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Taylorology Issue 24
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* T A Y L O R O L O G Y *
* A Continuing Exploration of the Life and Death of William Desmond Taylor *
* *
* Issue 24 -- December 1994 Editor: Bruce Long bruce@asu.edu *
* TAYLOROLOGY may be freely distributed *
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CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE:
Contemporary Reviews of Films Directed by William Desmond Taylor
Sources for More Information about Taylor's Films
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What is TAYLOROLOGY?
TAYLOROLOGY is a newsletter focusing on the life and death of William Desmond
Taylor, a top Paramount film director in early Hollywood who was shot to
death on February 1, 1922. His unsolved murder was one of Hollywood's major
scandals. This newsletter will deal with: (a) The facts of Taylor's life;
(b) The facts and rumors of Taylor's murder; (c) The impact of the Taylor
murder on Hollywood and the nation. Primary emphasis will be given toward
reprinting, referencing and analyzing source material, and sifting it for
accuracy.
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Contemporary Reviews of Films Directed by William Desmond Taylor
The following is a sampling of contemporary reviews of Taylor's films,
spanning his career as film director. Some of the reviews have been edited to
remove lengthy plot summaries, cast listings, etc.
The Judge's Wife
October 23, 1914
VARIETY
A White Star three-reeler sent out through the Box Office Attractions Co.
The film features Neva Gerber. It is devoid of much action, and runs slowly
because of that. The two principal scenes are the lover (with a mustache)
rescuing his fiancee from an attempted abduction, and also the same lover's
discovery of the judge's wife robbing the safe in her own home. She wanted
money to pay her debts. The judge was about three times her age, very wealthy,
but shy on handing out coin to the family. His young and second wife was a
rapid shopper. She bought half a department store from appearances, before the
engine of the auto could cool off while it stood outside. But the thing that
seemed to bother wifie most was $197 she lost at bridge whist one afternoon.
Shortly after the game was over, one of the judge's real estate agents called
to hand him "several thousands of dollars," collected after banking hours. The
judge accepted the money as though it were a cigar, and jammed it in the safe.
When the house was dark, the wife returned to the parlor, and unlocked the
safe (although the manner in which the knob pointed showed the safe had not
been locked). The mustached lover heard her descend the staircase, followed,
threw on the lights, saw his employer's wife, but she turned the tables by
grabbing his revolver and holding him at bay, after he had taken the money
from her. Then the wife screamed for help, proclaiming the lover (the judge's
secretary as well) as the thief. He stood for it, and went up stairs to pack.
The wife repented, confessed, and everything was lovely. Probably also the
judge loosened up when he heard of that one-ninety-seven. A couple of other
mustaches were in this three reeler. It would seem that the White Star, with
the exception of Miss Gerber and one or two others of the principals, needs a
new stock company, for appearances, if nothing else. "The Judge's Wife," as a
feature, wasn't worth while, on its scenario, in the first place.
The Last Chapter
February 19, 1915
VARIETY
"The Last Chapter" was written by Richard Harding Davis and produced in
film form by the Favorite Players with Carlyle Blackwell in the leading
role...It is a good production with a capable cast.
He Fell In Love With His Wife
February 19, 1916
NEW YORK CLIPPER
"He Fell in Love with His Wife" has been read by hundreds of thousands in
book form, and has entertained theatregoers for several years as a spoken
drama. While the Pallas picturization leaves a lot to be desired on the whole
it contains more than sufficient merit, dramatically and photographically, to
fulfill its mission as a feature film of class...Direction--Very good at
times; could be improved in spots.
March 10, 1916
VARIETY
The Pallas-Paramount release under the above title carries Florence
Rockwell in the principal role, the feature being an adaptation of the
original novel of similar title credited to Harry Sheldon. The theme deals
with the life story of a woman who innocently marries a bigamist...The various
interiors are particularly well taken and appointed and the exteriors show a
tone of naturalness. Miss Rockwell fills all the requirements of the principal
role and in addition gave the story some weight with her good work. Her
support was wholly good without exception and a measure of credit belongs to
the producer and director for their efforts. It makes a good program feature,
away from the usual run and because of this novelty.
Ben Blair
March 3, 1916
VARIETY
Five part Pallas (Paramount) feature, starring Dustin Farnum, directed by
William D. Taylor...The wild western life is admirably picturized, including
desperate gun fights and cowboy riding. While a good picture in many respects,
it is hardly up to the Paramount standard.
April 1, 1916
NEW YORK CLIPPER
"Ben Blair" is away below the usual Pallas-Dustin Farnum standard, and at
best can only be rated as a second class feature. Direction--The story did
not permit of anything startling in this relation. On the whole the director
did well enough, considering the drawbacks of the plot.
Pasquale
May 26, 1916
VARIETY
George Beban and Lawrence McCloskey are the authors of "Pasquale," a five-
reel Paramount feature produced at the Morosco studios, that has Beban as the
star. The feature is filled to the brim with heart interest and contains much
sob material, not of the usual flamboyant type, but of the kind that is
brought about so naturally and logically that before one knows it there is a
contraction in one's throat and a tear in the eye as the scenes of the photo
drama pass in revue...From a production standpoint there is nothing to be
desired, for lightings, settings, direction and acting are at once adequate
and perfect. "Pasquale" is a mighty good feature.
May 27, 1916
NEW YORK CLIPPER
..There is plenty of genuinely appealing human interest embodied in the
tale unfolded, and numerous little incidents of every day life occur here and
there, which give the desired effect of naturalness. "Pasquale" not only is
blessed with a clever star in the person of Beban, but has other unusual
attributes to recommend it as a feature play of more than passing interest.
The story is good, well acted, finely produced and embellished with several
realistic battle scenes, not to mention some impressive storm effects and
superior lighting throughout. The cast is exceptionally competent. No one
overplays, and there is an ensemble effect in the acting worthy of
mention...On the whole a classy production from every standpoint...Direction--
By W. D. Taylor. Couldn't be better. Beautiful and impressive storm effects as
well as flashes of war evidence director's technique.
August 1916
Julian Johnson
PHOTOPLAY
Among the very few pieces of the past month which have any worth at all,
Morosco's "Pasquale" sticks out like a sore thumb on a pianist.
It's fairly wonderful, when you come to think of it, that no one before
Mr. George Beban and his collaborator dreamed of applying the war-problems of
foreign born American citizens to purposes of dramatic plot.
Here we have a perfectly lifelike Italian grocer and a perfectly lifelike
Italian banker, both moved by a great love for the fatherland--and both
setting the match to incipient domestic tragedies by their departures. Had
Mr. Beban found a way out of his five-fathom suspense other than through the
death of his unwanted people, "Pasquale" would have been a complete
masterpiece. As it is, its humdrum, conventional ending doesn't spoil the
taste of a lot of superb characterization which goes before.
Not the least virtue of this effort is that it isn't a star play for
anyone. Mr. Beban as the grocer, Nigel de Brullier as the banker, Helen Eddy
as Margarita and Myrtle Stedman as the banker's wife all have equal roles.
The American Beauty
July 7, 1916
VARIETY
"The American Beauty" is a Paramount and runs for about 1,500 feet before
there is really any way that one can find out what the story is all about.
Then the things begin to straighten themselves in one's mind the yarn goes
along for another two reels before the love interest becomes apparent, and
there are really about 1,500 feet left in which to carry out the story to the
satisfaction of the usual movie audience. The story in itself is one that has
been used in various forms all too often in feature pictures and this
naturally detracts from the value of the picture as a first-class feature. It
is the old story of an artist and his model. Only in this case the fifteen
hundred feet used up at the opening of the picture was to plant the fact that
the girl came of so-called "good" parentage and therefore, when later in the
picture the artist falls in love with her after she has posed for his
masterpiece, there is no reason why he shouldn't marry her without the danger
of being ostracized socially. "The American Beauty" is but a fair example of a
feature, although those who go for the finer details will find much to praise
in the interior settings of the studios and the art gallery that are employed
as the locale for the telling of the story.
July 15, 1916
NEW YORK CLIPPER
"The American Beauty" is a high class feature. The photography is
beautiful, and real achievements have been attained in the way of artistic and
unusual light effects. Technically the production is excellent. Director Wm.
D. Taylor having turned out a picture he may be well proud of...First class
program feature. Should draw well in any class of house.
