New-York tribune., 1922-10-30
On the Screen
a1he Sin Flood" Delightful
Comedy; ssT'he Nam Who Saw
Tomorrow" at Rivoli
By fiarrictte IJnderhill

ut the Gapitel Iheater. r. was made
from a play called "The Deluge.p which
wa twice weighed in the balance and
souno wanting here in New York. We
rever saw that play. hut She faet that
i: ran for such q short time seems 10
prove that it could not have been near
ssg 80 good as the piesare. Frank Liovs
directed the picture and he has seized
upor the material offered him end hrs
made il into fascinating screen com,
eIy. Now. several people have told ,ts
aIi sboet The DeiuDs, which was or;gi-
aaiiy HWnning Berger's "SyndaRoder, y
aad we ere cutie sure that while tlo
train Of events was much the same az
shose narrated in "Tne Sin Flood cha
mood OF the story is quite different.
Again and again the spectators hagst
into gales OF mcrrimcnt at the predica-
ncas OF the people trapped in the cafe
hy the HOOD; 1t was, assuredly, played
fos laughs ard yet the acters appeared
80 be frightfuily serious over ia All
he director struck just the ripht note,
II sustained the interest without maxi
ag the scenes in the least harrowing
snd the result is a delightful picture
play.
The Story
Helene Chadwicl. is fiippant chorus
girl, who loves sincerely, one Billv
Bear, which seems an excellent name
for rising young broker. Biily loves
her, too, and probably all would have
been well if Billy hadn't offered to re-
iieve the switchboard girl one day
when she had headache. His half
honr at the telephone proved the most
profitable IN all his career, for h5
listened IN, rlshed with his tip to a
Ti9M hTo&er, eashed in, and in three
months was rlch, a partner OF Swift
and the fiance Of Priscilla Swift.
Poppy, the poor little chorus gjrl With
Inc loving heart, was forgotten. "Came
;hr day OF thc wedding" and bv como
strange Yate Poppy wandered in Tho
oid familiar grill for luncheon at the
salae time Billy and his co-brokers
happened TO be in the bar. Then
came the deluge, ard O'Neill, an
itinerant preacher, who had falicr,
from grace and from his pulpit
through. looking on the wine when it
was red, sought shelter in the grill
room, too.
When the dam burst and the waters
Of the Mississippi began to pour in
they rushed to shut the food doors
and so the ill-assorted company found
that they would DC together for some
time. AS long as the oxygen lasts"
one OF them added, and what con
triton was thcirSi The bar tender
owned up that he had been robbine
the TIL. The cafe owner blurted out
thst he had never given Charlie
enough wages. All was forgiven, and
forgotten. Enemies sobbed on each
others shoulders, the sad-eved
preacher refused wine which was Of
Tered him; Poppy slept with her bend
on Billy's shoulder awaiting death.
Although these scenes were PLAYED SO
seriously nobody took them seriously:
every one knew exactly what would
happen if the old buffers ever got cut
alive. ''''
At last the candle burned low. the
'ast bit of oxygen had been taken from
she arr. and Billy cried out, Death by
browning is better than this" and
hung wide the food doors!, Outside
5he sun was shining and in the sloppy
streets people were picking their way
1bout. newsboy rushed in with an
'xtfa, which said that the dam had held
md that the waters had receded with
put doing any damage. And then what
a change of fconduct! Everybody went
back to being the same contrary cusses
they had been before, for to err is
human; to forgive, divine. OF course,
soc, It's perfectly human to want to get
ali the fun you can out of being a
rotter, SO why reform before you really
have to? When you're facing death
that's one thing, but what's the use
stopping when you're having a mar
Veious time right in the middle of a
life?
Lloyd's Direction Is Good
Everybody said "It can't be done"
rhen we heard that "The Deluge"
gas to be made into picture, but it
lad been done, and in a way that we
consider extremely satisfactory. Frank
Lloyd has directed it with marvellous
understanding and hurnor and the cast
$ fine.
Richard Dix is Billy Bear, Helen
Chadwick is Poppy and James Kirk
wood is the itinerant preacher. The
other characters are played by John
stepping, Ralph Lewis, Howard
Davies, Will Walling, William Orla-
n1ond, Darwin Karr, Otto Hoffman, l.. H.
King and Gertrude Astor. Every part
was important and all were extremely
we'll done.
The overture is called memoirs of
List" The soloists are john Mason,
EVELYN Herbert, Alexander Oumansky
and Ihalia Zanou. The ballet il called
sailed impressions OF Vienna" which
includes ''Blue Danube" "Chanson
Bohemian" 'sSchon Rosmana" and
'Brahms' Sixth Hungarian Dance"
On the picture program is Jack
Eaton sport review, Northwestern
Mounted" and Lyman Howe called
How Autos Are Made"
You can't help wondering why "The
Nan Who Saw Tomorrow" at the
siyoli isn't any more interesting. than
t isa and although we have theory
Fe are not by any means sure that
We are right. In the telling 1T sounds
great! There was Tommy Meighan to
,lay the hero, Leatrice JOY TO play che
ieroine, Lawrence Wheat for the Juve-
ale, John Miltern for the philosopher
md friend, June Elvidge and Eva No
fak for two aspirants {nelther OF
nhom could expect TO have the slight
sst chance with the heroine)s and there
also was Theodore Roberts for the old
,ea cantain. If this doesn't prove any
hing. then Alfred Green directed the
picture and Perley Poorc Sheehan
wrote it.
You think when it first STARTS out
that it is going to be an extremely IN
seresting picture and our idea is that
( would be il at weren't so scrappy.
/. neyor seems to have the courage of
Is convictions, but Jumps all over the
place and when it is finished you feel
&c though you had been looking at an