The Washington times., 1928-11-30
GLE A NINGS
SCREENINGS
By ANDREW r. KELLEY

for some flashes showing what
the characters in MASKS ~of
the Devil' are thinking.
In the latest John Gilbert
picture at the Palace, which is
decidedly different from any
thing the thigh-pressure Romeo
has done for the films, Director
Victor Seastrom introduces the
new screen technique. Pre-
sumably taking an idea from
O'NeiIl's Strange Interlude,
where the characters first speak
the conventional dialogue and
then voice their thoughts, Sea-
strom uses the camera for a
similar purpose. BY trick pho
Biography he imposes on close
up shots, a filmier picture OF
what the mental reaction OF his
puppets is at the particular mo-
ment.
To a Thanksgiving audience
the idea seemed rather vague
and not ideally worked out for
the screen. There was some tii1r
certainty as to what it was all
about, no explanatory title pre-
ceding the innovation. should
call it clever thought that was
underdeveloped in its initial at
tempt and one that will suffer
for credit with movie audiences
from a lack of obviousness..
Director Seastrom appears to
be fond Of his symbolism. He
did a wonderful job with He
Who Gets Slapped" and it would
be difficult to classify Masks
of the Devil" as other than an
adult feature with intelligent
direction.
One utterly silly sequence
registered as just that. Caught
in q sudden shower the chival-
rous John Gilbert lets his fair
companions summer frock and
frilleries become drenched be-
fore he thinks Of protecting her
with the overcoat on which they
have been seated absorbing
poetry.
John Gilbert is great lover
but hardly heroic in this one, D
which is something new. And,
oh yes, before / forget it, Mr.
Gilbert dies in the closing chap-si
ter. Maybe I'm wrong about
this and, if so, Colby Hartman,
please write. The p: ture leaves
uncertainty as to whether car.
diac trouble or just plain heavy
emotion caused Jacks curly
head to drop abruptly.
Eddie Cantor tells all. In his
dressing room at the. National
Theater he admitted that what
he w,s thinking about Monday
night when the first act cur
tain was going up and down
and he bowling graciously, was
whether the applause was as
heavy as on Saturday night at
Newark.
''You. see we're making little
changes all the time and the
only way we can tell whether
they get over is just how the
audience takes them," said the
millionaire "Whoopee' comedian.
Then he dug another smudge Of
burnt cork out of the left ear.
"I'll tell you what ] was
thinking about last night.
That's not hardw continued
Mr.. Ziegfeld's highest priced
actor. "You see ! had been
planning on Thanksgiving
reunion with the family.
Turkey dinner and everything.
Wednesday afternoon my wife
telephoned Natalie was taken
down with the chicken pox..
They couldn't come. It just
knocked the life out of me.
What I was worried about was
whether chicken pox leaves any
marks or after effects, /
couldn't get it out of my mind
until today when / heard my
little girl was better"
William Anthony Mcguire,
the author of the musicalized
book of "Whoopee," dropped in
to give a little advice on how
the Cantor antics with a pistol
could be made even more effec-
tive as first act finale. "Sure,
Bill, you're right and I'll try it
that way" replied Eddie.
When | told Mr.. Cantor !
had enjoyed his revelations from
the cradle to the Hoover dynasty
as printed in a well-known iit-
ney weekly. he let slip secret:
"I'll send you a copy of the
book. It's got four chapters in
it that were not printed in the
serial" looked little sur
prised that the Curtis censors
had blue-pencilled the Cantor
copy. "Oh, nothing much was
left out, but I talked little
frankly about some folks in
these chapters and they didn't
print them" So / am looking
forward to an unexpurgateG
edition.
Incidentally, William Anthony
aguirc says "Six-Cylinder
Love" will be his next show for
Ziegfeld. He has contracts to
write a musicalized east Is
West" and also a stage book
for "Show Girl" but the work
Of whipping "Whoopee" into
Broadway shane has been TAX
ing most of his time.
Eight weeks is the period he
allots for completing the book
of a musical, once he starts
l.