Davy Crockett
July 29, 1916
NEW YORK CLIPPER
"Davy Crockett" is a "costume" play. Costumes in question being of the
period of the early eighteenth century. There is a wealth of romantic interest
and a fine spirit of adventure woven throughout the narrative. Dustin Farnum
heads a dandy cast, and on the whole "Davy Crockett" should appeal to the
better and middle class houses as a first class attraction...Very fine
production.
August 4, 1916
VARIETY
Davy Crockett is famed as a huntsman. In the Pallas (Paramount) picture
of that title, Davy with Dustin Farnum starred in the title role, is more the
lover. And as a lover he is made heroic, as he might have been had the Pallas,
with Crockett in films, used the scope the opera gave to the subject...
Crockett in name alone conjures up all outdoors, a big brave mountaineer,
ready at any time for anything that could come on the ground or through the
air. Mr. Farnum suits the role. There could not have been a better selection
for it, and he did his two or three heroic tricks in approved style, but that
was all in his favor, or the story's. For the rest he was mushy, the tale was
mushy, and a side story consumed too much space in the telling...The side
story drags the film, the picture does not live up to the expectations of the
American youth, from the title, and although it picks up toward the finish,
this "Davy Crockett" is not an A1 output. A couple of holes in direction are
large enough to push the projection machine through them...The scenic
surroundings were well worth looking at and were it not for the drawn-out and
padded story, this "Davy Crockett" could have been a corker. With Farnum as
Crockett the possibilities are there for another of the same title, and the
Pallas should go after it, along more active lines.
October 1916
Julian Johnson
PHOTOPLAY
"Davy Crockett" has thrilled all sorts of boys, from the lad who sat on
the floor and read the story by the flicker of pine knots, to Mrs. Western
Union's son, humped over a dog's eared volume while burrowing through upper
Manhattan in a Bronx express. "Davy Crockett," via the smile and biceps of
Dustin Farnum and the appliances of the Morosco company, keeps up the good
work of amusement and muscle-tingling.
The Parson of Panamint
September 9, 1916
NEW YORK CLIPPER
Dustin Farnum is always likeable in roles such as the two-handed Parson
of Panamint. Lots of good, healthy action and fine scenic qualities are two
worthwhile features of this production...Direction--By Wm. D. Taylor. The
producer turned out a notable picture play. Several little touches evidence
Director Taylor's ability as a creator of atmosphere.
September 16, 1916
VARIETY
This is a film adaptation of a story that appeared in the Saturday
Evening Post about a year ago. It is corking material for a feature picture
and Dustin Farnum in the titular role portrays the fighting parson of the wild
west mining camp in truly likeable manner...The camp life is realistically
reproduced and the dance hall with its gambling outfit and the other attendant
features is very interesting. The picture is well produced and will hold the
interest of any audience. Dustin Farnum stands as the star, but "Doc" Cannon
as "Chuckawalla" shares honors with him. The feature is one of the best that
has been turned out by the Pallas people in some time and well worth playing.
November 1916
Julian Johnson
PHOTOPLAY
Morosco's shipping clerk nailed up two unusually good films for Eastern
expressage last month.
One of these, "The Parson of Panamint," had the advantage of Peter B.
Kyne's stalwart authorship. Dustin Farnum, as the fighting minister, led the
exercises, while the scheme of the novel and its characterizations, were very
well preserved...
The House of Lies
September 22, 1916
VARIETY
As an example of what a feature picture should not be this release of the
Paramount, produced by the Oliver Morosco Photoplay Co., is a fairly good
example. Originally the story must have had possibilities but in the manner in
which the final screen presentation is worked out, the feature fails to hit
the mark. The story is cheap melodrama of the type that has long since passed
its day in popular appeal, and Edna Goodrich does not get over with sufficient
punch as the star of this release. The Oliver Morosco Company has turned out
better pictures than this, then again this is better than some others that the
same company has released. The star has the role of a stepdaughter who is the
beauty of the family. Her stepmother and her half sister decide that the
beauty of the family must be sacrificed on the altar of mammon so that the
family can maintain its social position. Stepmamma then plots with a
theatrical producer to help her find a wealthy husband for the girl, but the
latter before she will permit herself to be auctioned off, decides to destroy
her beauty with acid. Finally when she meets the man she really loves she
discloses the fact that the acid marks were nothing but grease paint and he
receives her with open arms. It isn't much as a feature, at this late day in
the picture producing field.
September 23, 1916
NEW YORK CLIPPER
"The House of Lies" tells a familiar story in interesting fashion. As far
as production, sets, etc., are concerned the feature will stand comparison
with the best. The story is not overstrong, but as visualized by Wm. D.
Taylor, holds very well.
Her Father's Son
October 14, 1916
NEW YORK CLIPPER
"Her Father's Son" seems to have been written with a well defined object
in view. Said objective being Vivian Martin's ability to wear boys clothes and
appear cute in same. The picture is absolutely devoid of anything approaching
real drama, and the director fell down heavily once or twice on detail. For
example, a scene depicting a general's tent in Civil war time looked
exceedingly like the model camping outfits which can be purchased ready to use
in any sporting goods story. The soldiers and other characters, too, had a
decidedly modern appearance, and did not suggest people of Civil War
days...Very light story lacking in dramatic interest.
October 20, 1916
VARIETY
Here is a very good little story of the days prior to the Civil War, the
scenes of which are laid in Virginia. Vivian Martin is the star of "Her
Father's Son," a feature production presented by the Oliver Morosco Company on
the Paramount. Pictorially it is one of the best features this company has
turned out in some time, and from an acting standpoint the production is
excellent..."Her Father's Son" is a very charming picture that will please
almost any type of an audience, there being a little dash of adventure in the
war scenes, which take their place naturally in the sequence of the story.
January 1917
Julian Johnson
PHOTOPLAY
"Her Father's Son" is the best poor picture I have ever enjoyed.
This statement concerns the sunplay of that name put out by the Morosco
studio, featuring Vivian Martin. Here we have a perfectly impossible make-
believe, in that a young girl daughter of a Secesh Northerner who dies under a
falling tree, goes to the home of her relative, a redoubtable Union
Southerner, and there whoops it up for the stars and bars against the stars
and stripes in boy's clothes, and until the proper moment for sweetheart
revelations not even her fair cousin suspects that she's a soprano.
One William Taylor directed this picture. If Mr. Taylor had been born in
France it would have been, doubtless, upon Montmartre, for he is an artist who
reveals such a feeling for group and line, pastel shadow and tremendous
contrast, that he will carve an entirely individual niche in the directoral
cliff if he sustains this pace. Believe the story or laugh at it, if you have
a taste for anything beyond circus billing the mere depiction of this
inconsistent tale will hold you spellbound. Miss Martin herself is a bit of
Delftish color, and Herbert Standing and Helen Eddy do some excellent acting.
The Happiness of Three Women
February 23, 1917
VARIETY
"A Picture in the Dark" could have been another title for this Morosco
(Paramount) feature named "The Happiness of Three Women," with House Peters
and Myrtle Stedman starred. There are many dark scenes in it where freak
photography has been tried for. These effects have been fairly successful, as
far as the effect tried for was obtained, but they leave the film as a whole
so much in the dark that where there is a full lighted bit of photography it
looks dim, and some of the early bright scenes really are dim. In a large
house the picture would be confusing to many in the rear of the auditorium.
And speaking of deep theatres, don't the caption writers or the insert fellows
ever think there is anybody back of the third row in the orchestra who might
want to read a flash? It's so supinely idiotic to flash a telegraph message
with the words magnified only for the musicians, without a chance of anyone
back of the tenth row being able to read it, or to show a long hand written
letter that even the musicians in the pit have trouble in deciphering.
Pictures come and pictures go, but some of the faults remain forever. The big
spectacular effect in this feature is a bolt of lightning that strikes a tree
and tangles up the plot. It resembled a lightning bolt about as much as Troy
does a city. The explosion looked to be exactly that of a hut blow up in the
woods...The night scenes of the automobiles on the road with their
searchlights looked well, but that's about all. The picture runs along, always
just missing a punch, and the players in the same fix. All played well enough,
no one, not even the stars, surpassing any of the others, excepting one of the
women did some cutey stuff she didn't look. A few of the close-ups of the
women also proved they looked much better at a distance. An average weekly
release for a service program.
Out of the Wreck
April 20, 1917
VARIETY
...as a whole the production may be classed as good program material, to
be liked greatly by those who enjoy being unhappy.
