THE CANADIAN
starring Thomas Meighan and Mona Palma
PICTURE PLAY MAGAZINE
March 1927
Thomas Meighan's "The Canadian" is good because it is a study of character. Played at slow tempo, it nevertheless holds one's attention until the end and, incidentally offers Meighan his best role in many moons - far better, it seems to me, than the one he had in "Tin Gods."
He is Frank Taylor, a worker in the wheat fields of Northwestern Canada, and he doesn't turn out to be a British nobleman or even a philanthropist. He remains a man of the soil.
His employer is Ed Marsh, anEnglishman of good family who has married Gertie and adapted himself to the rough-and-ready life of the outdoors. Ed's sister, Nora, comes from London to join them because of financial reverses, and rebels at the ugliness of her new environment. Franks uncouthness repels her and she quarrels with Gertie. Finally, in sheer desperation, she married Frank to escape Gertie, and then when the chance suddenly comes to go back to England, she decides to say with him.
From the start the picture moves forward - slowly, but interestingly - and is well worth seeing. Meighan is sincere and convincing, and Mona Palma is appropriately icy as Nora. Wyndham Standing, absent from the screen for some time, returns to play Ed skillfully, and Dale Fuller is capital as the vixenish Gertie. Charles Winninger, the stage comedian, scores as a farm laborer.
THE CANADIAN
starring Thomas Meighan and Mona Palma
PHOTOPLAY
February 1927
Here's Tommie Meighan as a Canadian farmer, though there is really
nothing of consequence in this tid-bit. The direction and acting
are good but the story has no objective - with the result that
it relies on the appeal of its star for its popularity. The love
sequence becomes sloppily sentimental - resembling the usual Glyn
affair - that there must be hatred and disillusionment before
husband and wife love one another. If you like Tom, all right.
For more information, see "The Canadian" as our "Feature of the Month"