The New York herald., 1922-01-16
Lawandthe Woman
From Fitch Play, Is
Shown as Movie
Betty Compson and Cleo
Ridgely Strongly Emotional
in New Film.

RIvOII--Betfy Compsob In aThs Law
and the Woman" Paramount pie.
ture adopted from the Clyde Fitch
play. "The Woman IN the Case.~ and
produced by Penrhyn Staninws. see.
mario by Albert 9. re vino.
II was Inevitable tSAt Betty conspson.
having made her nrst pronounced hif
as woman Of the underworld In the
Miracle Man." should soms day revert
to that typo again. Actresses, like his-
tory. have way OF repeating them
selves. Apparently after considerable
search suitable vehicle was found for
her. In which she could not only dis
play once more her virtuosity. as a
derni-mondaine. but do II In sucn a way
that the spectator would realize she
was simply masquerading and that
everything was quite all right at bot
tom. so that she could be trusted with
the innocent babe In the picture.
And In this adaptation OF one OF
Clyde Fftch's notable plays not only
does Miss Compson come back into her
own again. but Perrhyn Stanlaws is
enabled to punch the time clock Of sue
cess again and strike twelve. The pic
eure does not stamp Staniaws as the
worlds greatest, b.. II does reveal him
as a thoroughly ~eliable director. who
grows in ability with every photopiay
and who can now put much more power
into his screen pictures than he did into
his merely pretty illustrations. IL IL an
odd fact that the most undramatic Of
painters has developed into one OF the
most dramatic Of producers.
Screen Freshly busted.
His lighting and grouping and his tn
terror .decorations--simple OF line and
yet graceful-Are admirable. and the
screen seems to have been freshly busted
on and frightened by him. The gowns
OF his women are always tasteful and
cutie obviously expensive. and yet they
do not. as Is often the way In movies.
shrek that fact TO the heavens In fact.
the composition Is so well done tnat one
hardly notices the actresses are wearing
costly apparel and have their hair In
marcelled haloes Any producer who
can rise above his casts wardrobe de-
serves careful consideration.
Moreover, he has had in this case two
capable players In Miss Compson and
Cleo Ridgeiy, on whom to manipulate
the emotional stops. Though their per-
formancos are divergent, when Miss
Compson bleaches her hair as the wife
who seeks to obtain q confession by
underworld methods from the demi-mon-
daine whose perjury is sending her hus-
band to the electric chair for murder.
she looks enough like the blonde Miss
Ridgely to have them both mistaken for
the gold brick twins.
incidentally the photoplay celebrates
the reappeararce on the screen OF Miss
Ridgely after half dozen years. which
Is another welcome sign Of the return
to the status quo before the war Slim
mer than Of yore. Miss Ridg,ly has
gained so much In acting technique that.
as one competent authority pointed out
yesterday, she can age her face in the
whiff OF a cigarette. With her demon
stration OF ability IN this picture. and
the fact that she still remains strikingly
handsome. It is easy to foresee that she
VIII presently be bursting into stellar
incandescence again after few more
good turns as a villainess.
Uses Mechanical Trick.
Since Fitch wrote his play the method
OF getting criminal 20 confess by
duplicating the crime before ms eyes
has become more familiar to the public.
SO It Is a tribute to Stanlaws's skill to
find ones heart racing over II. The de-
vice Of holding back scenes from an
audience that they might Just as well
know, since everything else is divulged
always seems like mechanical trick 10
pulmotoring the mystery.
In this case, moreover. the fight be-
tween the two men is disclosed midway
In the story. while the murder which
follows It is tucked away in sorcone's
sleeve until the last moment Yet Stan
laws shrewdly rushes you past this
hiatus so that you daren't think about
this for fear of losing a gripping story.
And Miss Compson fastens on your at
tention. playing the scene OF parting be-
fore her husband goes to the chair with
remarkable restraint. and never once
obtruding the fact that shc Is 'star"
and the legitimate target for baby spot
lights.