The Washington times., 1929-02-11
BANCROFT In
GREAT FILM
AT EARLE

'The Wolf OF Wall Street" as q
humping melodraIna is due to
the dialogue which runs all the
way through and how much to q
uniformly excellent cast headed
by George Bancroft and the ex.
citing Olga Baclanova Is a little
difficult to say after q single
viewing at the Earle Theater. All
that matters at present Is that
Director Roland v. Lee has pre-.
sented you with a swell show and
that he has so well digested the
mechanics Of the talking appa-
ratus that you frequently forget
all about it. Which is all that
should ever be asked of any
machine.
The story. which is as timely
as anything the movies have ever
done, has a moral to which mil
lions Of Americans will fervently
say 'aye-aye"-for a few weeks
at any rate-and that is: Don't
speculate In Wall Street.
Bancroft is a clustering oper.
ator full aof lunches" and luck
married to a blond gold-digging
wench. Olga Baclanova. His man.
ners are anything but nice.
When his corns hurt him he takes
off his shoes. He pulls off his
necktie when he gets excited. But
when he pounds on the table and
shouts at people they mind him,
and the stock ticker In tuin.
minds him too.
BY and by the wife gets tired
of his bad manners, and invites
his dapper business partner up to
tea-and when Olga Baclanova
drapes a negligee about herself
no business partner is safe.
Meanwhile down in the kitchen
little Nancy Carroll, the wife's
maid, is about to marry a bank
clerk. BY way OF making a little
money, this lad has bought up
a lot of stock on margin. In
words of one syllable the picture
then shows exactly how suckers
are heeced-in every city in the
country - and how the hard.
boiled Bancroft mal-es about &c.,
900, 900 for his brokerage house.
The maids boy friend steals to
cover his margin, and ends up
in jail.
This so infuriates little Nancy
Carroll that she marches up to
Bancroft and tells him what she
thinks Of him and all other stock
operators who suck blood from
small investors. In her rage she
tells him about his wife.
It is one of those rousing
scenes with evil on one side and
outraged innocence on the other,
and applause running high in the
audience.
And when the roaring Bancroft
finds out that his wife, on whom
he has spent a fortune, has been
unfaithful, what does he do?
Does he go up and shoot them
full OF holes? Does she reform
and shed tears of shame all over
his clean shirt. while he forgives
her, in the usual movie tradition?
He does not. He locks the bus
mess partner up away from
telephone, and so manipulates the
stock exchange that the firm goes
bankrupt. Then he throws both
his wife ana her gentleman friend
into the street, and that ends
this movie.
The more one sees of Baclan.
ova, the surer you are that she
is the finest dramatic actress on
the screen today. In the present
instance she speaks with an &C
cent-called for her part-but so
long as the lady can really act,
who cares about her accent? She
also sings very nicely in this
picture,
''The Wolf Of wall Street. is
an immense improvement over
Interference" It has speed. On
only a few occasions is one con-
scious Of that static pictorial com.
plant which has made most
talkies so dull.
In criticism 1t must be said
that in their conversation down
on Wall Street the brokers ex-
plain their plan to gather in the
suckers with a childish sngen-
uousness whi.h Is quite credible.
1t is obvious that the makers Of
the film wanted to get the idea
across to everybody. And some
times everybody" understands
only very simple words.
An impressive supplementary
feature is a sketch, commemora-
tire of the birth anniversary Of
the revered and honored emanci-
pator, Abraham Lincoln. with
George Billings impersonating the
great President.
Completing the cinema portion
Of the bill, Donald Brian, hand
some singer and entertainer for
Vitaphone. delights the audience.
and Meet the Wife. q Vitaphone
comedy.
The Earle orchestra. under
Daniel Breeskin's direction, rem
ders exquisitely Ponchielli's beauti-
full composition, Dance Of the
Hours"