The New York herald., 1922-04-17
Miss Talmadge at
Her Best in Film of
'Smilin' Through
Meets Every Test of Her Pow
ers of Pantomime With
Ease in Dual Roles.

by Franklin.
The Offering for the Strands eighth
anniversary week is not a photoplay TO
even in New York. only Office boys and
elevator operators are truly sophisti-
Gated. In it's hold on popular affections
this romance with dash OF ears prom
ises TO be one OF the outstanding pic
lures of the year. and the problem OF
those who attend 1t won't be to look
around and choose their exits, but to
find an easy entrance. Possibly even
those who don't care for tnat sort of
thing," but who. are lured to II, win sit
tight to the end. on the specious plea
of not wanting to disturb other patrons.
For the protodrama has everything
that good little movie ought TO have,
including pictures of Cupids on some
Illustrated sub-titles. In the first place.
/. has a very special ghost, without
any suggestion of a medium or a spirit
haunting" for hire. Interest in the
other world is still rampant. and this
spook is treated very seriously, as befits
spook who wears hoop skirts. This
is Moonyeen, the winsome irish lass of
lover, still mourning her sixty years
after her sudden death, and pleads with
him not to stand in the way OF the we'd
ding of her niece and young neigh
bcr. just because the boys 'incle hap
pcned to shoot her In a fitful moment.
1t seems that in heaven shootings are
| not taken so much to heart.
Nothing Creepy About the Film.
There Is nothing creepy or out OF key
| IN this astral vision. and as Miss Norma
Talmadge plays, the part. this Is prob
ably the loveliest ghost on record. Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle should be particu-
| larly interested in 1t, for here is an
ocular demonstration of his ectoplasm,
and 1t couldn't be nicer. Miss Talnadge
ought to go In for doing ectopiasm more
! often.
| Then there are the costumes of the
early period, the fancy crinolines. laces
and fiounces of the women so much de-
sired in this era of costume plays. and
the brave waistcoats and gathered
trousers which cause the masculine pa
| tron to scoff openly and admire secretly.
1t is set in a lovely English garden.
and so well has this been transferred
to the screen that one feels the warmth
of coloring in Joseph Urban's original
setting despite the eyes assurance that
this Is only black and white. The light
ing and photography are exceptional--itl
| is only at rare intervals that it seems
woodpecker would have his doubts about
| that big tree. M /.
Moreover, the picture has that story
within a story. the flash back from tho
modern epoch to the earlier. that pres
cnt day patrons admire as they do a
grandfather clock To the charm of the
gay Victorian wedding scene is added
the impressiveness of an interrupted
marriage ceremony, when the rejected
suitor accidentally slays the bride in
| attempting TO solve his problem after
| the abrupt fashion. OF a Tennessee feud-
list. There is touch of the war--just
dash of bitters. no more. ,~,-s
The whole is suffused with a wistfuf
spirit of romance. refreshing amid the
welter of usual screen dilemmas of what
to do with another mans wife amid a.
5000 setting. The adapters have
handled their material extremely we'll,
with continuity that is smoother than
ice cream. The transitions are very
deft--the piece doesn't leap about like a
tourist. James Creelman and Sidney
Franklin have surmounted gra.ifyingly
the two chief quandarles connected with
the play-how to maintain variety in a
theme that semed strictly confined by
a.
to prevent the tragic and therefore grip
ping early passages from overlapping
the modern story, so that the spectator
won't leave after. he finds out what all
the shootin' is for.
C1ings Closely to Original story.
While clinging TO the original closely.
they have overcome the flrst difficulty
| by taking shots in the garden from
diverse and unusual angles, and also
by playing truant from that location oc-
casionally. The second obstacle has been
met by emphasizing the pathos rather
than the comedy of the original, modern
episodes. thereby eliminating most OF the
brogue. for which one should give thanks
Kathleen has been changed into some
thing Of a vamp rather than the stage
tomboy. but 1t did seem a. II she might
have maintained the interest by being
as vivacious as her aunt, for fappers Of
to-day might protest at this exaltation
of Victorian liveliness.
| In the dual roles which Miss Jane
| Cowl is still playing i'm Brooklyn this
week Miss Talmadge is at her very best.
and meets every test on her powers Of
pantomne with case. Something rather
extraordinary happens, in fact. for In
the minor passages her face seems
/ ncdNNs pTOSdlC anu tNpTeSSloultss--tne
\ face OF good wife and mother But
when the significant demands arc made
on II her countenance lights up remark
ably and becomes emotionally transpar-
ent. so that feminine sweetness and soft
ness shine through without being coaxed
out by subtitles She displayed this for
! instance. in the scene where she re-
hearsed her lover in HE proposal
Wyndham Standing was finely varied
and finished at the different ages of the
lover. and so was Harrison Ford as the
young man and his dissolutc uncle--in
fact. all the rest OF the company. from
Miss Miriam Battista on. attended 70
business properly. The cnly duibble is
that whoever conceived tna idea OF dec
| Grating the bridal coach with trick flow
crs. must have been under the spell Of
the floats In the Los Angeles carnival OF
roses. Aside from this the piece rises
above banaiity. and Allen Langdon Mar
tins message that hate cripples the hear
is presented without being fred at the
audience with the force OF a gun.
TO REHEARsE PAGEANT OF AIR
Tho iinior committee OF the fourth