New Pictures

Tatjana. The German film company, Ufa, has won merited praise in the U. S. for its fine films. This is one of its worst. The aimless story concerns a Russian prince, his princess, Tatjana, and his ingrate protege.

The Legend of the Bear's Wedding. Russian art, music, drama, though often sharply crude, is rarely dull. This gruesome Soviet production is bluntly directed, stagily acted. But it is also strangely fascinating. The wife of a wealthy hunstman is horribly clawed by a bear just before her son is born. The son, as a result, is impelled to dress himself as a bear and craftily attack tender maids. At last, to the horror of the villagers, he marries a lively girl. The expected happens. He reverts to beast, rips her to death on their wedding night.

The film opened the new Manhattan playhouse of a serious-eyed little group who call themselves the Art Cinema League. The tiny, tastefully decorated cinema house, resurrected from a onetime livery stable is dedicated to "the intellect and the esthetic emotions rather than the cheap sentimentalities and banal melodramatics." Said a critic: "If the first program does not live up to these fine pretensions, there is at least enough stray beauty to justify this lone exploiter of intelligent pictures."

Resurrection (Rod La Roque, Dolores Del Rio) is a powerful and thoroughly satisfying picturization of Count Leo Tolstoy's novel. Under the adept direction of Edwin Carewe, abetted by Count Ilya Tolstoy, the tale of nice and unnice love, betrayal and soul-redemption is spun deftly and irresistibly to its logical close. Suave Rod La Roque is splendidly convincing as the idyllic, villainous and ultimately penitent Prince Dmitri. Dolores Del Rio is no whit less splendid as the luckless Katusha Maslova.

The Telephone Girl (Madge Bellamy, Holbrook Blinn). A political boss uncovers illicit love in his opponent's past. But he needs the name of the lady involved to make the scandal complete. After a frantic search pivoting about the telephone girl, he discovers the faintly scarlet woman is his daughter. Speedy melodrama capably acted.

Is Zat So? is a slapsticky adaptation of James Gleason & Richard Taber's Odyssey of a dim-witted pugilist and his pessimistic trainer. A grinning, guffawing, snickering audience testified that the film version is likely to prove as successful as the stage original.

Rich But Honest tells how two poor working girls jilt their garagemen steadies for life on the stage. One rises to the spectacular part of Lady Godiva in a voluminous blond wig. The other gets a rich beau with "honorable intentions."

Mr. Wu (Lon Chaney). The young American starts the trouble by teaching the yellow maid (daughter of Mr. Wu) how to kiss. The young American's mother ends it by a vicious stab to Mr. Wu's innards.