June 1917
Julian Johnson
PHOTOPLAY
"Out of the Wreck" compels Kathlyn Williams to swim through as heavy a
tide of melodrama as we have seen, even in Foxy evenings. Our verdict on this
piece is that it is a well done thing not worth doing at all.
The World Apart
May 30, 1917
NEW YORK CLIPPER
The action is gripping. An excellent picture with an appealing human
interest.
June 2, 1917
EXHIBITOR'S TRADE REVIEW
...Inconsequential to the point of being thoroughly insipid...but an
amount of color has been created by the settings.
August 1917
Julian Johnson
PHOTOPLAY
"The World Apart" is the meaningless title of a pretty good Western play
featuring Wallace Reid and Myrtle Stedman, and enhanced, as well, by the
unfeatured work of John W. Burton and Eugene Pallette.
Big Timber
June 22, 1917
VARIETY
From a pictorial standpoint "Big Timber," a Morosco-Paramount production,
is a corker; the same can be said for the greater part of the production, with
the exception of one final touch, the rainstorm. That is the one flaw, but in
view of what has preceded it one is quite ready to forgive this slip...All of
his timberland is burning up, due to fires set by the villain who has lost
out, and as husband and wife clasp each other the rain comes pouring down,
saving the day. This is the one weak touch, and brings a laugh from most
audiences. But the picture is a corking feature that will pull audiences.
September 1917
Julian Johnson
PHOTOPLAY
"Big Timber" is the best vehicle Kathlyn Williams has had in a year. It
is an honest, virile story of men and women in the lumbercamps; has real
suspense, and a triangular interest where justifications are left up in the
air until the crises arrive. Miss Williams has the fine support of Alfred
Paget and of Wallace Reid, and if you would know how very, very much one
little scant moustache can change a man's personality, try to find Reid under
his. The picture is convincing until its final moment--that absurd, author-
sent rain, nickoftimey as ye old-fashioned reprieve.
The Varmint
August 10, 1917
VARIETY
It was a relief to find that the fine spirit of Owen Johnson's
Lawrenceville school story had been so well maintained in "The Varmint."
Gardner Hunting, in the scenario, and William D. Taylor as director, gave
evidence of a knowledge of school-boy tradition that put the stamp of
excellence on the picture at once...The Varmint's doings are all good picture
stuff, but the way they are bound together into a logical, cumulative story is
especially worthy of note. A director, scenarioist and star whose boarding
school traditions were defined by the life of Public School No. 63 would have
made a hash of "The Varmint." The Lasky people have made a success of it, a
picture of the widest appeal...Jack Pickford again puts it over as the
Varmint. He is the fresh young kid to the life, and he registers a gradual
development of character that is truly artistically done. Louise Huff, the
only female in the piece, looks pretty enough to send the whole school daffy.
Theodore Roberts contributes another splendid characterization as the Roman.
The schoolboy parts are handled most effectively. Scenes show a famous Western
college campus that is a close resemblance to the Eastern schools' exteriors.
All in all, a worthy picture for the Pickford-Huff bow under the new Paramount
booking policy. Those who have read the story will like the picture immensely.
Those who haven't will like it immensely, too.
August 15, 1917
NEW YORK CLIPPER
With Owen Johnson's novel to work on, Gardner Hunting has turned out
a thoroughly interesting picture...It is the very fact that in the scenes
of "The Varmint" college student pranks are carried to the extremes of
absurdity that gives the picture a realism and interest that is well nigh
irresistible...
August 18, 1917
EXHIBITOR'S TRADE REVIEW
...Brimming over with human interest. Clean, wholesome and
entertaining...
North of Fifty-Three
December 1917
Randolph Bartlett
PHOTOPLAY
Time was when, if you had told Dustin Farnum that his acting reminded you
of his brother Bill, he might have thought you were very complimentary to
Bill. Those days have passed. The highest compliment that can be paid to
"North of Fifty-three" is that Dustin Farnum therein reminds one of his more
famous--pictorially speaking--brother. Thus does the screen transpose values
that the stage establishes. The title comes from the line--quoting from memory-
-"There's never a law of God or man runs north of fifty-three." However it may
be with laws, they appear to have a plentiful supply of lip-sticks up there,
as Miss Kingston's mouth was a perfect cupid's bow....There are many knotholes
and extraneous incidents in this plot, but if you like romances of the
snowfields, you won't mind.
Jack and Jill
November 23, 1917
VARIETY
Jack and Louise do something a little different in their latest Paramount
offering "Jack and Jill." Say what you will about this pair there's something
about their youth and charm that gets an audience where the "getting" is
good...Every attention has been paid to the staging and filming of the
picture, and the direction is above par. A photoplay with action, humor, love
interest, suspense, and a plot worked out excellently by two engaging
youngsters and a director whose artistic ideals are not limited by any
stinginess on the part of his producing company.
February 1918
Randolph Bartlett
PHOTOPLAY
"Jack and Jill" are Jack Pickford and Jill Huff, pugilist and vendor of
chewing gum respectively. It has the comedy of the New York East Side and of
the Mexican border, with a finale of melodrama in the latter vicinity. Its
weakness is that the two stars are not quite in sympathy with the slum-grown
characters they portray. But why the title?
Tom Sawyer
December 7, 1917
VARIETY
There are very few of us who haven't read of the mischievous adventures
of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, hence the screen adaptation of Mark Twain's "Tom
Sawyer" should be of great value as a feature attraction not only for its
intrinsic value, but as a title to conjure with...One's first observation
would be that so simple a tale would be insufficient entertainment to the
patrons of such a house as the New York Strand, and when the picture first
starts you become fearful it won't hold up for five reels. As it progresses,
however, the comedy grows apace until it winds up in a blaze of glory...All
very trivial to be sure, but it is class, wholesome amusement, and try to be
as dignifiedly grown up as you can, you will enjoy it. Jack Pickford is the
star, and looked and acted in a sufficiently youthful manner to admirably
visualize the hero. The young men portraying Huck Finn and Joe Harper were
equally effective in their respective roles. "Becky" was a sweet little thing,
and the entire company aided in creating the proper pictures. William D.
Taylor, as director, fulfilled his mission. This Morosco (Paramount)
production will never grow old. It can be repeated at regular intervals by
exhibitors for generations.
March 1918
Randolph Bartlett
PHOTOPLAY
Nearly two decades removed from my last previous reading of Mark Twain's
classic of American boy life, "Tom Sawyer," the Jack Pickford-Paramount
reintroduction of this 100 per cent boy was a happiness not easily described.
The incident of the whitewashing of the fence, the love affair with the new
girl in town, the fight with the "model boy," the clandestine friendship with
Hick Finn the disreputable, the first smoke, the pirate adventure, the
attendance at his own funeral--to mention the incidents alone is to revive
memories of pleasures that come once in a lifetime. If Hood had been blessed
with the privilege of seeing such a picture, he might not have written his
plaint that he was farther from heaven than when he was a boy, because he had
learned that the tops of the fir trees did not touch the sky. The tops of my
fir trees touched the sky again as I watched this picture. Boys and girls will
enjoy it, but only men and women will truly understand.
February 1918
Frederick James Smith
MOTION PICTURE CLASSIC
Remember how Tom Sawyer, as "the Black Avenger of the Spanish Main," ran
away with Huck Finn and Joe Harper? How they floated down the Mississippi on a
raft, and returned in time to upset their own funeral services and startle the
inhabitants of their village? This forms a big part of "Tom Sawyer,"
Paramount's adaptation of Mark Twain's immortal romance of boy life. Happily,
the adapter has not tried to pad, condense or adulterate...Jack Pickford isn't
wholly our idea of Tom, by any means. But he is boyish, untheatrical and
thoroughly likeable. Robert Gordon presents a real harum-scarum Huck Finn, who
spits thru his teeth with such accuracy and skill. It will be a long time
before we forget Mr. Gordon's Huck. The direction is admirable, catching the
spirit and atmosphere of Twain. All in all, "Tom Sawyer" is a screenic joy.
The Spirit of '17
January 25, 1917
VARIETY
With a good cast, able direction by William Taylor, scenario by Julia
Ivers, story by Judge Willis Brown, Jack Pickford's newest picture, "The
Spirit of '17," is a Paramount production of timeliness and calculated to
arouse any latent patriotism that may exist in the breast of the youth of
America. While there is plenty of action, it is so divided throughout the five
reels and the story so disjointedly and disconnectedly "told," that one has
more or less difficulty in gathering a clear idea of what it is all about.
