The New Pictures

The Snob. The Snob tries something new, fails, and is a little dull. Honor to it for the trying. Some day, perhaps, motion pictures will have progressed to the point of psychological character study. The Snob is a stride, a short one to be sure, in that direction. It presents a shallow man with a shiny surface; a professor in a small school "making an impression." He marries the sweet and simple maiden, intrigues with another for his material advancement ; loses the sweet and simple. An unfortunately prosaic performance by John Gilbert blurs the effort badly.

The Tornado. More thunder and lightning were hired for this picture than went toward producing the original flood. Rains fall and logs jam. The bridge is swept away. On the bridge are the drenched heroine and the terribly wet villain. Into the troubled torrent of logs, bridge, water, villain, railroad cars and heroine dives hero. Out come heroine and hero. Down sinks villain.

Drawn from the robust old type of early motion picture, where the plot works with the precision of a saltwater-taffy machine, where a convulsion of the elements underscores the climax and where honor and the great outdoors are glorified, the film is honestly old-fashioned and not unexciting. House Peters plays the lead.

The Last Man on Earth. A perfectly preposterous and exceedingly amusing trick has been perpetrated on the patient public. William Fox has dared to produce a nonsense film. The date is years and years ahead. The world is ruled by women. One man is left alone. You may wonder afterward why you laughed so steadily at his adventures and the fate of the women-won world. Anyway, you'll laugh.

Tongues of Flame. Just because Thomas Meighan is about the most valuable male performer now before the camera is no reason why his films should be so flimsy. People will keep coming for just about three times to see a favorite in unworthy pictures. Tongues of Flame is Meighan's second in succession. It is a yarn about a band of Indians (real red ones) who went to war. The star leads them in France and returns to America to save their reservation from the clutches of the rich. Add a girl to this and you have one of our less important pictures.

Inez from Hollywood. Lewis Stone is one of the few handsome actors who does as is. He is surrounded by Anna Q. Nilsson and Mary Astor; the pictorial effect of the principals is undeniably desirable. The story takes him out to Hollywood on a hunt for the worst woman in the film fields; takes him back to the East where he meets her sister. Included are many interesting glances at the inside of the Hollywood cinema factories.