The New Pictures

The Pony Express. Paramount has been advertising for some time this picture as a "western epic" and the sequel to The Covered Wagon. James Cruze who directed that unforgettable history also held the megaphone on The Pony Express. He did not talk so convincingly to his actors; the story was wrong; something was the matter. For several reels the picture gallops along at a good gait. Excitement and conviction. Then it suddenly tires out and ends half asleep. It is a story of the West and Southwest just before the Civil War and deals with the juggling of state despatches. Ernest Torrence and Ricardo Cortez perform acceptably. Betty Compson, the love interest, is rather less effective.

Bunker. Bean. Harry Leon Wilson's extraordinary story of a timid young man who imagined he was an Egyptian potentate and made good on the confidence he gained from ruling in his dream, has been pretty badly mangled on the screen. Matt Moore, able comedian, is miscast, being for one thing several years too old. The twists of character and the strange development of fantasy are lost. The film descends to the vague and chaotic level of slapstick comedy.

Souls for Sables. The heart sinks at such a title. You can conjure the plot with the most elementary mental work. You know that some poor girl sold herself to some rich man and then was sorry. So she did. Running through the film there is a parallel tale of another girl who almost did the same thing. When girl No. 1 ended with a bullet in her heart, girl No. 2 hurried back to her husband. Claire Windsor is the principal performer.

Shore Leave. The last play in which David Belasco presented Frances Starr was the basis for this film play. The interest is shifted to focus on the leading man capably played by Richard Barthlemess. He is a member of the U. S. Navy who makes the acquaintance, one day on leave, of a spinster seamstress. She falls in love with him. He promises to come back to her and eventually does. The U. S. Navy in person assisted in the filming of many scenes. "Cripes" and "spigotty" are givtn as U. S. sailor talk. The net entertainment profit is very low.