The main plot isn't absolutely planted until practically the end of the fourth
reel, and when finally it is set, it is the sort of tale usually devoured by
12-year-old boys anxious to accomplish heroic deeds...There are half a dozen
subsidiary plots, all equally elemental, and while such things may be
entertaining to the immature mind, it is doubtful if any but the most
undeveloped mentality can see more than elemental suspensive interest in it
for a feature film. A genuine working mine has been utilized for locations and
the acting throughout is in the hands of competent people. The star has been
very happily cast for the romantic role of the boy scout who is fortunate
enough to be the direct medium for the exposing of an alien plot. It is
exactly in his line, that of a winsome youth fired with the spirit of
patriotism. When he affects that far-away expression he resembles more than at
any time his famous sister.
April 1918
Randolph Bartlett
PHOTOPLAY
Boy Scouts and G.A.R. men are the heroes of a patriotic story called "The
Spirit of '17," in which Jack Pickford unearths and foils a German spy plot.
The spirit in question is that none too old and none too young to serve his
country, even if not qualified for enlistment. The story lacks distinction and
the romance is rather calf-like; yet there is a certain nimble quality about
this boy Pickford that keeps the fable from descending to a commonplace level.
His agility is not merely physical, but of a sort that bespeaks a lively mind
as well. His heroics would be a little banal, if there were not in them
something of the eternal boy that he represented in Tom Sawyer. A large but
rather ordinary cast surrounds the star. Helen Eddy, in the thankless role of
a girl with a grouch against the world in general, wins the sole distinction
in her small but effective bit.
Huck and Tom
March 8, 1918
VARIETY
Director William D. Taylor has added another acceptable Paramount
visualization of the immortal Tom Sawyer stories to the screen...The whole
thing is very human and as it recalls one's early reading, carries with it
just the proper "romance" for both the present and last generation of theatre-
goers. There is no particular point upon which to dwell, other than to record
the comedy registered strongly in the Paramount projection room, where it was
screened for a bunch of hardened trade paper reviewers.
June 1918
Randolph Bartlett
PHOTOPLAY
"There comes a time in the life of every well-constructed boy when he is
overcome by a raging desire to dig for hidden treasure." This is the kernel of
"Huck and Tom," a sequel to "Tom Sawyer," made from the second of the Mark
Twain books of boyhood. The story is not so fascinating, being an unbelievable
mixture of boyish fancy and Brady melodrama. Jack Pickford, Robert Gordon and
Clara Horton bear the brunt of the task of making it seem real.
His Majesty Bunker Bean
April 10, 1918
NEW YORK CLIPPER
As has happened before, the conversion of a stage success into a screen
drama does not come up to expectations. This comedy bubbled over with laughter
when it was presented on the stage, but the film affords few and far-between
laughs. The story does not preserve sufficient continuity to be re-told. It is
the adventure of a conscientious stenographer, who rises to wealth and marries
the daughter of his boss. The credit for the success of this picture, if it
does meet with success, is due to Jack Pickford and Louise Huff, for, were it
not for these two amiable little comics, the picture would have no laurels on
which to rest.
April 12, 1918
VARIETY
A corking springtime comedy is the Lasky-Paramount release, "His Majesty,
Bunker Bean," with Jack Pickford Starred. There is an interesting story, well
told by a capable cast, the whole evolving into a feature certain to please
the majority. "His Majesty, Bunker Bean" is from the play of the same title by
Harry Leon Wilson, adapted for the screen by Julia Crawford Ivers, and
directed by William D. Taylor. That Louise Huff supports the star also helps
to carry it along. She plays a "Flapper" with wonderful assurance and creates
a distinct impression. The story of the youth who needs but the power of
suggestion to make him a success is pleasingly disclosed in the film version.
Pickford is the boy, and he handles the title role wonderfully well..."His
Majesty, Bunker Bean" is a comedy picture that gets laughs on its action as
well as its titles, and it is action all the way with a real fresh love story
carried along at a speedy clip. That is enough for any picture audience.
Up the Road with Sallie
June 28, 1918
VARIETY
Constance Talmadge in "Up the Road with Sallie" has a part which suits
her admirably. It is, indeed, largely due to her charm and girlish animation
that the story holds the interest. The plot is meager and improbable, the
action slow...The direction of William D. Taylor was admirable, the
photography, particularly some remarkable storm effects and studies in
lighting, being very beautiful.
July 1918
Randolph Bartlett
PHOTOPLAY
Constance, the sunshine child of the Talmadge family, is rapidly
acquiring that deftness which alone makes comedy. In "Up the Road with Sallie"
she is a delightful mischief-maker. She kidnaps a willing aunt and finds
romance for two. It is well to remember that William D. Taylor directed this
picture. Mr. Taylor has the real comedy sense. Norman Kerry is pleasingly
perfect.
Mile-a-Minute Kendall
May 10, 1918
VARIETY
The Pickford family is fully represented in New York this week, with Mary
starred at the Strand in "M'Liss," with Brother Jack and Sister Lottie
featured at the Rivoli in "Mile-a-Minute Kendall." The latter is a screen
adaptation of Owen Davis' play of that name. Scenarioized by Gardner Hunting
and directed by William D. Taylor for Paramount. Jack has the titular role,
that of a millionaire's son with a liking for fast living and a penchant for
mechanical invention. How he gets mixed up with a chorus girl adventuress and
wants to marry her, escaping only by an accident, and is saved by his little
country sweetheart, who believes in him when he is cast off by his father, how
he invents something worth millions and marries the bucolic female, all go to
make an attractive program picture, no small part of which is the excellent
photography. There are some specially fine character portrayals by members of
the cast, among them a "vampire" bit by Sister Lottie, that will surprise
those who have been accustomed to seeing her in more respectable roles.
Somehow the idea of a sister "vamping" her own brother is not exactly
palatable...
May 15, 1918
NEW YORK CLIPPER
...There is a spontaneity about Jack Pickford that is refreshing. His
characterization of the wayward youth is excellent, and he plays the role of
Kendall with a characteristic dash and vim...The film has been exceedingly
well staged. It constitutes a highly diverting evening's entertainment.
July 1918
Randolph Bartlett
PHOTOPLAY
"Mile-a-Minute Kendall"--one of the liveliest comedy dramas of the month;
Jack Pickford as a wealthy scapegrace, invents a new motor and marries Louise
Huff; several clever comedy characters of bucolic origin; Lottie Pickford in
one of her rare visits to the screen.
How Could You, Jean?
June 19, 1918
NEW YORK CLIPPER
Instead of asking "How Could You, Jean?" we venture to ask, "How Could
You, Mary?" for in the present instance Miss Pickford has been cast for a role
that is neither alluring or appealing. Her abilities could easily find wide
and better scope, for she has attained much greater heights in other
pictures...The story lacks continuity and is faulty in many respects. It might
prove a good vehicle for a lesser artist but much more is expected of this
favorite, and her reputation demands it. The fault probably rests with the
powers that be, who are certainly guilty of poor judgment in choosing this
story. The acting and the scenic effects are handled in a skillful manner, but
not sufficiently so to redeem the picture.
July 5, 1918
VARIETY
William D. Taylor directed "How Could You, Jean?" for Artcraft. It will
probably be some time before he secures another opportunity to direct a Mary
Pickford feature. The story, by Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd, is weak enough, but
the direction is altogether uninspired by even a touch of brilliancy or
originality...The picture wobbles along to an inevitable ending, and despite
the personal triumph of the star, the whole thing falls flat upon a half-way
discriminating audience. But on Thursday afternoons when the cooks have their
half holidays the picture should please in the popular priced picture houses.
September 1918
Randolph Bartlett
PHOTOPLAY
"How Could You, Jean?" gives us Mary Pickford in an April setting. The
rather slender plot winds its way cheerfully through a background of babbling
brooks, young lambs and apple blossoms. It tells the story of a society girl,
posing as a farm cook, who falls in love with a millionaire, masquerading as a
hired man. It would be hard to imagine anything more popular than this
combination of Mary Pickford and springtime.
