The New Pictures

Wages of Virtue is another of those tawdry titles which haul the population into the picture houses. Wages of Virtue is one of those few films which return the hauling charge. Gloria Swanson is chiefly responsible.

She plays an Algerian dance-hall girl in the background of whose tinseled existence is a U. S. soldier. She had formerly dedicated her life to a hulking Luigi who has saved her from drowning. She finds he was not worth it.

Algeria inevitably connotes the Foreign Legion; and a dance hall calls for dancing. Of both, full use is made. Gloria Swanson usually means gowns. No gowns are used. She depends on tatters and her talent as an actress.

The Price of a Party. New York again. Broadway with its surface of enamel happiness and hidden tears. A good girl with a sick mother. An offer of much money for a bit of shady business. Mother to get well on the money, of course. A vampire to solve the situation and wring happiness out of a dripping conclusion. Hope Hampton to play it in association with Harrison Ford, Mary Astor and Dagmar Godowsky.

The Dark Swan is a poor girl who always did things for others. Her sister looked out for nobody but herself. The latter even hooked her young man. Everybody is unhappy, including the audience.