New-York tribune., 1922-05-29
On the Screen
yellow Men and Cold at the
Capitol: "Sonny" Amusee
at the Strand
BY Harriette u1nderhill


yellow Men and Cold" at the
! Capitol, is above the average picture in
entertainment value. The fact that 1t
seems to run not more than half an
| hour and that you are sorry when the
! end is flashed on the screen proves that
it is good picture--our definition OF a
good picture being one that keeps you
interested. Tho authors have used the
old trick of running story within a
story, but they have not tried to make
YOU believe that the events which you
see happening on the screen are really
happening to the people themselves.
The story is obviously the returned
manuscript OF young Parrish which he
is perusing. Somehow that never less
ems the interest, and, as with Made
leine and the Movies" when the story
flashes back to the real people YOU find
that you had forgotten all about them.
Those two nice young stars, Helene
Chadwick and Richard Dix, are the
hero and heroine. Mr.. Dix is young
author named Parrish. who is con-
stantly having his manuscripts re-
turned The title says "every heavy
envelope has come to mean a heavy
heart He takes out Of the mail box
one night an especially heavy envelope
and falls to wondering just why the
publishers have returned his yellow
Men and Cold As he stands with it
in his hand there comes q terrific fash
Of lightning and he hears n call for
help out in the garden.
FROM there the story goes on in
most interesting way with all sorts OF
mad happenings. There are buried
treasures and secret islands and pirate
ships and murders. and if YOU stop at
all to remember that it Is not the story
Of the hero you are locking at but the
sure that this yellow Men and Gold"
will net be refused by the publishers,
and it is not. Finally, when the last
enemy has been killed. Parrish opens
the letter and reads I'VE shall be de-
lighted to publish your story" and
then he rushes next door to tell them
the glad news and there are all the
people he has used in spinning his
yarn.
Miss Chadwick is Bessie, his fancee,
and not the daughter Of Chinese mis-
sionary, as he had written her in.
The entire cast is excellent. Besides
the stars. there. are Henry Barrows,
Rosemary Theby. Richard Tucker and
Fred Kohler. The picture is an adap-
tation Of Gouverneur Morris's tale. 1t
was directed by Irwin Willet.
A comedy called Supply and De-
mand' presents Johnny Jones and o
lot of other clever children, none Of
whom, are permitted to remain in front
OF the camera long enough to become
boresomc. There is little girl in this
as the young star. We can see her in
about ten years doing Dorothy Gish
parts
Another one Of the Bible pictures is
on the program. 1t is called "Abra-
ham," but he is not as entertaining IS
Adam and Eve or as Noah. He is not
even as entertaining as Cain and Abel.
dramatic soprano named Therese
Prochazka sang Czech and Slovak folk
songs. We didn't think she did them
any better than Blanche Yurka does
them
Louis Rosa. bsrytone of the Metro
poltan. sang the Toreador song from
"Carmen' and was greeted with great
enthusiasm.
A ballet, Song of the Siren was
done to Rimsky Song of
India" In a way that we could not
understend they made the waves roll
right up on the Capitol stage, and in
these waves played three sirens, Gam
bareil, Niles and Zanou. They finally
dragged the mariner, Alexander Ou-
to his death in the waves.
The overture is "Sakuntola.'
If authors do not stop asking US to
believe that two people who are no
relation to ore another can look so
apart we are going to make new rule.
The rule will be that we shall choose
the exit nearest to our seat and walk,
not run, out whenever we discover that
a star is Handicapped by having two
roles hung around his neck. That is
what has happened to Richard Bar
theimess in his new picture, Sonny
at the Strand. Of course. when Rich
ard is in a picture you do not care
much whether he is "himself again" or
somebody else. ANY vehicle that keeps
him before the camera all the time is
a fairly good vehicle, but Sonny"
goes little bit too far. In a beautiful
home in Scarsdale lives Charles Cros-
by. He enlists in the war In bill
lizard parlor in Hoboken lives Joe Mad
den. He also cnlists in the war. When
they meet in France they are constant
ly mistaken for one another, and when
Charles, the rich young man, is killed
he makes Joe promise, before he dies,
that he will go to his mother and pre-
tend he is her Sonny. When Joe goes
back to Scarsdale everyone accepts
him as Charles, although his grammar
leaves much to be desired. His first
meeting with his young sister seemed
especially foolish, and after that we
grew terribly tired Of seeing her hang
ing around his neck and saying, be
tween caresses, "You seem so different
since you came back from the war. but
/ lovc YOU moro than 7 did before
And then finally, Charles 5 ghost got
to hanging around the home and urg-
ing people to do things, and we rather