New-York tribune., 1922-04-10
On the Screen
The Good Provider" Shown at
hivoli: when Romance
Rides Is Capitol Feature
By l1arriette Underhijl

ihere IS picture at the Riyoi this
week which has nothing view IN the
way Of story; il has no thrills. no
mystery, no big dramatic moments. II
mas no beautiful exterlors. no hazv
ciose-ups Of the heroine with her baiT,
| looking as though she had lust had n
! peroxide rinse and was having Il
! dried bS' turning a snctlioht on her
/ mead. In fact, it has nothing that one
mas come to expect ~ w'iat Is known as
] . special feature. But iG'it is short in
tnese th!Egs il is ion- In heart interest
and We enjoyed ever% moment OF il.
Something seems to tell us that ve
woutd be AL wrong in pronouncjnr
The Good Provider'' > better picture
thna Hum oresQue,' so we shall com
promise by saying that we liked IL bet
ter, The story is by Fannie Hurst.
Vera Gordon and Dore Davidson are
ooth IN this new picture, too
often those stories Of family life arc
horesome. especially when they set out
to prove thing which needs no PROV
l2g, vlz, that fer husband 10 hoard
the snekels and love his own wife
there is none like a good Scn,itc one.
e p"CallN y he WAS born in Russia
and had cone to America with ono aim
IN life. IS 2 rule our sympathies are
with the modorni2ed children and the
mother who always acts as mediator
between her offspring AND the paternal
parent. But in The Good Provider"
all Of our sympathies arc with the old
man. By dint Of saving and living on
nothing himself he was able TO make
ms dry goods wagon yield enough to
brng his family to America.
in ten years he owns a big store in
Z small town and by that time his i
family decides that they want to live
N New York. He finally yields. and
they go 10 live in an apartment in a ,
notel, for which he pays $4S day. .
kach day nc has 10 comnvta 10 the
{ Connecticut town to loo6 after his .
business. At the end OF five months
he is bankrupt, and then the three
hungry wolves. rs he calls them, fly
to him. Glled with contrition for hav-
ing been 50 heartless, There is moth
ing much in the way of plot, but the
picture IS excellent entertainment,
partly on account Of the acting, partly
because of the fine direction and partly
because of the good titles Possibly
the titles were taken from the story
One that VIC especially liked says,
When father begins to think for
his children 4 mother usually begins
10 TANK Wlth thCn.
Vera Gordon is this mother who
5houGht with her children, even though
her heart often told her she was
wrong. Miss Gordon gives perfect
performance, and so does Dore pavid-
son as the good provder, Of course,
you know beforehand that these two
ire gong to acQuit themselves credit
ably, but we did not know that Will
lam Collier jr. was such a good actor,
nor that Vvienne Osborne was such a
beauty. These two play the children
rrown Up. Miriam Battista is the lit
!e Pearl John Roche is Max Teitel-
>"tm, who marrcs Feacl end lifts the
mortgage from the Old homestead,
Frank Boraage is the director who
made this picture, and because we are
me Of the people who think that a
director has mere to do With the sue
'ess OF picture than any other per
ion concerned We give to him due
,redit. John Lynch made the scenario
he settings are by Joseph Urban. OF
curse, they are very fine.
The Rivoli Male Quartet appeared in
| prologue called "Around the Table"
| he music is by Joseph Chernavsky
very one seemed to like it, bat we
lid not care for it at all. 1t may have
meant something, but not to us, and
he thing that interested us most was
he chandelier. The comedy is "Thc !
with Lloyd Hamilton
The origina piano t,io played
}imsky's $ Eorsakof's Song Of India"
md Cedman's SKY Elue." The over /
ure is Fra Diavolo."
We wonder why the producer did not :
ct when Romance Rides" remain
ust good oldfashioned melodrama.
With the girl winning the horse race
n a dark horse and being KIDNAPPED
nd then rescued by the hero and not !
rag in some perfectly terrible comedy. !
certainly was not a relief in this :
ase. AS melodrama this story Of r
.ane Grey's. which was originally &
allied 'Wildfre," would have done we'll
nouGh. but the thrills were constantly
Interrupted at most inopportunc mo e
lents by the slapstick artists. The F.,
lcture is produced by BENJAMIN
hampton and is shown at the Capitol
MS week. with the advantages which t
Rothafei musical score offers. d
Either Claire Adams is a wonderful
questrenne or she has some one double
or her in an unusually clever way. G
he appears to be doing all of the rid n
ng herself. Of course, that couldn't I
ossioly have been Carl Gantvoort who :,
vas breaking Wildfre in the back n