The New York herald., 1922-12-03
THE NEW MOVIES
By Robert E. Sherwood

many ways worthy of its advance
notices.
This is high praise. The public was
certainly keyed up by the ADVERTISE
nents which DR.. Riesenfeld's press de-
partment concocted and was led TO
expect something marvellous, extraor-
oinary and epoch marking. The fact
that they were not completely disap-
pointed proves that The Toll of tho
Sea" is an unusually good film.
IL is all in color; that is enough to
make it unusual. especially as tho
color Is realistic and beautiful. But
take these tints away and project
",rhe Toll of the Sea" in the conven-
tioral half tones, and it would still be
a good picture.
It is not an original story. being
slight variation of the old Butterfly"
theme. The sea gives TO little Lotus
FTotper a handsome. stalwart lover,
who tells her romantic tales of distant
lands where people live and breathe
by machinery. e>t synthetic food and
drink synthetic gin. The sea takes
this lover away from her, and the
same sea eventually claims her for its
own.
A real Chinese actress. who bears
the rather hybrid name of Anna May
Wong, is the heroine. Besides being
able to act with a wistful, fragile
charm that is altogether appealing.
she is able by reason Of her Oriental
birth to convey a note of authenticity
which is completely lacking in most
home bred stars who attempt to por-
tray Celestial roles. (TalSe Constance
Talmage In East Is West" If you de-
mand references.)
Kenneth Harlan is the transient
lover. and Is adequately handsome.
vigorous and tickle. Chester Franklin
directed the operations with consider
able adroitness, and Frances Marion
wrote the scenario.
They have all done well.
However, the outstanding feature
of 1.-THE Toll of the Sea" is the color.
1t was made by the Technicolor
process, but just how that differs from
the other color processes we are un-
able to say. We never did know any
thing about machinery. But we do
know that this new method is infi-
nitely better than anything we have
ever seen before, with the possible
exception of some color pictures that
were made at the Eastman Studios.
These, however. were very limited in
scope They could only be made In
the most intense light and could not
be used effectively except in close-ups
For exterior scenes or for large studio
sets they were quite inadequate.
The Technicolor pictures. however.
are Just about perfect. They are good
enough, in fact, TO compel US to cancel
our oft reiterated conviction that color
Aims are impossible. There is none
OF the sloppiness that characterizes
all the other processes, none OF the
fiinges, none Of the misprints.
"The Toll OF the Sea" is like mir
Yored reflection of the actual incidents
which It records. It cannot be COM
pletely realistic, of course. because II
IS fiat 1t does not convey properly
the sense os distance and perspective.
But when stereopticon motion pic
lures are perfected Gas we believe they
will be very shortly they can be
coupled with this Technicolor process.
and the movies will attain a degree or
realism which is far ahead of anything
that they have achieved to date.
The presence, of "The Toll of the
Sea" on Broadway last week, reminds
us that we are tremendously fortu-
nate in having such 'abnormaliy in
telligent and far sighted exhibitors in
control of our principal theaters-
Having observed movie exhibitors
in all part OF the country, and studied
their modes and manners. we are IN
q position to thank a benign provf-
dence for such men as Hugo Riesen-
field and Samuel Rothafel The dif-
ference between these two gentlemen
and most OF their exhibitorial breth-
ren is quite startling,
They have given us pictures which
most film palace proprietors would
have scorned. and they have presented
them with worthy intelligence. we
owe 20 them a debt of gratitude for
the following photoplays:
Passion" Deception" "NanoolS or
The North" "The Stroke of Midnight
"The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari." "Sher-
lock Holmes" "The Golem." The
Toll of the Sea" Wonders or the
Sea-"
Most OF these pictures were dis
tinct risks. Neither Mr.. Riesenfeld
nor Mr. Rothafel had anything more
substantial than prestige to gain by
booking them, and they faced the
probability Of a lean week at the box
Office.
Some turned out TO be financial sue
ccsses. others proved to be liabilities.
But they all reflected great credit on
the men who were courageous enough
to try them out.
In addition 10 the feature films
mentioned above, there have been any
number Of short subjects-mapy OF
them produced by Independent COM
panies-which nave received their in
itial screening at the Tiivoh. Rialto'
Criterion or Capitol Among these we
might mention Tho Enchanted CITY,
''Tho Bruce Wilderness Tales The
Tony Sarg Almanac" ana the tabloid
operas.
Presentation has become a factor OF
tremendous Importance I'm all our local
movie theaters--in those conducted
by Niessrs. Rothafel and Riesenfeld,
20 MI