Johanna Enlists
September 13, 1918
VARIETY
Seen at private showing the latest Mary Pickford feature, "Johanna
Enlists" (Artcraft), is as attractive, refreshing and original a picture as
one would care to see...The comedy situations derived are delightful. The
whole production is noteworthy, the scenario from Rupert Hughes' story, the
direction of William D. Taylor and the admirable photography...It is not the
plot which makes this picture interesting, but the charm of Mary Pickford, the
delicate vein of comedy which runs through it all, and the excellent support
form every one concerned. Outside of the principals the soldiers shown are the
actual members, now gone across, of the regiment to which Miss Pickford is a
godmother. Especially good are Monte Blue, Douglas MacLean and Emory Johnson,
who impersonate the three soldiers most interested in Johanna. And a more
attractive "kid" actor could not be found than Wesley Barry as Johanna's
freckle-faced little brother.
December 1918
Julian Johnson
PHOTOPLAY
There are several components of Mary Pickford's enduring success, not the
least of which is the whole-souled enthusiasm she gives every role. In
"Johanna" we find her playing a miserable little country wench upon whose two-
by-four amours and kitchen delights she bestows all the abandon of a tragedy
queen in an all-star Shakespearean cast. This makes for success because it
makes for reality. You believe in a character that evidently believes in
itself; Mary Pickford doesn't play; she lives. "Johanna Enlists" will set no
creeks on fire, but it is rapid, wholesome, patriotic fun.
Captain Kidd, Jr.
April 25, 1919
VARIETY
...As a whole it is rather a disappointment. The story isn't there in
picture form, the production is cheap and as a feature production, with Mary
Pickford as the star, it fails to stand up at anytime. The only amusing touch
in the entire picture was the parrot that shrieked curses on everybody, and
these were the only laughs that were forthcoming...William D. Taylor directed
the production and evidently handled what material he had to the best
advantage...Of course with the Pickford name the picture will do business, but
it isn't a production that is going to be able to play repeats anywhere.
July 1919
Julian Johnson
PHOTOPLAY
This, the last of Mary Pickford's present Zukor enterprises, is a
rollicking Frances Marion dramatization of Rida Johnson Young's play. One of
the first essentials of successful comedy is that it be taken seriously by
everyone concerned. If you don't think the Sennetters take their absurdities
seriously you're very much mistaken. I get the impression, on viewing these
reels, that le grand Mary was just as serious as ever, and just as much a good
actress, but that the play suffers because its director, William D. Taylor,
considered it an inconsequential trifle. While, as I have said, Miss Marion
rollicks ad lib, the script is not Miss Marion at her best. If you will hark
back to Mickey Neilan's "M'liss" you may recall a substance even more
inconsequential than this, in which we got the very ecstasy of laughter
because of the utter gravity of the performers--and the super-gravity of the
director himself! The fine cast of "Captain Kidd, Jr." includes Douglas
MacLean, Spottiswoode Aitken, Marcia Manon, and that too-infrequently-seen
young man, Robert Gordon.
July 1919
Frederick James Smith
MOTION PICTURE CLASSIC
There are moments in "Captain Kidd, Jr.," (Artcraft), when you wonder if
you are watching a Mack Sennett farce. For the romance of a quest in search of
buried treasure has been transposed into broad burlesque in the making by
Director William D. Taylor. "Captain Kidd, Jr." even has its travesty sheriff
in a trick Ford. Mary Pickford is her pleasing self as Mary MacTavish, Douglas
MacLean is a likeable lover and Robert Gordon contributes a bright bit as the
foppish Billie Carleton. After all, we liked Miss Pickford's treasure-hunting
garb best of everything in "Captain Kidd, Jr."
Anne of Green Gables
November 14, 1919
VARIETY
This is the first picture made by Mary Miles Minter for Realart. William
Desmond Taylor directed, Frances Marion devised the scenario. The whole thing
is based on the book of the same name by L. M. Montgomery. All these authors,
so far as the film making is concerned, labored with great difficulties and
came out on the whole successfully. The trouble with the picture is that it is
not drama. It is a narrative, a biography, and how to work some suspense into
it must have kept Taylor up nights. While he does not get suspense, he does
get sympathy. The thing drags admittedly, but there's a wholesome charm to
it...Miss Minter is called on merely to be a sweet young thing. Certainly she
revealed nothing approaching the Pickford standard, though some have declared
she was being prepared to supplant that lady.
November 22, 1919
HARRISON'S REPORTS
..."Anne of Green Gables" is one of the cleanest, sweetest, most human
pictures the screen can boast of. It is the personification of all that is
pure and tender in life. It is one of those pictures that sink deep. Laughs
and tears mingle in the situations, making the spectator sympathise intensely
with the joys and sorrows, hopes, despairs, pleasures and afflications of the
characters...
February 1920
Julian Johnson
PHOTOPLAY
Mary Miles Minter is a bit of established popularity. So are L. M.
Montgomery's "Anne" books. The combination, ergo, was a well-advised one for
the young star's debut on a new programme. The same advised selection
proceeded in the selection of Francis Marion as the person who could best weld
four tales into one string for the celluloids. The result is no drama to speak
of, but a more or less biographic account of a little orphan girl who was
alternately pathetic and funny; and later, alternately fiercely tragic and
meltingly lovely. The high spots of the picture to me were Anne's black-and-
white chicken, the feeding of imprisoned Anne by the little boy, Anne's
innocent encounter with the mephitic polecat while hunting the picnic, and--
later--adolescent Anne's tribulations as the disciplinarian of the village
school. William D. Taylor's direction of the picture is pleasantly adequate
without being in any way original, and the best work of the long cast is done
by Marcia Harris, as Aunt Marilla.
February 1920
Frederick James Smith
MOTION PICTURE CLASSIC
Mary Miles Minter's "Anne of Green Gables," (Realart), belongs to the
sugar-coated Pollyanna school of realistic literature. Miss Minter portrays a
young orphan who, adopted by an aged couple, softens their hearts and
eventually wins her own happiness. Miss Minter is a pleasant little person,
but of limited technical equipment. Hence "Anne of Green Gables," centered
wholly upon her, moves along a monotonous level of conventionality.
June 1920
Hazel Simpson Naylor
MOTION PICTURE
I have read so many adverse criticisms of this picture that I cannot
resist putting in my little oar and pulling the other way. Orphan stories have
perhaps had an overrun and so I can see where the first of this might have
benefited by a careful cutting down. But to my mind the last two reels, where
Anne grows up and carries the whole burden of the household on her slender
shoulders, makes the whole worthwhile sitting through. Mary Miles Minter is
lovely in this episode, which augurs well for her brilliant future. She
should, however, be careful to avoid any suggestion of affection in her
portrayals; her very sincerity, for Miss Minter is a very sincere little girl,
may have brought up this difficulty.
Huckleberry Finn
February 23, 1920
NEW YORK TIMES
William D. Taylor's "Huckleberry Finn" is at the Rivoli this week, and
even that cautious critic, Huck himself, would probably find that it "told the
truth mainly"--and what mere picture could do more? Mr. Taylor did not seek
to use Mark Twain's book as material for a conventional movie of his own, and
so escaped being shot. He did seek, with care and intelligence, to translate
as much as possible of the book into moving pictures, and so has won the
gratitude of the public. His translation, as far as it goes and can go, is
remarkably, and most enjoyably, good...It is a delight to see all of these
people and feel that they are genuine. Not one is an impostor...Some of the
scenes might have been made under Mark Twain's own direction. If one misses
some things, such as the steamboats, he can appreciate Mr. Taylor's inability
to restore them and will be more than satisfied that he has brought back so
much..."Huckleberry Finn" does tell "the truth mainly" and may easily win
unqualified indorsement from those not too familiar with, or devoted to, the
book. And no matter what its shortcomings may be it should be a joy to every
one.
February 27, 1920
VARIETY
...The picture is one that will have a thrill for those who have read the
Twain story, whether they be boys of 8 or 80...Criticism of the story is
disarmed at the opening by a leader who defies anyone "to find a reason, moral
or plot." The picturization is very effective with the honors going to Lewis
Sargent who plays Huck.
