Evening star., 1924-03-02
BY HALLETT ABEND.
.OS ANGELES. February 29.--
,ve'a whirlnoolD Tho }ndanapdap&


ove's Whirlpool" the Independent
,duction made by James Kirkwood
nd Lila Lee. which will be released
by Hodkinson, shows that Mss Lee
has suffered by being cast eternalIy
In sweet young thing parts. In this
first Of series of pictures in which
she and her husband are to cost"
Lila Lee shows herself as an actress
Of surprising emotional force, anr
Mr.. Kirkwood also has more than the
usual chance for the kind of acting
which he does best.
Another independent production.
destined for April or May release. is
"A Woman Who Sinned." written and
directed by Finis Fox Mr. Fox has
made four other independent pic
lures. but his latest effort Is better
than any two OF the others combined.
His story is better. his direction
has ever assembled. The featured
players are Irene Rich. Mae Busch.
Cissy Fitzgerald. Morgan Wallace.
Lucien Littlef1eld and Rex Lease.
The latter has his first chance in a
big part and distinguishes himself
son Of the woman who gives the
story Its name-in this case Miss
Busch. 1t is a story Of shining and
repentance and final regeneration.
A New Animal Star.
Another interesting forthcoming
release at which I had a look last
week is a 5.0oo-foot photoplay CEN
tered around magnificent stallion
large range country in Nevada. It is
q Hal Roach production, King of
Wild Horses" OF course, there are
people In the cast, and there's a VIII
lain and dark plot and love affair.
but Rex, the horse, and Leon Barry
and tames and wins the horses. love,
hold most of the interest. The film
is pictorially beautiful and the plot
Is never mawkish as plots of semi
animal pictures are so apt to be.
This production Is a great relief to
picture goers who have wearied Of
love stories. spectacular plays and
melodramas. 1t cannot be compared
with any animal picture ever made
be fore. even BLACK Beauty" because
1t Is really something new in the
film play line.
Little Molly Malone is hack on the
screen again. playing opposite J. 3.
warner In new kind of western
called ''Westbound" This has a re-
freshing plot 1t shows a wealthy
motor to California They think they
have fallen in with a real desperate,
but the desperate is the new type
Of cattle-ranch owner, who has a
mansion on his ranch and rides in q
high-powered motor car instead Of on
a cayuse. The production is a comedy,
and the value of the comedy stu
alton is heightened by a series Of
SO clever that they deserve special
mention.
| Elinor Glyn's "Three Weeks"
| Elinor Glyn's Three Weeks" seemed
| to be not worth the time, trouble and
expense Of converting into a film play.
\ because, l thought. the things which
made the novel popular could never
be transferred to the screen to the
! satisfaction Of the boards of censor
1 ship. 1t is wholesome to confess to an
error of Judgment now and then.
| Tho entire story has been filmed,
! passed by the New York censors and
not only tells the novel scene by
scsrs; .rs. but 1I soundly improves upon it.
something to be mentioned with a
| tongue In the cheek. Three Weeks
as a photoplay is vastly superior to
| the novel. 1t is still story of pas
sion and peril. but 1t has somehow
been raised from the level of the
| novel into the realms Of romance
However. excellent as Is the acting
of Aileen Pringle as the queen and
Of Conrad Nagel as the young English
lover, workmaniike as IS the direc-
these things which saves Three
| Weeks" from banality. The beauty
and romantic aspect Of the film ver-
sion of Mrs. Glyn's book Is due to
| the settings. the work of Cedric Glib
bons. who for more than a year has
1 ma 1x{ OF OF hn
| toplays by the settings which he has
| designed for Goldwyn studio produc-
tions. Mrs. Glyn. it is understood. ar
rived from England to supervise the
| photographs. She wanted the exterior
of Swiss Hotel duplicated; she had
| many pictures showing the interiors
Of royal bedroom suites. In Swiss ho-
tells. She wanted one of these duplf-
1 Gated for the queens bedroom
But Mr.. Gibbons wiser counsels
| prevailed. He pointed out that Meth
| er censors nor public would accept
| the story filmed against realistic
backgrounds and that it would be
| necessary to poetize the whole story.
| Accordingly we see Three Weeks"
| enacted against series OF sets
| which are not, fantastic, but which
| are beautiful and imaginative enough
| to raise the whole from sordiness to
! the realm OF glamour and enchant-
ment And, oddly enough, the set
| tings are never intrusive, either.
Miss Pringle does very we'll in the
I role Of the queen and manages with
, nicely Of feeling her transitions from
! the regal to the womanly mood. Con-
| rad Nagel ! never approved of for
! the part of Paul-never, that is, until
| I saw the film. He is not the blond
and virile young giant described in
| the book. but his slender. good looks
help to save the story, too. And his
| acting has never been better.
| What Others Are Doing.
! Norma Shearer has been raised to
| stardom by Louis B. Mayer and will
| have the lead in Meredith Nicholson's
| Broken Barriers" which Reginald
1 Barker is directing.
| THE Guilty One" a stage play by
| Michael Morton and Peter Trail,
| will be Leatrice Joys first starring
venture under Paramount's banner.
| Roy Stewart has been given an i'm
| Dor tant part in "Sundown."
| Harlan Tucker. who Is handsome,
| but has had a bad nose, is the latest
| film parsonage to undergo a facial
| operation to Improve his looks.
"And SO. with the same old CHEEKY
smile on his sun-cracked lips, sage
brush Jim came to the end OF the
! trail" John Byrne, sixty-two years
| old, who has acted in many western
films for the last ten years. was
found dead in his bed, an open maga-
| zine on his chest and finger pointing
to the paragraph quoted above The
rubber hose connecting the gas Jet
with heater was loose and the room
have not decided whether the death