The New York herald., 1922-08-14
Trick Photography
in Film Play of
The Masquerader'
Guy Bates Post Appears in
Striking Photo Play Version
Of Familiar Drama.

Remarkable photography distinguishes
THE Masquerader." which brought Guy
Bates Post to the Strand yesterday. 1t
has double exposures such as never were
on sea or land. 1t shows Post as his
own double passing behind himself. do
ing it not once but several times. as II
to show by defying the lightning sec
ond time that the first success at this
thing WAS not simply a lucky fiuke.
This is not effected by the obvious
procedure OF baving a substitute who
looks like Post--when his back is to-
ward the camera--retreat past him In
the distance. or by the equally bald trick
OF bringing the, actor up to one side or
himself. cutting the double exposure with
a subtitle. and then showing the actor
apparently having passed to the other side
while the audience was busy with the
caption. No, Post Is close to the cam
era, facing 1t, while his dual entity
passes behind him and achieves the
seeming miracle OF new physical law.
that one body can exist In two places
at the same time.
In addition to this novelty the picture
has strong and legitimate appeal OF its
own as photodrama and not solely as
legerdemain. 1t Is a faithful transcript
of the play by John Hunter Booth. which
In turn hewed to the line In following the
original story by Katherine Cecil Thurs
ton. The film adheres so strictly to the
spoken play that even in a journalists
fiat the sofa Is placed in the identical
corner of the room, though on the stage
this was done merely to assist Post In
NJ. - III IS<~l, ,f,~r~ ntxa
The picture has a superior air OF
reality to the play. because the spesta-
tor not only sees the two men together
which he never did in the play-but
Post can play the part without having
been apparently flung into his frock coat
to make a quick change in the wings
and then hurled out on the etage again
by willing hands. One never has an un-
easy sense in the picture. as one did in
the play, that the stars suspenders may
not be quite in place.
Post gives a clear cut performance
differentiating the two men sharply
though he rolls his eyes so much as
the aristocrat who takes dope that he
can't quite break himself of the habit
as soonias he changes his hat, becomes
purged of his bad habits and assumes
his other incarnation as the journalist
In the role of the crumbling John Chtl-
cote he displays an easy savoir faire as
the newspaper cousin, though the full
ness in his face, so well suited to the
dissipated portrayal. gives the journal
list an appearance of having stayed up
late nights at other things than scrib-
bling.
He puts a real pulse of drama into
the scene In which the "vamp" he has
spurned seeks to expose the masque-
raider because he has a scar on the
finger. and does It SO convincingly that
he stills the wee small voice which
whispers that any man might develop
a scar on his finger, even as a Member
Of Parliament.
Miss Ruth Sinclair manages to pre-
sent the colorless and rather unsympa-
thetic part of the wife ucceptably, and
Miss Marcia Manon. Edward Kimball
and Herbert Standing are others in ar
excellent cast. while Miss Barbara Ten
nant does a gem OF a small characterize
ton as London slavey that stands
out above one Of those dog parts that
hordirarffy outrank most humans In in
terest on the screen.