The New Pictures

The Devil's Cargo. There was a time when the West was stained with certain undesirable community characters. It is alleged that about 75 years ago, Sacramento gathered together all its undesirables and attempted to deport them to San Francisco. The latter refused to let them land, and out to sea they drifted. The possibilities for romance and dirty work in such a cargo are evident. They have been realized in a generally exciting picture in which Pauline Starke gives a specially good performance.

Cheaper to Marry. The point of this singular dissertation is the expense attached to immorality. The point is made by displaying a man and a woman in residence without benefit of clergy. The man finally pulls a gun on himself. Side by side with this fable is, of course, the happily married pair, living thus ever after. As a cheap melodrama, the film is not bad; as a criticism of the current social system, it is grotesque.

Capital Punishment. We are led to believe that this effort is something of a propaganda film. Death for crime is depicted, in a sense, as a crime in itself. The familiar old device of showing a prisoner convicted by circumstantial evidence is employed. He didn't do it. You know he didn't; everybody knows it; but it takes the film several reels of rather weary melodrama to convince its own authorities.

Forty Winks. The increasing tendency to light comedy among the leading companies is a fortunate sign. One does not sit down and write that light comedies are everlasting entertainment. They do not try to be. They are just light comedies to make you laugh. Forty Winks decidedly is and does. There is a mock melodramatic plot about stolen papers and government intrigue. Raymond Griffith is excellent in the "Cheerio" type of London leading man.

The Salvation Hunters. What was reported to be a seven-league stride in pictures turned out to be only a good broad jump. Josef Von Sternberg has done things that were never done before. He has created a picture all nickeled and new. His supply of novelty ran out. He based his technique on simplicity and symbolism. His story dealt with a cowardly youth who came to town with a girl and child to find their fortunes. As the girl is about to be seduced, he finally finds his courage and, with it, presumably, his future.