1924-04-19 — Page 9

SATURDAY APRIL 19 1994

THE STAR

TO-DAY'S. PICTURE MATINEE

at 5.30 pm.

ANITA STEWART

in

MARY REGAN

TO-MORROW, at 6 p.m.

(By Special Request)

POOR MEN'S WIVES

Prices 80 cts. and 50 cts..

Monday, to Wednesday

Special Holiday Programme BERT LYTELL

in

A MESSAGE FROM MARS

THE CHINA MAIL.

CINEMA CHATTER.

Pola Negri

PROGRAMME FEATURES.

TO-NIGHT.

CORONET-Wesley Barry in "Heroes of the Street."

WORLD-Monte Blue and Mary Alden in "The Tents of Allah,"

STAR-Corinne Grifith ini

"The Broadway Rub- ble," 5.30 p.m. The Globe Trotters, 9.15: . p.m.

Betty Compson, whose first stellar production, "Prisoners of Love," will be shown at the Coronet Theatre, soon, says that Her experience in comedies had much to do with, laying the foundation that led to her pheno- menal rise to stardom.

"One reason motion picture pro- ducers look to girls who have been successful in comedies is because they have learned how to put over comedy points. And then a girl learns poise in comedy-how to make the best of her good features."

THE CORONET

TO-DAY and TO-MORROW

FINAL PERFORMANCES ̧.

of

HEROES OF THE STREET

starring BARBARA LA MARR

Monday till Friday

POLA NEGRI

in

the Film that made her Famous

PASSION

being the life of Madame Dubarry

Friday, April 25th

MACK SENNETT'S CROSSROADS OF NEW YORK

HEROES OF THE STREET.”

CORONET'S BIG FEATURE ATTRACTION.

"Freckles" Barry's Exciting Filmplay.

in your throat the next

PASSION."

POLA NEGRIS GREAT PICTURE.

and natural grace demanded by the character. She is also an actress of consummate skill, A

then on it could be condensed and household. gain in dramatic force.

with the

"Passion" opens arrival of Jeanne Vaubernier in Paris, and shows her contented

The Count's brother his home he has. a. second-rate William is hired to. go through a boarding house, where the land- marriage ceremony with the girl, lady opviously prefers him to thus bestowing upon her the title several husky suitors for her of the Countess Du Barry, She hand, much to the youngster's

Story of the Countess Du Barry, stand the attraction the Du Barry and industrious as an apprentice immediately takes her place as the Jembarrassment.

It would seem that the un-

at the Maison Labille, and happy in the love of handsome young

king's favourite, and is fawned the Court..... upon by all the great nobles of

The uncle, however, has become

tive musical show and finds the burden more than he cares to

FAMOUS NOVEL.

New Mary Pickford Picture.

More than one-third of

Mary Pickford's forthcoming the financial backer for a prospec-Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall,"

screen production, has been made according to W. W. Kerrigan, business manager for the Mary Pickford company. More than 300 scenes have been shot, which assures that the picture is to be

Armand de Foix. Light of heart and with a wornan's inborn relish Her old lover. Armand de Foix, carry. Without a word to anyone, for luxury, she cannot resist the learns of her new honours, and he departs for Alaska, leaving to invitation of Don Drago, the joins the party of downtrodden his nephew the responsibility of Spanish envoy, when he asks her malcontents who hate the low-caring for his interests. to dine with him at his home. born woman, now the mistress .of With this as its starting point Hore she meets Count Jean Du the king. Armand becomes a the story breezes along at a Barry, the dissolute nobleman conspirator, is captured and

woman of many accomplishments, she makes it possible to under-

of the court and the apprentice of the Maison Labille held for her "Heroes of the Street," which expected can happen in screen- suitors of different ranks. She is will be shown at Coronet Theatre, dom, as well as in the other and gloriously and fascinatingly alive again to-day is the sort of picture okler realms of the amusement every moment she appears in the that makes the hair stand on the world. Producers and exhibitors picture and belongs to the age and head and keeps it standing there. In this country are known to look country she depicts as convincing It is packed with thrills, and collly upon costume dramas,ly as the costumes she wears with chequered with comedy and doubly so upon those of foreign so much charm. The grim tragedy pathos, so that you catch yourself make. Experience has taught that finally blots out her life is roaring at one instant ami gulping them their public, as a rule, prefer the more deeply felt because she who sees in Jean a pretty face thrown in prison. The infatuated speedy gait, involving a pretty near completion about the middle modern stories of American life, never loses entirely her physical which will attract the attention monarch continues to shower his romance in which George O'Hara | of December. A trip to San Fran-

allurement or the appeal of a of the King, if he can persuade childlike trust and sincerity, con- stantly being imposed upon by her the girl to take a petition to the own recklessness and love of susceptible Louis.

