The New Pictures

Potash and Perlmutter. Abe and Mawruss--in anything that might be called the silent drama? Abe and Mawruss--toned down to the flat black-and-whiteness of the screen? It sounds as mournful as a sixth class French funeral, doesn't it? But, strangely enough, it isn't. Even shorn of actual speech Abe and Mawruss remain uproariously funny -- the same vulgar, unctuous incredible immortals they were when they first sprang twin-Minervas of the cloak-and-suit trade from the brain of Montague Glass. The plot more or less follows the outline of the first Potash and Perlmutter play. Rosie is there--and Feldman the unscrupulous lawyer--and Irma Potash's love affair with Boris Anndrieff. Barney Bernard and Alexander Carr score heavily as the irresistible partners-- even the subtitles are unusually laughable. For an evening of intensive, uncultured enjoyment, Potash and Perlmutter should satisfy any audience that hasn't forgotten how to laugh.

The Call of the Wild. Jack London's story of Buck, the heroic husky of the North, who gave complete devotion to the master who rescued him from other men's brutality, is graphically and convincingly treated in this film version. Jack Mulhall as the kindly miner never leaves one in doubt as to the heart of gold that throbs beneath his mackinaw. And Walter Long, the would-be oppressor of the helpless, is villainous enough for anyone's taste. There isn't too much snow and for once, for a wonder, the dog-hero, though highly talented, doesn't make one wish for an all-canine cast.

Monna Vanna. The Middle Ages, the ages of picturesqueness, make good movie copy. So Maeterlinck's play of the days of the warring Italian city-states has all the advantages of armor, battle and the full trappings of romance. Lee Perry plays the beautiful Monna Vanna to a knight's taste and all that a curious, if bloodthirsty, audience could ask in addition would be more scenes of the heat of battle.

Note

The Shooting of Dan McGrew (Robert W. Service's poem) is soon to be cinematized. Barbara La Marr will appear as "the lady known as Lou."