02/10/2020
"The fool's funny," was the chuckling observation of one of those who saw Charlie Chaplin's new film. "Shoulder Arms," at the Strand yesterday—and, apparently, that's the way everybody felt. There have been learned discussions as to whether Chaplin's comedy is low or high, artistic or crude, but no one can deny that when he impersonates a screen fool he is funny. Most of those who go to find fault with him remain to laugh. They may still find fault, but they will keep on laughing. In "Shoulder Arms" Chaplin is as funny as ever. He is even more enjoyable than one is likely to anticipate because he abandons some of the tricks of former comedies and introduces new properties into his horseplay. His limber little stick, for instance, which had begun to lose its comic character through overuse, does not appear. Instead, Chaplin, camouflaged as a tree trunk, plays destructively with one of the tree's branches. The baggy, black trousers are also gone, giving place to a uniform and such equipment as a soldier never dreamed of. The comedian begins as a rooky, the most awkward member of the awkward squad, and ends by capturing the Kaiser, the Crown Prince, and von Hindenburg. Between the beginning and the end, there are many laughs. There is a Burlingham Travel Scenic on the Strand bill which shows many interesting views of wounded British soldiers arriving in Switzerland, where the people bedecked them with flowers, and there are views of a French tuberculosis hospital in the mountains." Shootin' Mad," with Gilbert Anderson, also at the Strand, is a Wild West photoplay without much merit, either as comedy or melodrama. Another Wild West production was new yesterday at the Rialto. It is "The Pretender," with William Desmond, and in it there are at least comedy bits that deserve the laughter they get. The Rialto also shows "The Triumph of Transportation," which sketches the evolution of transportation from the stage of the naked negro carrying loads swung on a pole to the triumphant time of the modern motor truck. The film shows something of the construction of tracks, and their use at the front and in rural communities. Speaking again of the Woolly West kind of film, the best of the week is at the Rivoli. It is an Alfred Henry Lewis story. "Rose of Wolfville," turned into an amusing photoplay."A Woman of Impulse," with Lina Cavalieri in the leading role, is the Rivoli's featured offering, and although Mme. Cavalieri is undoubtedly capable of good screen acting, and the director of the production, Edward Jose, succeeded in creating a number of scenes dramatically and scenically effective, the play as whole bores one, largely because it starts out in the mood of grand operatic tragedy and then works clumsily into that of modern fictitious trash with a "happy," but weak and ??? ??? ling."Midst Peaceful Scenes," the pictorial at the Rivoli, is one of Van Scoy's, released by the Post Film Company. This will recommend it to many." The Making of a Sailor," an official naval film illustrating the process of sailor-making from the time a youth gazes at a recruiting poster until he becomes a full-fledged seaman, was shown last night at the Fulton Theatre to invited spectators, consisting mostly of the families of men in the service.
