San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-04-22

bad woman-an exceedingly bad one,
as Kitchens created her.
But the Polish celebrity retaliated
by doing the character in such a
way that the viciOusness of Bella
Donna" was pretty we'll bleached out.
Or was it George Fitzmaurice, d.
rector, or his wife, Ouida Bergere,
adapting the novel to the screen, who
for reasons whatsoever did the
bleacl ing!
1t is a tanned Negri who after her
hectic past of Passion and Mad
Love-" interprets the toxic bella
Donna" She goes so reluctantly
woman who had much midnight oil
burned over her eroticism when she
was a best seller.
There is su h an air of this-hurts-
me-werse- than-you when Pola's Bel
ia" conspires against her husband
under the spell OF the Sahara and its
lord. Sorry for her husbands. An
abused, misunderstood creature.
Nothing innately cruel. venomOus or
corroding, after the Kitchens model.
If l read the audience Of Pola
Negri's American premier Alright,
they were inclined to be sorry for
bella Donna" and no woman is so
very bad for whom you can enter
tain sympathy. 1t was indeed al
most a crime to force this kind of
woman out into the sands to keep
her death tryst with the black Loop
ard.
And so, in a way, Negri measur.
ably realized that wish of the first
paragraph after all.
In the picture We see Pola, like
other foreign actors and directors
lnow gravitating TO Hollywood, be-
ling poured into the American movie
frnold. Some of the dramatic fire OF
her European roles is lacking. She
seems definitely different. She looks
more beautiful, if not quite so exotic
in the magnificent accourterments Of
the production.
She is winter, due to a change il
makeup. Something not quite Sc
primal The Influence unquestiona
bly, is Of new environment upon pc
culiarly sensitive artistic nature
very palpable. And Pola is a BIZ
bewildered, bit baffled by the de.
nlands of this new environment.
Here and there she rises above it
in the scenes with the versatile ant
handsome Conway Tearle, who mea
sures up TO the anglicized pattern OF
those desert devils who, it wOulC
seem, have such an easy time pick
ing off decadent white women over
come by emotional siroccos.
Conrad Nagel, the impeccable, i,
excellent as the British husband who
nearly loses the lady and his life by
slow poison. And Lois Wilson con
vlncingly does the part lugged in t,
salvage the last of "Bella's" hus
bands, n character Kitchens forgo
10 provide.
The two Negris. the one OF "Pas
sion" and the one of Bella Donna,
afford strikingly DIR matte contras
between the American and the Eu
ropean background of tradition an,
current thought as the two cont
nents focus it in motion pictures
Any audience having seen both pic
lures will catQl something of the i'm
plicatiors.
Rays Last aube Film.
Charles Ray. in what he says is hi
final country-boy role. has placed
Hoosier lummox securely among scree
immortals.
For sheer dramatic power an
ability to stamp :; lasting impressio
be goes to the head Of the class wit
"The Girl / Loved" Pretty strong
I've seen the picture three time
TO sharpen first judgment, and l.
let that stand.
Ray has not alone translated III
poignant appeal Of Riley's poem I
the film, but under it's lyric surfaC
has plumbed the whole terribl
beautiful realm Of adolescence wit
a discernment that gives the pictui
elemental scope. .
Love and jealousy as he exploit