THE SCREEN; A Gay Cruze.
Date: 11 December 1922
The latest James Cruze-Walter Woods-Wallace Reid skit, "Thirty Days," at the Rivoli this week doesn't get anywhere in particular nor go very fast as a story, but it is a gay piece of foolishness and keeps the spectator in pretty continuous good humor. You don't often laugh out loud at its aimless nonsense, but you are likely to find yourself chuckling most of the time. Wallace Reid is at his farcing again, which means that he is doing the thing he seems cut out for, and James Cruze, one of the most spirited directors in the business, has made some more of his sharp-edged pictures. Exactly what part Mr. Woods played in the adaptation of the Thomas-Hamilton comedy to the screen one who sees only the finished screen product cannot say, for it's impossible to tell where scenarist leaves off and director begins—but it is probable that, as usual, he shares the credit with Mr. Cruze, and, as usual, there is enough for both of them.There really isn't any coherent story to the piece. There isn't any plot that matters. However, it may be reported that Wallace Reid is a young man in love, who has a sympathetic nature which makes him do things that his sweetheart and others call flirting. He becomes sympathetic with the wife of an Italian, who always carries an anatomically inquisitive knife, and he escapes from this reliably murderous gentleman only to find, when he seeks the safety of his home, that the ready revenger has been employed as master of the carving knives in his own kitchen. Still seeking safety, the young man has himself arrested and sentenced to serve thirty days in jail, but when he is securely incarcerated he finds that vendetta-hound has gotten into trouble—and the same jail—too.And so it goes, with much fooling on the side, and most of it not essential to the scrambled plot, being merely ridiculous business, with Mr. Reid lending in the absurdities, but not too far ahead of Herschell Mayall as the Italian, Cyril Chadwick as the hero's rival, and Kalla Pasha as the jailer.So, although "Thirty Days" lacks substance, and may annoy you sometimes because it could have been more robust, it still can be remembered as lightening as well as light entertainment and a happy relief from stupid films that take themselves seriously.Also at the Rivoli is an interesting and sometimes scenically stirring picture called "In the Land of the Hula," which is a pictorial record of a trip to Hawaii. In the pictorial is another of the Levenson music films, too, not so effectively colored as some of the others, but featuring an eccentric travesty of "The Dying Swan." It is called "The Sick Swan.