The New York herald., 1922-04-24
CAPITOI--"The Glorious Adventure"
with Lady Diana Manners. written
and produced by j. Stuart BlacktOn in
Prlzma natural colOrs.

and produced by j. Stuart BlacktOn in
Prizma natural colors.
Talk about Your modern underworld
According to THE Glorious Adventure"
it pales beside that Of the London Of
Charles H., especially when the latter
underworld is done in PriZma colors.
The criminals seem in the eyes OF J.
Stuart Blackton to have ruled the Brit
ish metropolis In 1866 and to have pro-
vded nice. tidy little crime, which,
however the London Gazette, reprc-
duced in the picture. failed for some
reason to mention. But Commissioner
Enright himself would acknowledge that
there was quite s;zable outbreak Of
crime. considering that the rufflaps
lacked the scientific equipment of the
modern thug.
But these beruffied. high heeled crooks
are able to put out Of the way the heir
to the Earldom of Hillsdalc and sup
plant him with usurper. as we'll -
carry out designs against fair lady
whom even the prohigate King feels l.
too lovely and lofty to be contaminated
by royalty.
Crooks Of the Old school.
The rascals go SO far as to set fire to
London--for the sake of it's loot-the
picture plainly exposes them at their
refarious work This is a step that
the most advanced thinkers in modern
crookdon have not yet conceived. All
OF this. too, is done with the grand
manner. with fourishes and scrapings
that no doubt will awaken pangs OF
envy among the plain. uncouth biack-
guards of to-day. Possibly as result
of this picture, epochal IN more ways
than one. we presently shall have the
vogue of the crook with the courtly
graces--the crook of the old school.
These knaves add one more touch OF
color to a picture that drps colors like
rainbow For the first essay at long
feature picture in natural colors Black
ton very wisely chose the period of the
middle seventeenth century, when men
as well as women donned doublets OF
brave and robust coIors. when firemen
weren't the only persons who wore red
shirts. At rare intervals the tints be-
come garish, but the general effect Is
one OF richness and opulence not to be
duplicated outside of the Grand Canyon
Of the Colorado.
Silks and satins show up with an in
comparably beautiful sheen. and with
its wealth OF glossy fabrics. this be-
comes the dry goods epic of the screen.
At last in a color picture there seems
much sense TO a male mind in dressing
up characters to the eyebrows. Hitherto
In black and white films men have
found as much interest in the leading
woman's elaborate gowns as in the pat
terms in a ladies' magazine. But here
after mere fashion shows on the silver
sheet will probably be greeted with
waves of enthusiasm.
To this Blackton has added the great
fire OF London. which is quite literally
the high light of the picture. Ordinarily
fires are among the dullest of film fea-
lures. for one burning house is much
like another burning house. But besides
having the added glamour of Blackton's
extremely picturesque settings of the
period. flames In the natural color proc
ess register as strikingly as Miss Pauline
Frederickss most fiery moments. In
terest is heightened because there evil
IDENTIFY arc no police fire lines for the
panic stricken crowds. and a few seem
to be making a gallant effort to stop
the great conflagration with 5yringes
A Vivid Incident.
Up 70 this point the picture had
simply been one of the good, average
swashbuckling type, with much credit
going to Katherine Hilliker and II. H.
Caldwell who adapted the flames for the
American public for not smothering
the Jacobear blood and thunder under
the usual "ods bodikins' and "by my
halidoms.D A band of rogues seek TO
cnmesh the Lady Beatrice Fair for the
pretended Earl Of Hiflsduio, cheating
her at the gaming table after she has
been all but ruined by a self-inviteG
visit from the King--a vivid incident.
though the dancers In the garden fete
seem TO jump bit faster than their
colors.
The first distinctive note In the ro-
mantle photorlay occurs when the Lady
Beafyicc resolves desperately TO marry
murderer awaiting execution. follow
ing a quaint custom Of ladies of the
period. whose gambling debts thus fell
upon the head of their condemned hus-
band, which head was not In a condition
TO bear them on the morrow. But the
murderer escapes from Newgate In the
jail delivery during the fire, and when
he comes to claim his titled and shrink
ing bride Blackton exercises a dramatic
masterlincss in weaving together the
devious complications that might nave
been loaned to him. by u. w. Griffith
for this picture.
Actually. the william becomes the