March 1920
Burns Mantle
PHOTOPLAY
If I had a son I certainly should take him to see "Huckleberry Finn," the
Famous Players-Lasky screening of the Mark Twain classic. Here, also, is a
perfect picture for all the boys in the world to take their daddies to see; a
wholesome boys' story of adventure as full of fun and atmosphere as the book
itself. Fine Twain atmosphere, too, very slightly exaggerated and most
wholesomely natural, once the main story is reached. I do not know much of
William Taylor's work as a director, but I am going to know more on the
strength of his fine showing in this picture. Huck himself tells the story to
a finely visioned Mark Twain in the flesh, which is one thing that keeps it so
nicely in the spirit of youth. The boys, too, are real boys. Huck being
perfectly realized by Lewis Sargent, and Tom by Gordon Griffith. It is largely
Sargent's picture, but he is most ably assisted by every member of the
supporting cast. "Huckleberry Finn" is much the best boys' picture I have ever
seen. The excellent scenario is the work of Julia Crawford Ivers.
May 1920
Frederick James Smith
MOTION PICTURE CLASSIC
William D. Taylor's screening of Mark Twain's epic of boyhood
disappointed up. The scenario attempted to crowd too much of Twain into the
photoplay, with the result that the film version is episodic and jumpy. There
is a sickening effort to make the freckled Huck into a sentimentalist. But,
with it all, Lewis Sargent does excellent work. His Huck Finn is a spontaneous
and commendable bit of playing.
Judy of Rogues' Harbor
February 13, 1920
VARIETY
...Miss Minter shows improvement with each new production, and her work
in the present feature is by far the best she has done yet. The theme is not a
particularly pleasing one; it's a sob story, but the kind of picture which is
best suited to the star's talents...Some wonderful photography, including a
number of picturesque outdoor scenes, helps the production along. The
interiors are handsome when necessary and the lighting and close-ups
particularly timely. "Judy of Rogues' Harbor" is a feature which will please
those who are looking for human interest in pictures in which there are an
abundance of tears and a lack of humor.
February 17, 1920
HARRISON'S REPORTS
I have read many a dime novel in my life, but hang it if I ever read
anything to equal "Judy of Rogues' Harbor." It is about the wildest thing
ever written. Imagination must have worked unrestrained to write such a
conglomeration. Logic? There "hain't such an animal." Just think of it:
A son is shown attempting to declare his father, Governor of a State, insane,
and thus put him in an insane asylum, because the old man won't give him any
money, and because he is determined to return the fortune he once stole to the
rightful owners. Of course, the heroine overhears the conversation and foils
the plot--as usual. That isn't all: Reds and bombs are part of the
paraphernalia that have been made use of to write the story. Inconsistencies?
Galore. It would take several pages to describe them. The first part of the
picture is too barbarous and cruel. People will no doubt protest
for showing a
picture wherein a little child, a boy of about twelve, is shown treated
brutally by big men. Two big brutes nearly wring the child's arms, and try to
strangle him. In one scene they nearly kill him. The picture is not clean
either. One of the two brutes is shown as having taken advantage of a young
woman, and then refusing to marry her. He, afterwards, has an eye on the
heroine. He is not slow in declaring his intentions either. Blackmail is also
one of the chief features that furnish the motive power. This picture should
never have been made. At least Mary Miles minter should never have been given
this sort of story.
March 1, 1920
NEW YORK TIMES
Mary Miles Minter and an exceptionally good cast...are at the Rialto in
"Judy of Rogues Harbor"...a story of the type, which, it seems, is to become
the stock in trade of Miss Minter, especially as long as William D. Taylor,
specialist in child and rural subjects, is her director. And a not unpleasant
type it is as done by Mr. Taylor, although it indulges a bit too much in
sentiment and romance, but surely it is intended primarily for schoolgirls,
children and their mothers, and might be expected therefore, to be
consistently pleasant and free from offense. "Judy of Rogues Harbor," however,
is by no means pleasant all of the time. Some of its scenes are as ugly in
what they show and suggest as the crises of a brutally realistic work might
be. In such a story as "Judy of Rogues Harbor" they are decidedly
objectionable.
May 1920
PHOTOPLAY
Dorothy Parker says, "It is really the sagacious writers who lavish their
ink on exhortations to be glad, glad, glad; for that is the way to bring in
something to be glad about." How true, how true! Apparently no writer who
offers the faintest excuse for some such subtitle as "Ef yuh got love in yer
heart, nothin' can hurt yuh" has the slightest chance of being turned down by
film producers, no matter how ridiculous the story. "Judy of Rogues' Harbor,"
by Grace Miller White, is one of those pictures calculated to fire you with
the "glad" feeling. It does--it makes you glad, glad, glad to go home. Judy is
a golden haired child brought up in inconceivably brutal surroundings, and yet
she has remained so sweet and pure that she believes it wicked to kiss a nice
boy she wants to, unless they are engaged. Daughters of our best families
should be shamed by her example. The picture makes two points clear--that we
must be on the lookout for Bolshevists, they being the one class of people,
apparently, who do not succumb to the "love in yer heart" treatment, and that
this is a small world after all. Grandfather, daughter, and grandchild have
been living within a stone's throw of each other for years without knowing it.
It is full of unintentional comedy, banalities and unnecessary cruelty.
Nurse Marjorie
April 3, 1920
HARRISON'S REPORTS
As an entertainment, "Nurse Marjorie" is just passable. There is hardly
much human interest in any of the situations. In some parts, the story is
rather silly. The sight of a big, strong man, for instance, acting like a
youth, just because he is in love, is unmanly and rather disgusting. This man,
hero, at times acts in the same manner as a ten year old child, patient in the
same hospital...The story in places, particularly at the close, is too
draggy...
May 28, 1920
VARIETY
This Realart picture is not real art...It is not a brilliant picture.
Without reservation, however, it may be said that the feature qualifies heart
interest solely through the screen charm and personality of its star.
Elsewhere the feature is a flop because the background of London and English
manners and customs is more a picture of events in America, thus
misrepresenting a good deal in atmospheric values, when that quantity would
sustain it to better and efficient purpose. Directors might pay a little more
attention to these minor details when filming substance with an English
background. With London residences tenanted by the wealthier, and London's
slums overrun with muck and filth, as are characteristically different as
Fifth Avenue is from Hester and Orchard streets. Yet these scenes could not be
told apart in this feature, were it not for the titles ever giving the lie to
the fact...The "Nurse Marjorie" of novel repute and the picture are different
in many ways, and although a comparison must be made, that comparison brands
the picture as being too improbable and unreal, and that the text has been
trifled with. The continuity is entirely too racy for actual fact...The
picture has a great measure of comedy relief which the Rivoli audience seemed
to enjoy and did not restrain its laughter as the film unfolded before them.
July 1920
PHOTOPLAY
We have never read the original of this Izrael Zangwill story, but it's
safe to say the author of "The Wandering Jew" did not write it as the film
people did put it out. Here is a light, very light comedy which serves
principally to show that there is no more beautiful camera subject than Mary
Miles Minter. Minter in a nurse's cap, Minter dressed up; Mary smiling and
Mary sad--a lovely, soft, living portrait, but not exactly good drama. Clyde
Fillmore is a new leading man who will have more than his share of feminine
adulation when this picture is circulated. It's hard to believe that this
little expose is life as it is lived in upper-class England.
Jenny Be Good
May 8, 1920
HARRISON'S REPORTS
An expensive production of a poor story,--a story which is an aggregation
of unrelated material forced into relation by the will of the author.
Everything imaginable, from a woman dope fiend, through a burglary and a
woman labor strike, down to an automobile wreck in which the hero survives,
has been made use of to construct the plot. Imagination runs wild in it...
July 2, 1920
VARIETY
This Realart feature was adapted for the screen by Julia Crawford Ivers
from the story by Wilbur Finley Fauley. William Desmond Taylor did the
direction and deserves a world of credit for saving it from becoming
ridiculous at times. The story covers as much ground as a circus tent, and the
efforts of the entire supporting cast to wreck little Miss Minter's life's
happiness by keeping her away from her sweetheart degenerate into the
mellowest of mello-drama. It would take a Nazimova to do justice to the
emotional opportunities that are thrust upon the little golden-haired star,
and she very wisely sticks to her well-known girlish interpretation...Miss
Minter succeeds in building up a wistful appeal through sheer youth and a
knowledge of her own limitations...The photography is excellent, both the
interiors and exteriors following in faultless visualization. The production
is elaborate, a fancy ball scene being as big a thing of its kind as the
screen has witnessed in many a day. The cast was totally adequate, and
Miss Margaret Shelby as Jolanda Van Mater, the drug addict, gave the popular
conception of a person addicted to narcotics. The exterior scenes are
particularly beautiful, and it is in this kind of a background that Miss
Minter shows to particular advantage. All her outdoor work had the ring of
sincerity. It was only when she was forced through the scenario to accept the
artificial environment of the hothouse plant that she was wrestling with
problems and emotions that had not place in her sweet girlish atmosphere.
October 1920
PHOTOPLAY
There would seem to be no reason for telling Mary Miles Minter to be
good. She is anyway. We should like to see her be very bad for once, but would
Realart let her? If you like Mary, you'll find this better-than-average Minter
entertainment. It's not so saccharine as some, while M. M. M. is naive and
fairly natural.
The Soul of Youth
August 16, 1920
NEW YORK TIMES
Boys, dogs, cats and other semi-domestic animals are good motion picture
subjects when photographed naturally, because by nature they are endowed with
free and unconscious charms which the camera can catch for the screen. If they
are trained to be "smart," to do things not natural to them, they lose their
charm and are interesting, when not depressing, only to the extent that their
tricks excite curiosity as to the methods of their trainers. One of the motion
picture directors who, apparently, does not believe in training boys and dogs
and cats, but prefers to have them play naturally before his camera is William
Desmond Taylor, who is chiefly and most deservedly known for his picturization
of the Mark Twain stories, the last and probably best of which was
"Huckleberry Finn." Another of Mr. Taylor's works, "The Soul of Youth," is at
the Rivoli this week, and, despite the solemn self-importance of its title and
other obtruding artificialities, it is in the main a picture of boys, about
boys in their natural and irresistible state, particularly about one boy and
his chum and his dog, who are the life and the only--and entirely sufficient--
reason for being of the story. The part of the principal boy is played by
Lewis Sargent, Mr. Taylor's find for the role of Huck Finn, and it is
earnestly to be hoped that he never learns to act--not until he is full-grown,
anyhow. Lewis impresses one as a natural, attractively ugly "kid," who has not
yet been spoiled by sophistication and to a large extent is unconscious of his
effects. Like him, to some extent, is Ernest Butterworth, who plays the part
of his chum, and the dog--no particular breed, just dog--seems delightfully
free from proficiency in "shaking hands," "begging," and all the other tricks
by which animals are deprived of their refreshing naturalness. For the most
entertaining part of the picture the two boys and the dog are street
ragamuffins, snatching a living where they may, sleeping in a "home" made of
two piano boxes bulled together, and thoroughly enjoying themselves until they
come into conflict with the grown-up world and have to follow its ways. Into
this part of the picture is brought Judge Ben Lindsey and his Juvenile Court,
and there are several scenes of the Judge and his method of dealing with
recalcitrant youngsters. The appearance of Judge Lindsey increases the topical
interest in the picture and in itself does not detract from the interest in
the boys and their dog, but a political melodrama and a movie "romance" have
been loaded on the main story and seriously interfere with it. Whenever a
scene of the melodrama or "romance" suddenly comes between scenes of the boys
one is a bit bewildered, and inclined to ask impatiently, "How did that get in
here?" The impression is that the man in the projection room has mixed up his
reels and started on the wrong photoplay. Also, although much of the sentiment
of the picture is sound and wholesome, at times there is a mawkishness and
insincerity about it that is repellent. However, Mr. Taylor has made many
excellent scenes, his subjects, for the most part, are at their natural best,
and "The Soul of Youth" succeeds in overcoming the obstacles placed in its
way. Except in places quickly passed over it is thoroughly enjoyable.
August 20, 1920
VARIETY
This production is the first of a series of six Realart specials that are
being made under the direction of William D. Taylor. While the first picture
is interesting, capably directed and cleverly acted, it is still far from
being of the caliber of which special productions are made. It is, however, a
picture that if properly exploited will undoubtedly have the power to draw
juvenile audiences at the matinees and undoubtedly bring back some memories to
the older folks...Pictorially there are some very pretty shots and the
production looks as though there had been some real money spent on it in
spots. But it isn't a special and it won't fool any one because it is called
one and played a week on Broadway.
The Furnace
November 28, 1920
VARIETY
The final impression which William D. Taylor's production of "The
Furnace" (Realart) left after a showing as the principal feature at the Rialto
this week was this: The first two reels (approximately) show skill on the
director's part for sustaining interest. The balance is poor judgment in
cutting, imperfect continuity, unconvincing titles and a flatness. One
redeeming feature is in the comedy situations interpreted by Theodore Roberts.
So that no matter how much "The Furnace" glared in amber incandescents on the
Rialto signs, inside it failed to command the interest of the spectator. Julia
Crawford Ivers'' scenario is from the book of the same name by the anonymous
"Pan," which left some supposition in the literary world after its publication
as to the identity of the author. The scenario is again an example of the
limitations of the novel for picture material. And thus if the fault cannot
rightly be placed on the shoulders of either scenario writer or director, the
point remains that the picture is padded to the limit...What is most
commendable in the direction is the fact that Mr. Taylor is able to hold his
audience in such a masterful degree in the opening two reels, and then the
theme wanders. All of it is due, it seems, to numerous situations which do not
advance the action. It appears, too, that the extravagant dance scene on which
a small fortune must have been lavished is not interpolated for the story
value, but to give the picture a commercial boost which producers think is
necessary. The production is big in a massive and architectural sense, and in
detail...The cast is uniformly good, but the characters make their appearance
in more situations than is good for any of them...
The Witching Hour
March 4, 1921
VARIETY
The William D. Taylor production of Augustus Thomas' play presented by
Jesse Lasky via Paramount is not an especially happy translation from stage to
screen. It is current this week at the Rialto. It is a painstaking effort in
adaptation and as far as it closely follows the spoken play is understandable.
But when the translator tries to interpolate touches of characteristic film
comedy the effect is not good. The play managed to cover up the newspaper
exposure of the vengeful district attorney by Brookfield without going into
details, but the screen must be very literal about it, filming the very
newspaper text, headline and all. The newspaper that printed such an item as
the one Mr. Taylor shows would have its editor in jail in half an hour, and
the man who wrote the headline would have been fired "pronto" or sooner...More
serious was the interpolated bit of having Lew Ellinger, presumably a person
of some rank in the community and a white man, engage in a game of craps with
a group of darky boy ragamuffins. The film people seem to be held in no
restraint by any laws of probabilities. The crap incident struck someone as a
comedy point and they went to it without reserve of good sense or good taste.
The story doesn't lend itself to picturization anyhow. There is too much
explaining to do. That was a defect in the play. It was all argument and not
much action as it was played on the stage, even with all the aids of dialogue.
On the screen the task of covering the abstract subject of "mental telepathy"
upon which the whole tale hangs is beyond the power of printed titles, be they
ever so skillfully devised...Without the illusion of living, speaking actors
the screen story is not convincing, although the players who interpret the
screen version are uncommonly sincere and genuine...Added to the crap game and
the newspaper passages, the filming of a negro cakewalk scarcely seemed to be
in the atmosphere of the story, given as it was with such strong emphasis.
Here again the director was led astray in his effort to inject comedy
interludes in a story which should not for a moment be permitted to relax in
its tension. They had much better have stuck to the Thomas text. That at least
had consistent dramatic values, whatever may be said for its plausibility,
a subject that provoked wide debate when it was presented more than a decade
ago on Broadway. In a faultless stage presentation the story was not too
convincing. As a silent drama, it is doubly hard to swallow.
Sacred and Profane Love
April 22, 1921
VARIETY
"Sacred and Profane Love" is a Paramount picture, starring Elsie
Ferguson, and produced by William D. Taylor. Before reaching the screen it
appeared in the form of a novel, and during the season of 1919-20 was
presented as a play, running for a considerable period in one of the Broadway
houses...The theme is a bit broad for general picture consumption...The
incidents of the story relating to Carlotta's first affair with the pianist
are very plainly brought out. But that was the story, and the director had no
other recourse but to place it on the screen. The picture on the whole is an
average program production. Miss Ferguson gives a likable performance as
Carlotta, minus any great depth, but pleasing withal. The acting honors go to
Conrad Nagel, as Diaz, the pianist, his sense and interpretation of the
absinthe fiend being especially good. The rest of the cast are adequate...
