The New Pictures

The Patsy. King Vidor, director of The Big Parade, has more recently gone in for cinemastudies of the average U. S. inhabitant (or babbitt, as some prefer). His findings are two of the finest films of the year: The Crowd, tragic story of a Manhattan clerk and wife; The Patsy, funny episodes of a suburban family that spends Sunday tiring itself out by trying to rest.

Marion Davies, who has taken off weight, plays the part of Patsy. She is abused by her sister and her mother (Marie Dressier with a face that could stop a thousand asparagus tips). She moons for a rising young realtor, but is made to stay at home and wash the dishes while her sister goes out with him. Later, the realtor tells Patsy that she must cultivate Personality; so she gets a set of books which enable her to amaze her family with such casual remarks as:

"When in Bagdad, do as the Bagdaddies do."

"All the world is a stage, and we are only stagehands."

Her family thinks she is stark, staring "buggy." But she tells her father her secret. He, a kindly babbitt, understands and finally helps Patsy to find the arms of the realtor.

At one point in the film, Miss Davies gives imitations of Mae Murray, Lillian Gish, Pola Negri, which make her a candidate for Ail-American funnywoman. In private life, she has been known to do an hilarious Charles S. Chaplin.

Three Sinners. There are more than three sinners. In fact, all the leading characters, except the little child, sin. But they do it nicely. Pola Negri, as the wife of a German count, takes a train from Berlin to Vienna, meets a musician, stops off to spend a night of love. Soon she hears that her train was wrecked before it reached Vienna and that she was reported dead. So, seizing opportunity by the hair, she puts on a snow white wig, changes her name, becomes a woman of adventure. Later, her husband meets her, does not recognize her; cinemagoers are surprised at what happens. Pola Negri does well.

Burning Daylight. Milton Sills is a red-hot rip-snorter of Alaska--so hot that he calls himself Burning Daylight. He finds gold, all right. He takes it to San Francisco, where he blunders into polite society. The slick city men hornswoggle him when he plays the stock market. But, finally, by virile tactics, he gets even with them and marches out of their office with a big black bag containing $3,000,000. Then dat ole debbil Burning Daylight says to his sweetheart (Mrs. Milton Sills, the onetime Doris Kenyon): "Let's go back to Alaska." And, three guesses and no fair peeking, who wrote the original story*

The Play Girl. Again, gold is dug and various parts of the female form peep out from silken things. The form belongs to Madge Bellamy, who plays a girl in a flower shop at the Ritz-Plaza.

Children of No Importance. This German film depicts the difficult existence of three illegitimate children: Peter, 12, Mary, 6, Lottie, 4. They are adopted by a brutal man and wife. Peter is made to go to work, so that his foster father can have money for liquor. Mary dies of what a doctor calls "heart disease" in the death certificate. But Peter crosses it out and writes "hunger." More beatings in a most horrible manner. Finally, Peter is take" in by a kindly woman; but his foster father finds him, sends him up the river to hard labor. The film has been cut so much for U. S. audiences that its effect is lost. Ralph Ludwig as Peter is a child tragedian of first importance. At the Manhattan showing, Nan Britton, author of The President's Daughter, spoke briefly in behalf of bastards.

The Big City. Minus horrid, blinded eyes, hunched back, and wooden legs, Lon Chaney remains true to his movie spiritual type. He never gets what he wants. Here he is a crook, smart, wise, set in a scenario complicated by the fact that everyone double crosses everyone.

Red Watson plans to hold up the night club of famous Tennessee, who makes whoopee with the suckers. Chuck Collins (Lon Chaney), "lousy crook from Harlem," hijacks the holdup, escapes with the jewels, aided by Betty Compson and James Murray. Now there enters sweetness and light in the form of Marceline Day, known as Sunshine. Sunshine is an innocent, a canary brained youngster whom Lon and Murray immediately love. Jealous of Lon, Betty double crosses him to the Red gangsters, Lon redoubles, and eventually all the double crossing is of no use as he gives up his friends to the police, to get the innocent. Sunshine doubles immediately by marrying Murray and the sad-faced Chaney gets the girl crook. It is all annoying.

* Jack London.