Events move rapidly from now luxury. She is a pathetic figure when in the grip of the execut-on. Jean accepts the offer of Du tioners, and her display of terror Barry, goes to live under his roof, from the time she is driven from and gets as far as into the pre- the deathbed of the suddenly sence of the Duke of Choiseul, stricken monarch until the end Minister of State, with the peti- mounts, steadily in a crescendo of tragic power that is never marred by a stark realism that has no place in a work of art. Story Triumphs Over Production

This is a different picture, within the face of all this, the First emphasis on different." due to National has imported a picture the genuinely touching love story, from Europe dealing with the life and the pranks and fights of and times of Jeanne Marie Vau- young Wesley, Barry, the star. bernier, better known as the Wes is decidedly "it" and runs Countess Du Barry, the celebrated away with the honoura Ffavourite of the notorious Louis. romps through the picture with XV the guste of a jazz orchestra al tts jazziest, and, is at his best. We have seen him in "Bags to Riches" and enjoyed his fun. This picture is even better.

"Heroes of the Street" is, briefly, the story of Mickey Calla han, who finds life one fight after another with the kids of his neigh bourhood. His father, a police- man, suddenly loses his life at the hands of a mysterious gang of crooks. And, after Wes and his mother are plunged in black grief, the lad sets about sleuthing for "he man who made him an orphan. We won't tell you how he does it, but we will let you into the secret sufficiently to say that it is done through a number of the mon comie escapades hair-breadth adventures imagined.

and

ever

This historical drame has heen given the somewhat indefinite title of "Passion," but the combined disadvantages of being a costume drama on an historical subject and of foreign manufacture are entirely overcome by the grip of the human element in the story and the force and emotional puli of its telling. The career of the little French milliner who cap tured the fancy of the royal rake then ruling France is a fascinating tale, in spite of its many sordid details.

There remained always some shreds of true womanhood in the heart of Jeanne Marie Vaubernier, and her expiation by the keen knife, of the guillotine seems to have cancelled her debt to society.

Defects.

Technically "Passion" is not without serious flaws. Ite sets are the result of an earnest desire to make them worthy of the story's well-known historical events. The Paris exteriors are built after authentic sketches of the French capitol during the year 1769, but unskilful lighting robs them of a sense of reality: Seen from the outside, the houses do not seem to be inhabited, although there are men and women at many of the windows during the mob episodes. The trick of killing the white light in a picture evidently is not known to the director. One noticeable slip is the inclosing of a letter in an envelope."

"Passion" Is a Romantic Triumph. A beautiful romance is inter-- One point should be made clear: woven through the picture. The It is as romance and not history combination of irrepressible fun that "Passion" triumphs. Its his loving Wes as a detective and torical background has great Marie Preyest as the innocent interest of its own and should add But, here again the strength of actress in the power of a sinister materinily to the drawing power the story and the ability of the star plotting producer is unbatable, of the picture, but it is the love and the members of the support and makes this Waray Brothers story of Jeanie and Armand de ing east to bring out the human production the best that has come Foix and the part the King of element that is never absent, here for many a moon.

France played in the destiny of triumph over production defects Praise is due to William Beau-these two beings of humble birth and place "Passion" among the dine for the masterly direction, that will win most of the photo-best examples of imported, screen and also to the able supporting drama's popularity. This-and products shown in this country. cast, consisting, in addition to the acting of Pola Negri as the All classes of spectators will find

best 'known as the it splendid entertainment. Marie Prevost, of Jack Mulhall, woman

Version in Nine Reels, Wilfred Lucas, Aggie Herron, Al Countess Du Darry!

The version to be released here Walling, Philo McCullough, It is impossible to speak in too "Peaches" Jackson, Joe Butter- great praise of this foreign is in nine reels. In the main, it is worth, Philo Ford, Wedgewood artiste's embodiment of Jeanne. admirably constructed. Up to the Nowell, Lillian Leeds and Billie Polish by birth, Pola Negri has outbreak of the mob, the story the vivacity, ardent temperament advances with steady pace. Front Beaudine, Jr.

xxxx

THE

CORONET

şi

HAVE JUST RECEIVED THREE MORE BUSTER KEATON COMEDIES.

