THE BELLE OF BROADWAY
starring Betty Compson and Herbert Rawlinson
HARRISON'S REPORTS
October 30, 1926
Good. There is much human interest in it and her and there a comedy situation that goes over very well. The pathos comes from the mother-love element; a mother meets her son, whom her jealous husband had taken away from her when a baby. The situation showing the son and mother meeting, neither knowing their relationship, is supsensive; the spectator is made to hope that something will happen to let the mother know that the man that the elderly woman toward whom he had felt kindly the first time he saw her, is his mother. But the strongest situation is that which shows the heroine telling the mother that the hero is her son. The scenes that show mother and fiancee rushing in an automobile to prevent the duel between the hero and the villain are thrilling. The story is somewhat different from the usual style in that it presents the heroine impersonating the hero's mother, who had been a famous actress in her younger days; with the consent of the mother, the heroine tells the world that she had been rejuvenated by plastic surgery. While this is not believable, it has been done well enough to be accepted by the picture-goer as a fact. The plot has been founded on the musical comedy, "Adele, the Belle of Broadway;" it has been directed well by Harry O'Hoyt (sic). Miss Compson does good work. So does Mr. Herbert Rawlinson; he wins one's sympathy very easily: --
The story unfolds in Paris and presents an actress who had made a hit also on Broadway, being deserted by her jealous husband, taking their baby son along, because he thought that she had had illicit relations with a count. Years later the actress, now an old woman, is unable to obtain work. She meets the heroine who lived in the same house and is befriended by her. The heroine meets the hero on a rainy day and is attracted by her. The actress, in looking through her wardrobe to make her remember her old days, finds the dress in which she had set Paris crazy as Madame Du Barry. She asks the heroine to put it on to see how she would look in it. She is surprised to find the heroine her own exact image of Du Barry when young. Immediately she conceives the idea that the heroine could pose as the rejuvenated herself. The heroine poses as the famous actress and succeeds in the hoax. Favors are lavished upon her. The count, who had caused the separation of the actress and her husband, suspects that the heroine is a hoax, and threatens to tell unless she "submits" to him. The hero interferes and a duel results, out of which the hero comes unscathed. The heroine tells the mother the glad news. Hero and heroine marry with the blessings of the happy mother.
While is not a bad picture for the masses, it is suited chiefly for the better element.
For more information, see "The Belle of Broadway" as our "Feature of the Month"