THE BARKER
Starring Milton Sills, Betty Compson and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
MOTION PICTURE MAGAZINE
September 1928
This is by far the best handling the tent-show scheme has had in pictures. It seems to have a lot of reality, though, of course, I have never traveled with a tent show. And it has two of the handsomest ladies to be seen on the screen. None other than Dorothy Mackaill and Betty Compson. Then there are Milton Sills and Douglas Fairbanks Jr., as father and son, both endowed with enough It to keep the ladies busy making passes at them. The story is of Betty's revenge against her lover, because he has moved out of her compartment and into his son's. And Doorthy is the girl she hires to do the dirty work. Betty looks and acts as she used to when she was probably your favorite star, and holds her own against all new-comers. And as for Dorothy, in her hands revenge is sweet. Not such a good story, except for its one situation, but a very intriguing picture. However, not for the children, unless you're letting them learn about life from the movies.
THE BARKER
Starring Milton Sills, Betty Compson and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
PHOTOPLAY
September 1928
If they would give us more pictures like this, the silent drama would not have to fear the competition of the "talkies." However, "The Barker" is now having some incidental sound applied. You will hear Milton Sills' ballyhoo and persuasive call of the midway.
"The Barker" has a simple story which encompasses all of the elemental emotions in the everyday struggles of a colorful, intensely human group of carnival troupers.
Nifty Miller is a barker who crowds 'em in to see his sweetheart-hula dancer. His passion for her is second only to his love for his boy. When that lad jumps his law studies to troupe with his father, her jealousy starts a miniature revolution among the seasoned old-timers. The complications which result blend pathos and humor in a masterful manner.
You will see as perfect a set of troupes as any circus every boasted. Milton Sills as the barker; Betty Compson as his temperamental sweetheart; Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., as the son and Dorothy Mackaill as the boy's sweetheart fit heir parts as naturally as though they had been carnival followers for years. There is no choice for a "best performance."
Director George Fitzmaurice was called to New York to talk "new contract" when First National powers-that-be saw the picture. No wonder! He has created a picture of human-life rather than circus-life.
You cannot afford to miss the humanness and the humor of this production.