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and Kathryn McGuire are the favours upon Jeanne, until he is leading players. Eddie Gribbon, stricken suddenly with smallpox Billle Bevan, Charles Murray and and dies. The king's favourite, driven from the palace by the Mildred June, of the Mack Sennett |Company, are in the capable cast, Minister of State, is condemned to which also includes Herbert Stand executed ΟΠ the ing, Ethel Grey Terry, Noah death and guillotine.

Beery and Ben Deeley.

As an authentic pictorial record Barry, whose romantic career is of the life of the Countess Du one of the best known in all his. tory, "Passion" will take its place as a screen classic.

EVERYDAY INCIDENTS.

How They Can Be Made Into Comedy.

AMATEURS' CHANCES.

NO OBSTACLES FOR BEGINNERS.

Cinema Director's Views.

Haven't you often wondered how much of a chance the amateur How well the everyday inci- stands to break into the movies? dents of life can be evolved into a Tom Forman, the director of

comedy plot of strong

and "Shadows," places the chance for dramatic appeal will be evidenced the inexperienced player about when Mack Sennett's six reel one in ten provided he or she has comedy-melodrama, to be released through First National "The Crossroads of New York," opens its run at the Coronet Theatre next Friday.

cisco was the first location centre for the film. Other exterior. scenes are to be made near Los Angeles.

The gigantic gates to Rutland

Castle have been duplicated on a

stretch of land about forty miles- from the Piekford-Fairbanks studio and this location is to bo used next, according to present plana.

The cast for this screen version of Charles Major's famous novel of the same name Includes Allan Forrest, Claire Bamse, Marc McDermott, Andera Randolph, Wilfred Тисав, Eric Mayne, Estelle Taylor, Lottle Pickford Forrest and Malcolm Waite,

under Gasnier in Rich Men's Wives when I was making my last Katherine MacDonald picture. That little girl came to California three years ago without a friend and with very little money but Alan Dwan recognized her excep tional ability and then Lois Weber Tom Forman himself came to came along and gave her her big the director's chair vin an acting chance. Nothing could have stood career and refused an offer of in that girl's way. stardom to take up the mega- phone.

plenty of ambition to begin with and is not easily discouraged.

tion that means wealth to her pro-

The producer has taken types

"Another star who was a sure tector. Here the duke check- mates her. Knowing His Majesty's familiar to everyday life: a young

fire success from the start was *Henti- failing, and being anxious that his boy from the country, a

"There are of course many Tom Meighan. I used to watch sister, the, Duchess of Gramont, mentally inclined tendindy, a beconic Queen of France, the Broadway vamp, figures of the elements to be considered in Lakhim on the Paramount lot when Minister of State sends the financial world, rejected suitors, ing up screen acting for one's he was doing small parts and I and lawyers, and work, says Forman, "but the two knew that anyone who put the demure little milliner about her policemen business. "But chance favours her. combina them in a picture of requirements most necessary are earnestness into his work that he

Personal influence has nothing of himself. Later I had the pri She stops to rest in the palace strong dramatic interest tinged natural ability and perseverance. did was bound to make something grounds and is stumbled upon by with inimitable humour.

The plot concerns a youngster whatever to do with it. There are vilege of directing him in The Louis.

Countess Du Barry's Royal from the country who comes to hundreds of people in Hollywood Easy Road. "The City of Silent

Lovers.

the city imbued with the idea that who are intimate friends of the Men' and 'White and Unmarried' His Majesty is smitten at once. he must have a job with a uni- | greatest directors in the business and I can say that he holds the Du Barry is informed that his form. Through the influence of a and if they haven't got the ability favour he does to-day because he put just as much enthusiasm into "On the other hand, take for his pictures after he had achieved petition will be granted if a suit- wealthy uncle, who insists that they just don't get there. able husband can be found for the the boy must carve his own way, captivating Jeanne, who will then the newcomer lands with the example Claire Windsor, who was stardom as he did the first day he be made a member of the royal street-cleaning department. For working at the Preferred Studio ever set his foot in a studio.

!

The Cinema Industry takes pride in announcing

the

forthcoming presentation in Hongkong

of

THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME