Friday Nov 14

Home & Movies

----------

Matt's Notes

Papa doesn't say what movies he saw on this night, but some choices included:

• The Fast Worker, a light comedy starring Reginald Denny
• East of Broadway, the story of a young man who fails his entrance exam for the New York City police force because he thinks the Tropic of Capricorn is in the Bronx
• The Lover of Camille, and adaptation of the play "Deburau" deemed by the New York Times to be a mere shadow of its stage production
• The Greatest Love of All, an interesting-sounding experiment in which, it seems, the film stops in the middle and its actors appear live on stage to finish out the story. The Times liked the conceit but not the story: "This novelty is worth seeing because of the combination of actors in shadow form and in the flsh, but cuts should be made in both chapters."
• The Garden of Weeds, a disappointing effort, according to the Times, from James Cruz, director of the huge hit The Covered Wagon. (The Covered Wagon played for over a year in New York and was Photoplay Magazine's choice for best picture of 1923. I've never seen it, but the VHS version will soon be on its way.)
• The Battling Orioles, a slapstick comedy written and directed by Hal Roach.
• He Who Gets Slapped, a serious drama starring Lon Chaney and called "faultless" by the Times.
• The Beloved Brute, a Western starring the ex-boxer Victor McLagien, who would go on to receive a best actor Academy Award for his role in 1935's The Informer and a nomination for his supporting role in 1952's The Quiet Man.

Other films in town included Hot Water with Harold Lloyd, Dante's Inferno, The Ten Commandments and The Iron Horse.