PATHS TO PARADISE
Starring Raymond Griffith and Betty Compson
PHOTOPLAY
September, 1925
Many laughs are in store for you this month. Another comedy that proves to be a riot with laughs from beginning to end. This is a splendid crook comedy with the silk hat comedian, Raymond Griffith, and Betty Compson in the featured roles. As for Griffith -- each production marks a step forward.
Griffith, a bogus detective, is guarding jewels at a fashionable wedding. He meets Betty, one of the maids, also waiting her chance to steal the gems. They team up. By tricking the real detectives, they make a snappy escape to Mexico. But the police give chase. This is one of the funniest incidents you have ever seen. And it is thrilling, too! As they reach the border they decide that honesty is the best policy. Back they go, and the race continues.
PATHS TO PARADISE
starring Raymond Griffith and Betty Compson
MOTION PICTURE MAGAZINE
October, 1925
The silk-hatted comedian, Raymond Griffith, has a rollicking number, adapted from the Paul Armstrong play, "The Heart of a Thief." The premise upon which it is founded is hoary with age, but it is handled deftly. It relates the experiences of a gentleman crook and his girl friend who decide to go straight after some heart-breaking efforts to gain possession of a diamond worth a fortune. Griffith makes much merriment as the world's greatest detective. The fun starts in Chinatown, travels to Mexico, and then back to San Francisco for the finish.
PATHS TO PARADISE
starring Raymond Griffith and Betty Compson
MOTION PICTURE CLASSIC
September, 1925
Several genuinely amusing comedies have appeared. One of these, "Paths to Paradise" (Famous Players) starring Raymond Griffith and his redoubtable silk hat, was a big New York hit.
The producers took the late Paul Armstrong's "The Heart of a Thief" and kidded this melodrama of a dude crook into a hilariously wild farce. The director, Clarence Badger, has stopped at nothing in his quest for the elusive laugh. There is even a comedy chase with the dashing thief driving this racing-car over chasms and everything.
It isn't the wildness of the comedy that puts it across, however. This Griffith is an adroit and sure farceur, a comedian who can make his laughs crackle from the silver screen. The past year has been the period of sophistication in filmdom, and Griffith is the latest example. He is the clown with the suave, man-of-the-world exterior, the wise crocker de luxe.
PATHS TO PARADISE
starring Raymond Griffith and Betty Compson
PICTURE PLAY
October, 1925
Raymond Griffith is getting so good that something should be done about it. Hardly a month goes by that he doesn't make one of the best comedies I have ever seen. At least that's what I think every time I see him.
This time the picture is about some pleasant crooks. At first they try to outwit one another, and then they join hands and decide to steal a diamond pendant.
Two detectives are their unwilling aids, and the theft is prolonged pleasantly throughout the picture. In the end, they reform, but not seriously.
All Mr. Griffith's pictures are so nicely timed. The comedy is set at a certain pace and holds to it, and "Paths to Paradise" is no exception.
Betty Compson is the lady crook. I don't quite see why her
name should be the same type o the program as Mr. Griffith's.
Video source: Facets