New-York tribune., 1922-02-22
On the Screen
By E{arriettc Undcrhill

When anyone asks you how you like
"The Loves Of Pharaoh which opened
at the Criterion last night, you will
probably answer, at has more than
100000 people in it and the battle
scenes arc the best ever saw" That
describes the way we felt about it, for
it is picture that appeals solely to
the eye and never to the heart. In
spite Of the charm which belongs to
the land Of the Nile and the people
who dwell in the shadow of the pyra-
mids, the story lacks sentiment AT no
time do the loves of Pharaoh interest
you very much, for it is Impossible TO
work yourself into a frenzy over the
amours of a man who has his head
shaved like billiard ball. The pro-
gram says that kings and mobiles at that
time shaved their heads every two
days. But if that is true VIC never
should have lifted our eyes above Il
commoner.
No wonder Theonis. the beautiful
slave. fell in love with Ramphis with
his bobbcd hair and spurned Pharaoh
Of the shiny head. 1t is still Che fash
ion out Hollywood way to cut the hair
on that order, but they do leave a sort
Of toupee effect on the top of the head.
Ernst Lubitsch made this picture.
and he has put in it everything that
his previous pictures have been famed
for excepting Pola Ncgri And this
element we missed sadly. Emil Jan
nings gives magnificent performance
as Pharaoh and Paul Wegcncr is equal
ly good as Samlak the mad. mad King
of the Ethlopians. His coffure is cal
culated to make him the envy OF every
Egyptian noble. LYDIA Samanova. as
She is not a beauty like Pola Negri
but she is a mighty fine actress. How
Pharaoh could turn from her to the
conveyed Theonis is more than We
could understand. Probably in those
days kings liked their wives with more
flesh than temperament. but Makeda
had every reason to question his taste
when he so summarily gave her the air
Dagny Servaes is this Theons who
is beloved by King Pharaoh to such an
extent that he goes mad with thinking
OF her. The old gentleman certainly
took things seriously. and all the time
she was voWing her love for Ramfis,
the youth who had been sent into exile
for love OF her and had to spend his
days making little stones out OF big
ones. Henry Licdtkc who has ap-
pea1ed as the hero in other German
pictures, gives stirring performances
OF this character,
When the story opens Pharaoh has
Just received message from Samlak
Offering his fuzzyhaired daughter to
the King of Egypt for his wife With
great polnp they arrive, but on the wav
TIER slave girl, Theonis. is stolen from
them. Ramtis, the son of the Kings
architect, has stolen her, and when
fharaoh sees her, he quite forsets
Makeda and her dark charms. He wants
the slave girl for his own. so he
orders RANTS TO the quarrics. Then
Sar1lak declares war and he brings
down his ETHIOPIAN army to take the
Egyptians and their king In direct
ing such scenes as these Lubitsch is
second to none. He knows how to get
individual action in 100000 extras as
we'll as he knows how to MANAGE q
dozen of them. He told US that Just
before his battle scenes he had in
formed the Ethiopian army that he was
paying the Egyptian army more for a
days work than he was the Ethiopians.
1T msie them mad he added. "and
they felt like fighting" They certainly
did
ne scenes III the desert where the
Ethiopians swan over the sands and
put the Egyptians to fight are mag
nlficent; In those days kings rode
to battle on machine guns, but they
we're called chariots That is how
Phsroah met his Waterloo. He
bounced off when 10 one noticed and
they drove on without him. 1t was
perfectly all right, however, for it
gave Theonis chance to marry
Ramphis Of the bobbcd hair. He
should have stipulated that he would
accept a seat on the throne, but that
he would not shave his head.
Others in the cast who give splendid
performances are Albert Basserman as
The architect. Paul Bienfeldt as Menon.
the kings counsellor. ana Friedrich
kuehne. the high priest.
The titles are excellent. They are
Gone by Randolf Bartlett and julien
j Johnston. The art titles are also
worthy of note. They are the work Of
Prizma and Hoey Lawlor.
French Wine-Crosers