New-York tribune., 1922-11-28
On the Screen
"Singed Wings," at Rivoli, Ar
tificial and Snowy, but
Actors Play With Ardor
Rv EIarriette Underhill

SlngeQ WINGS the picture at Jne
Rivo'i is almo artificial enough and
showy enough to have been made oy
Cecll de MILE. But it wasn't; for
banner, thrown on the screen before
the picture begins, proudly displays
the signature "Penrhyn Stanlaws"-
none genuine without this!
What must be the reflections of an
honest~to-go goodness director, one who
has sense of humof and just plain
sense, when he sees things like "0no
Glorious Day" go down in ignominy
and things like "Singed Wings sue
ceed? Of course, we are taking much
for granted; perhaps it will not sue
ced, but we find that wherever pic
through 1t usually makes lot of
money. AS we sat in the theater yes
terday and gazed on the figures fool
ishly parading on the screen we said
to ourselves sadly: 'ls this the sort
of thing experienced adults make to
amuse adults?" To the credit of the
Rivoli audience let it be said that
few of them laughed where no laugh
had been planned by the makers. In
one scene near the end of the picture
the heroine says to the hero: Emilio
intended to shoot me. but instead he
killed your aunt" What the hero re-
piled is not recorded, but he appears
to be saying: "Well, we'll, is that
Let us ran and tell grandpa" Which
they do, sni ingly, hand in hand.
The picture starts off with g dream
which the heroine is having. sShe al
ways has that same dream, and the
theme is that when she gives away the
rose she wears in her hair to the prince
q wicked fairy shoots an arrow into
her breast and she dies. She tells her
old grandfather of her dream, and he
begs her to repulse her lover when
ever he may appear on the horizon.
Because. he adds, naiveIly, "if the
wicked fairy should shoot you. who
would take care Of old Don Josef"
So Bonita. who is a Spanish dancer
in cafe, promises never to give away
the rose she wears in her hair. But
there is wicked married man who
pursues her with his love. He is
! labeled q millionaire in the picture, but
he and his wife act to us like those
/ awful nouveau richie the movies are al
ways showing up. When she selected
, mis- birthday present she picked out &
! gcarfpin, but you couldn't be sure it
| wasn't going to be a tie clasp or pair
/ of armlets to hold his sleeves up. Any
way, this wife is aunt to the hero, and
| when she finds out that. her husband
| has left her because she Is getting old
and is fat and homely she sets out TO
make him love her by learning to dance
| Ike Bonita. Then at masked dance
| she impersonates Bonita and wears her
| butterfly costume.
Presumably no one could tell when
her eyes were covered that she was NOT
the Sp" nish dancer--ro o~e could II
the difference between the f"t fig re
of a dame Of rty, wi h legs Ike
l1'yourg" piano and the slender ard
1 willowy Bon ia. Even the wicked
fairy couldn't tell fos he sent an
arrow into her heart i'stead of the
heart of the heroine, end the swell was
broken. AS she died auntie sai1 hra.
kenly to her renegade husband: 81 can
! die hapv now. You have my dance ap-
, plauded,"' and she does.
The titles are terrble-that Is, thet
are terrible if they are i~tenaed to bs
taken seriously. If they are only iokins
then thew ere vastly amusing. I'm m,
part of the story the will in--auntie
! husbHnd--ruH away Wi h Che hefNi1t
! and takes her ts his home at 8 o'clocI
! in the morning. The hero b eaks. in
gets his head crooked fer his pains, bu
seizes he heroine, crying:
"Thank God am in time!" Thi
title seemed to amuse the people i
. the theater great deal. and the mex
one did, too. where the heroine reolie
+, that Mr. Gordon has been acting like
gentleman all the time.
: Bebe Daniels and Conrad Napel ar