New Pictures

Don Juan (John Barrymore). The screen version of this good old story tells of a beautiful youth admirably trained to enjoy and deceive women. The young fellow goes his cynical way with rare abandon and success until, one evening in medieval Rome, he meets a young lady who is reluctant to surrender herself on ten minutes' acquaintance. Such an astonishing revelation of honor in the female sex transforms Don Juan. In fact, the lover of hundreds decides to marry. Before he can carry off his bride-to-be, however, the irresistible Juan must snatch her from the clutches of the notorious Borgias. In doing so, Actor Barrymore slashes and dashes through several reels that will possibly cause Douglas Fairbanks to bite his finger nails. With all due respect to the superb acting of Mr. Barrymore, no sane adult can be expected to accept such revolution of character and such extravagant heroics, unless some overpowering agency transports him into a world of pure illusion. But, as a girl in the fifth row said, "Still an' all, he is good-looking." Padlocked (Lois Moran and Noah Beery). Here is a typical concession to the popular flair for denouncing everything puritanical. A reformer is represented as the fanatical persecutor of his lovely wife and daughter, both 100% virtuous by nature. The reformer, nasty-minded, looks upon lawn tennis as vice. Eventually he is made to see that the source of all evil is restraint and the source of all sweetness and light is in the freedom denied by reformers. Out of such unwholesome moralizing by Rex Beach, Director Dwan, with an excellent cast, makes as good a picture as could be expected.

Devil's Island (Pauline Frederick). "A Drama of the White Hot Passions of the Isle of Lost Men" shrieks its press agent. Although the temperature of the passions has been grossly exaggerated, the the picture is commonplace enough to justifly the general tone of its advertising. The story concerns a group of virtuous people whom Fate forces into exile as prisoners of Devil's Island until a powerful friend happens to alter the situation a decade or two later.