Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-12-01
C&s Daily Movie Magazine
THE MOVIE FANS
LETTERBOX
Bv HENRY NJ. NEE1.Y

with medal for your patience.
Lets get it off our chest at once
and say that. honestly. lately we'd ike
to be kind TO you. give you fishing
line and let you ramble of with Mr..
Reid. And we used to think you were
so nice and kept you with our favorites.
along with the other he. mcn--Mr.
Meighan. Dick Barthelmess, Milton
Sills. Monte Blue. James Kirkwood, etc.
NO, we aren't fcSle. either. and
Wallie is back solid md strong with
his Clarence. so much like Alfred
Lunt's. Are you coming back:
Now, who are the, ia sely inflated
stars? And why do our rcnlcst men
act in all that hokum?
Did somebody want lie as II ac.
tually is?
rs The Loves OF Pharaoh life rs
We see it? 'Manslaughter' (speakin. of
problem picturcs) and The Man Who
Saw Tomorrow aren't life rs we see
tive who 60 TO town each day TO
earn our livings in manly or lady
like way. but we read the papers about
the court scenes ut murder trials. the
millionaires' yachting parties. their di-
vorce cases and scandals. etc. etc:
DO we sit through n thriller de-
picting the joys or sorrows of news
paper Office. bank or Il schoolroom'
or the thrills of marketing and shop.
ping. or dinner party. a weekend
... IL I. Of nttp nNy n
friends families. or football game or
u teatght around these yere parts:
mo, we'd like life on II ranch.
moose hunt in Canada. or at n country
club on Long Island--life as the other
half lives it.
Then. surely, We wan, the pic
turcsQucness of The Loves of Pharaoh.
The Prisoner Of Zcnda,' A Fool $
Paradise 'Smilin Through 'lurri-
canes Gal Blood and Sand lsuch a
star. unmentionable in n letter with
real people. though he was passabie in
that. which shows Tc are not preJu-
diced. but his posing and conceit ara
sckcning--we are more vindictive than
Heine, and 'Manslaughter' twhosc
faults were more in the plot than in the
Interpretation, or are we wrongc
"Pictureskew. How bout the one
with the top hats, the conservatories.
| the garden parties. the island paradise.
| its Viceroy, its Theodore Roberts and
its Lawrence Wheat? We. too. were
sorry to see Mr.. Meighan in that kind
of picture-the best is none too good
for him.
lis The Eternal Flame life rs it
actually is-or was: But We 60 to sec
it because Norma's there and some
one (who likes her as much as you
do-sssspshus) calls her a screen aris
tocrat, and because she and Alice Terry
and Lois Wilson and Dorothy Dalton
always were our pets, not alone for
their beauty and talent, but for their
gertility and sweet womanliness, which
shine through their rortrayals.
Was that gem 'Tol'able David life
as we see it? Yes. guess It's. rs the
Our Leading Citizen brass tacks, and
Hurricane Gal I'VE never saw life
on the brny deep like Dorothy Phillips
gave it to US. but you did. along with
the other half, so We take your word)
Anyway, it was great.
do spare US from too many matter
of-fact, dryasdust stories that hlast
old men like and give US the sweet
with the bitter and don't forget The
Miracle Man and 'Cappy Kicks and
The City Of Silent Men always en-
joy Meighan fight
Now, old friend. tell us We are for
given and enlishten US. What shall W,
seek in pictures TO admire and to re.
jec':'
tPlausib!iity-that's the main thing
II the picture makes you really believ
that life is lived by somebody as j
is depicted on the screen, then it.
plausible and has at least that merit
But naturally n story that is plauslbi
to you may not be plausible to me
and vice versa. 1t hinges very largcl,
on our own viewpoint and knowledge
on what we've read and seen ourselve
and how broadly we've lived. II pic
ture shows a radio operator sending on
an 5. o. $. with sparks flying out fror
his helix and from all parts of hi
apparatus. that may be plausible T.
some people who don't know anythin
about wireless. but 1t isn't plausible |
me because l know that it isn't true
Therefore, to be universally plausib!"
picture must be true. I'll amen
bpt not be plausible To people wh
don't know that 1t is true. and doul
it. But that's the fault OF the peopl
and not of the picture. If you ar
convinced that sea life is, or has been
or might easily be as shown in "IIurri
canes Gal" then "Hurricane's Gal
IL plausible picture 10 you. But,
you don't know sea life Of your ow
knowledge. the only thing 70 do is t
accept it as shown and believe it un
less those who really do know say tho
it isn't true.
70 me, Loves of Pharaoh" wa
plausible. I wasn't there when the oil
guy did his grand and lofty tumblr
act of the reviewing stand, but moth
ing in the picture made me say defnitel
II don't believe it, Therefore 1t wa
easy for me to put my whole sub
conscious self in the hands Of the di
rector and the actors and let them d
as they liked with me. II they had {
any time introduced something that va
not plausible, they would have iurrr
lne out Of my subc0nscious attitude an
the jar would have made me at onr
actively antRgonistic, skeptical and sus
picious Of the whole performance.
That's where Cecil DE Mile al,no,
always fails me. He gets comple,e econ con
troll Of me and then mddenly he walk,
me up with Il jolt and | find he hs
been laughing and sneering at me III
whole time. Griffith the same way.
And the reverse is why ! love Die
Barthelmess and Norma Talmadge an
Rex Ingram and few others.
Gosh. I'm u laxative guyD
Patriarch writes: II thought tha,
would never fall for the lure OF YOU
column hut CirCplmstn ncea aou M, ,,a