New-York tribune., 1922-02-20
On the Screen
''French Heels" at Cameo.
Gives Irene Castle Little
Chance to Show Talents
By Harriette Underhill

By HaYricttc Underhill
French Heels the picture in which
Irene Castle is appearing at the Cameo
Theater. is melodrama with the punch
left out 1t leads you to believe that
you are going to get the thrill of your
life in few moments and then it
changes its mind and says mo, I guess
not. That's been done before The
hero does not distinguish himself in
any way, the villain isn't vilainous
and the heroine is true but not tried
Now, we do not insist on plots with
figures made to fit in inches, but if you
do not get this sort of thing you de-
mand something in its place. You
want to know what your heroine thinks
about when she is alone. You want to
know what sort of man your hero is.
You want TO know why your villain
isn't more villainous. Audiences have
n perfect right TO feel cheated it. when
"the other man. wears a small black
moustache, is theatrical manager and
talks about his hunting lodge" he
isn't wicked at all.
His purpose in life should be to
kick up some sort Of fuss between the
bride and bridegroom or arrange
things 80 that society shall for time
point the finger Of suspicion at the
young wife. Verify, under these condi-
tions she shall not escape calumny;
and what. we ask. Indignantly. did
Keith Merwyn invite Palma May out
canoeing for if he did not intend to
do something dastardly, and why did
ne arrange a dinner for her at that
hunting lodge Of his, and why did an
irate father send them out into lum-
Der camp on their honeymoon to test
them if there was to be no row among
the men in which the young wife could
jump on a log and pilot it down the
was held prisoner In lonely cabin?
So we say if the audiences feel
cheated they are quite within their
rights.
The first two of these reels are !,
series of scenes hung together with
long explanatory titles. For instance:
1.-TWO years passed and Palma found
fame and fortune with her dancing,
while John Tabor spent more time in
New York than he did at work in the
lumber camp" In the first part of the
picture this was so marked that you
felt you were sitting through an illus
trated narrative. The story is about
Lieutenant John Tabor, who returns
from the war with the farewell letter
of his buddie, William May which he
has promised to deliver to his sister,
Palma May. Palma discovers at that
time that her fortune is gone and she
goes to New York to try to earn a
living by dancing. She does. She
earns such q gorgeous living that you
are inclined to think Palma must be
the sort Of girl who saves her money
and thus has something to show for it.
In two years she has home of her
own and maids and jewels and ermines
and Russian sables. But of course any
suspicion as to how she came by them
is not nice thing. So we shall not
pursue that course.
Palma marries John and father
doesn't like 1t, so he sends them I'D in
the lumber camp to prove their metal.
After he considered that they had
proved it he said, 81 always wanted
daughter, anyhow" or words to that
effect, and that was all.
If the director didn't let Mrs Castle
act because he thought she couldn't
we do not agree with him. We believe
that she could, though most certainly
she does not do so in this picture.
Ward Crane as the hero and Charles
Gerard as the innocuous villain also
seemed to long for self-expre ession.
which was denied them. There's such
thing as carrying repression too far.
"Her Husbands Trademark" the
feature picture at the Rivoli, is remi-
niscent of The Bad Man Gloria
Swanson is the woman who is married
to an unworthy husband. Stuart
Holmes is the unworthy husband and
Richard Wayne is the old friend who
went to Mexico to try to forget when
the girl married the other man.
James Berkeley is New York man
who carries on big business known
as "lnvestments." His wife is called
the best dressed woman in New York
and he feels that as long as she has
that reputation his credit is good.
He uses this wife for other things,
TOTO entice customers, for instance,
and he relies on her charms to reduce
them TO state of coma, where he may
safely take their money from them.
Allan Franklin, an old school chum, re-
turns from Mexico with valuable oil
wells, and Berkeley resolves to get
,hem away from him They all go to
Mexico and there Il visiting bandit
shows them UP and puts the obnoxious
husband out Of the way There are q
lot of exciting scenes at the end and
shootings and hairbreadth escapes. but
for all that the picture contains moth
ing out of the ordinary. Gloria Swan
sons eyes and magnetism are as potent
as ever, but her costumes are more
ornate than elegant
In the supporting cast besides Mr..
Wayne and Mr.. Holmes are Charles
Ogle, Lucien Littlefeld, Edyth Chan
man and Clarence Burton Clara Ber
anger wrote the story, Lorna Moon did
the continuity and Sam Wood di
rected It,
The clavilux, r color organ, Is seen
for the first time at this theater
Thomas Wilfred, who invented this
strange instrument, played it. As he
works the keys and the stops a color
symphony is thrown on the screen. It
is more beautiful than one can DOS
sibly conceive or describe, and is a
sort of grown-up entertainment to take
the place of those pasteboard tubes
with colored glass thrown in which
used to form lovely designs as you
turned them about.
The overture is "Second Hungarian
Rhapsody" with Victorina Krigher
Susan Ida Clough sings Zone Fleeting
Hour
Oh, what chance for a title writer
in "Cardigan," the Robert w Chan,