweet when he began to help other
people. He played God" by finding out
what they most desired and then giving
It to them. Yesterday we felt almost
as though George Arliss were playing
God to US. He certainly gave us some
thing we ardently desired-a good
| picture.
For the Arst time In our novel exist
bly, tired and terribly discouraged with
pictures. They have been especially
bad this summer, and those that were
the worst seemed to be making the
most money. We had seriously con-
sidered leaving the pictures to their
fate. and going back to horses or dogs
OF, else taking up seroplanes or automo-
biles. Then along comes "The Man
Who Played God" and we have taken
fine picture. 1t is free from sentimen-
taiity. but 1t Is filled with sentiment,
and in every thought it reflects life.
Perhaps no one ever has done Just
what John Arden did. But breathes
! there man with soul SO dead he never
to himself hath said: "lf should sud-
denly inherit million dollars I'd walk
around and whenever l heard anyone
wishing for anything I'd give it to him"
That is just what John Arden did.
When the story opens Arden is a
world-famour musician. Just after his
wedding to Marjory Blaine, with whom
he is madiy in love, he is to play at
command performance, and the king,
whom he Is to entertain, has bomb
aimed at him by some revolutionists.
No one Is hurt, apparently, but John
Arden finds that he cannot hear any
thing when he tries to carry out his
reading and later tries to amuse him
self by. watching people in the park
and finding out what they are saying.
The first one he helps is q young man
with tuberculosis, whose wife takes
him to the park every day to sit in
the sun. In some miraculous way they
are sent away to find health and happi-
ness. Then follows the old couple who
have lost their home and are about to
be turned into the street. None of the
people knows how it happens They
only know that they call on God and
that in some mysterious way God
sends His agent
To watch the performance Of George
Arliss is delight. Here is man who
can make US cry while all the muck
deslgned for that purpose and pre-
sented on the screen in the form of
j precocious "kiddies" with their arti-
fetal curls and their eye on the d.
rector or the neglected mothers, with
furrowed brow and whitened hair, fills
us with indignant rebellion. First
honors belong to Mr.. Arliss, for we
kept wondering what this role would
be like in the hands Of Certain
parties" But Mr.. Arliss has received
the loyal support Of an unusually good
company and the direction is wonder
full. Harmon Weight directed the pic
ture, and he is so good that he prob
ably will decide to go into some other
kind of business before long. Ann
Forrest, sincere and attractive young
actress, is John Arden's wife. Ivan
Simpson Is very fine as the valet who
helps his employer to play God.
Others who do excellent work are
Edward Earle, Effie Shannon, Mary
Astor, Pierre Gendron, Margaret Sed-
don, Miriam Battista, Mickey Bennett
and J, B. Walsh Some Of the parts