July 1921
PHOTOPLAY
...The story of "Sacred and Profane Love" is rather muddled in the
telling as it has been cut for the screen. To any unfamiliar with the real
adventures of Carlotta Peel it must be extremely difficult to understand her
wanderings over half the earth and the part various undeveloped romances
played in her life. The opening incident of her meeting with and romantic
enslavement by Diaz, the pianist, is convincing and delicately handled out of
respect for the new order of censorship. But the story breaks there and the
rest of the it is wobbly and uncertain...
Wealth
July 1, 1921
VARIETY
The first thing striking you about this Lasky offering current at the
Rialto is the frequency with which what story there is is advanced by inserts.
It is based on an original by Cosmo Hamilton and the continuity is by Julia
Crawford Ivers, William D. Taylor directed. Apparently its substance, purpose
and idea can best be visualized by imagining its motto to be, "It is better to
be poor than rich."...Competently handled, this might have scored, but as it
stands it is dressed up to conceal its defects. There are rich and costly
interiors, a cabaret scene expensive in every way, and Miss Clayton's gowns to
help...
Beyond
September 9, 1921
VARIETY
"Beyond" is from the Henry Arthur Jones' story, "The Lifted Veil." Julia
Crawford Ivers provided the screen version and William D. Taylor directed.
Paramount is sponsoring the production. Ethel Clayton is starred. The theme is
not novel, being that of the shipwrecked wife returning to her former home
after spending a year on a desolate island, only to find her husband married
to another. Distinctiveness is aimed at, however, in this film by having
spiritual instincts move the characters, the premise being that some are
distinctly swayed by a spiritual side while others are immune because of being
too material. In the reasoning out the director has lost sight of essential
plausibility, causing too artificial an appeal, and making the action taut and
blunt at times. This accounted for the audience at the Rivole showing Sunday
giggling audibly during serious passages. It is possible, though, that
originally the proper concept was achieved, with inept cutting doing the harm.
"Beyond" has been mounted sumptuously, its interpretation is thoroughly in
keeping, there is enough human interest to hold the spectator, and the psychic
element saves it from being a "groove" affair, but the discriminating patrons
will hardly display enthusiasm over it...
Morals
January 6, 1922
VARIETY
This Realart, directed by William D. Taylor and featuring May McAvoy, is
just about a perfect picture. Based on "The Morals of Marcus Ordeyne," by
William J. Locke, which Famous did once before back in 1915, each scene is
given its proper value. The cutting is clean and effective, and the direction
satisfactory in the best sense. Miss McAvoy seems to have the happy faculty of
inspiring her directors to their best, and she certainly gives of her best.
The cast is right with her in that respect, too...Effective acting and cutting
fairly shot this story across...
The Green Temptation
March 20, 1922
NEW YORK TIMES
...In some ways "The Green Temptation" is one of the most elaborate, or
diversified, films Mr. Taylor ever made, and for all his scenes Mr. Taylor
obtained apparently authentic backgrounds and in each case he suited the
action to the setting...It is full of inconsistencies, it is too freely
melodramatic at times, it becomes overly sentimental here and there, and as a
whole it is loosely put together, but the separate scenes dominated by Mr.
Kosloff and Miss Compson hold you nevertheless. Mr. Kosloff is especially
compelling.
March 24, 1922
VARIETY
The best thing about this Paramount picture at the Rivoli is the work of
Betty Compson, reduced to a quite miraculous slenderness and making a
particularly appealing figure as the wistful waif of Paris, associate of
thieves and a thief herself, who is regenerated by her sufferings and newly
aroused compassions as a nurse at the front in Flanders. The story is adapted
from "The Noose," a novel by Constance Lindsay Skinner, by Monte M. Katterjohn
and Julia Crawford Ivers, and bears the name as director of William D. Taylor,
who was murdered in Los Angeles last month..."The Green Temptation" is an
interesting story, well handled and possessing a strong sentimental appeal,
although it is guiltless of anything but superficial significance. It is just
an intelligently managed crook melodrama with a touch of refinement and
polish. It is satisfactory theatrical entertainment, a skillfully contrived
illusion. The story has some of the defects innate in the adapted novel,
chiefly an embarrassing abundance of material. There are moments when it is
difficult to readily identify the characters, although this defect is not
nearly so emphatic as usual in screened novels...
HARRISON'S REPORTS
A lavishly produced story of Apache life. With the exception of about two
reels in the middle, where it drags a little, the interest is maintained well.
Some of the situations are thrilling, and human interest is present all the
way through...This is the last picture William Desmond Taylor directed before
his murder; it gives unquestionable evidence that he was a director of first
rank.
June 1922
PHOTOPLAY
Highly colored and improbable, but if you aren't too literal-minded you
will get an average amount of enjoyment out of the hectic adventures of Betty
Compson, a beautiful crook, Theodore Kosloff--a great actor, by the way--as a
master robber, and Mahlon Hamilton as the rescuing angel. Betty reforms but
Theodore doesn't, and then the fun begins.
The Top of New York
June 23, 1922
VARIETY
The picture is a frank sentimental melodrama without pretention to
anything else. The action is built up around the troubles of a working girl (a
shop girl at that), and it follows in design a host of old fashioned plays and
pictures that fall in the same category. It's frank, candid fiction without
any subtle relation to life and so makes its appeal to the more elemental
tastes of the public. It is clean straightaway romance and serves its purpose
satisfactory, even if it is not particularly significant in purpose and
meaning. The modern scenario writers have discussed these social problems in
rather a more subtle manner than the melodrama writers of ten years ago when
"Bertha the Sewing Machine Girl" was the type. Socialism and parlor Bolshevism
have changed the terms and the technique somewhat but the material is much the
same. In the present case the scenario writer and the director have reverted
to the old style. Here we have the poor working girl struggling against the
dishonorable plottings of her rich employer, trying to remain straight under
the temptation of his proffered luxury. The problem remains fixed, only the
medium of dramatic discussion has changed and this production comes on the
screen as a rather crude and old fashioned affair. Dealing in old fashioned
materials, it is only natural that Taylor made use of the old fashioned
devises. For example his shop girl wears one of those short length, blonde
wigs that used to be the trade mark of young beauty in distress; the heroine
lives in squalor under the patronage of a drunken uncle and a bullying aunt
and the surroundings are a tenement house in the slums. All the paraphernalia
of the melodrama of a generation ago is present...It's all family story paper
type of fiction rather than the modern effort to reflect real life. The
picture has theatrical force, but it is eminently lacking in realism. It is
possible that a certain element of the fan public likes its drama in more or
less childish terms, but the drift has been away from the obvious to the
subtly realistic. We do not take our heroines any more as altogether,
inhumanly good and our villains as unqualifiedly viciously worthless. We
prefer some semblance of shading between good and bad such as everyday
experience has taught us is the state of the world rather than the stage
creations...This picture goes back to the old technique and it comes before as
raw and unconvincing...
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Sources for More Information about Taylor's Films
For Taylor's filmography, see WILLIAM DESMOND TAYLOR: A DOSSIER, pp. 433-
445. For synopses of Taylor's feature films see the AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE
CATALOG OF MOTION PICTURES PRODUCED IN THE UNITED STATES, 1911-1920 and 1921-
1930. For a modern review of Taylor's extant films see Richard Koszarski,
"The William Desmond Taylor Mystery," in GRIFFITHIANA (October 1990), pp. 253-
256.
Some fan magazines published short-story versions of films, accompanied
by stills from the movies. Among Taylor's films featured in this manner were:
"Davy Crockett," MOTION PICTURE (September 1916)
"Big Timber," PHOTOPLAY (September 1917)
"Mile-A-Minute-Kendall," PHOTOPLAY (May 1918)
"Captain Kidd, Jr.," MOTION PICTURE CLASSIC (September 1918)
"Johanna Enlists," PHOTOPLAY (November 1918)
"Anne of Green Gables," PHOTOPLAY (January 1920)
"Judy of Rogues' Harbor," MOTION PICTURE CLASSIC (April-May, 1920)
"The Witching Hour," MOTION PICTURE CLASSIC (March 1921)
"Sacred and Profane Love," MOTION PICTURE CLASSIC (March 1921)
"Morals," MOTION PICTURE (February 1922)
"The Green Temptation," MOTION PICTURE CLASSIC (April 1922)
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For more information about Taylor, see
WILLIAM DESMOND TAYLOR: A DOSSIER (Scarecrow Press, 1991)
Back issues of Taylorology are available via Gopher or FTP at
etext.archive.umich.edu
in the directory pub/Zines/Taylorology
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