The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1925-05-14
WORLD WAR
PICTURES TO
BE REVIVED
Film Producers Say Public
Again Wants Stories of
:: ArmageddOn
BY JACK JUNGMEYER
NEA Service Writer

New York. May lathe time
seems imminent for revival Of war
pictures; movies fleshed upon the
skeleton of the late armageddon-
Years hence, when perspective neces-
sary for significant drama has been
acquired, there will be produced one
or several nome 1tous war pictures,
capturing something of the essence
of the great world tragedy as a
whole, or. dealing poignantly with
some phase of it to be talked about
rs What Price Glory" has been dis
cussed this past season on the New
York stage
Thus far "The Four Horsemen'
has come nearest being memorable
photoplay Of the World War. At
about the same period there wer"
numerous mediocre productions, and
then the trench and the tin hat
dwindlcd out because exhibitors SAID
people were tired Of being thus re-
minded of universal grief and mis-
cry.
But the cycle is swinging. And
there is no doubt that, pending the
production of a great war picture,
many efforts will be made to utilize
the war background and selected in
cident to bolster ordinary movies.
after the fashion Of the Cohanistic
dramatists who used the flag to prop
simple plays.
A tentative feeler-to ascertain if
people are ready for renewal OF
war films is "The Crowded Hour"
Famous Players-Lasky picturiza
ton Of Charming Pollock's and Ed
gar Selwyn's play, starring Bebe
Daniels as Il battlefield heroine. 1t
was adapted by John Russell and
directed by F.. Mason Hopper.
Bebe plays 4 telephone operator,
stage strucH, who is discovered at
an amateur night entertainment on
the Bowery. Her sponsor is u
wealthy young man, with whom she
straightway becomes more or less
entangled despite the latter's wife.
When war is declared, this man
(Kenneth Harlan) hangs back, daily
ing with his ardent young idolator,
until his brother is killed at the
front That sends "Laidlaw" and
Peggy" both overseas-he under a
tin hat. the girl with the Y. w. c. A.
Being a practiced telephone opera
tor, Peggy" is enabled to save a
contingent of Americans from ami
hlation when everything depends
upon an open wire at the front and
Pho rnnnlnr haop
tally wounded. She is forced to elect
between saving a thousand men,
who are only soldiers to her, and the
one man who is her lover. A true
heroine could do but one thing-and
Bebe does it. A moment later an
explosive shell Injuries and temper
arily blinds her. Now sheNfinds her.
self nursed back to health and vi
sion by "Laidlaw's" wife, and for
the first time discovers that this wo-
man truly loves the vacillating hus-
band. fhe girl gives him up and
consoles herself with second choice,
the loyal stage partner with whom
she emerged from obscurity on the
Bowery.
III ousi lHe DICluTe are moor
porated actual war scenes of 1913
flashes of smart parades, cheering
crowds, trench fighting, over the
tops, liquid fire, belching guns and
smouldering ruins.
These battle scenes do not, how
ever, seem to be an actual corporate
part of the story. The actors are
never quite in and of them. And it
is a curious observation that while
some years ago war pictures de-
clined because they rasped people
too sharply, these. same war scenes
today are already too remote to stir
people by such casual introduction
as were made in 1.-The Crowded
Hour"
The most moving element of the
play is the response of the selfish,
petulant, love-smitten Peggy" to
the sacrifices which are constantly
being made around her under patri-
otto stimulus; the change of her
own nature, prompting heroism in
the field Of love even more than the
field of battle. Miss Daniels rendi-
ton of the role is satisfactory, but
she seems incapable of rising quite
to Impressive dramatic heights in
ho -,