THE JACK-KNIFE MAN
starring Harry Turner, Bobby Kelso and Florence Vidor
PHOTOPLAY
November, 1920
The family will indorse "The Jack-Knife Man." Mother
and the girls will like it because it is homely and true and sympathetic.
Father and the boys will approve because it is shot through with
bits of adventure on a Mississippi houseboat. There is wholesome
comedy and a strain of sentiment that is not permitted to become
cheap or maudlin, and what the sophisticated fanatic may dismiss
as hokum is honest hokum. In addition to these commanding virtues,
it presents King Vidor at his atmospheric best in his treatment
of Ellis Parker Butler's story. The scenes are effective, the
landscapes beautiful, the rain a little thick but very real, and
the river shots true enough to suggest that they were taken along
the shores of the old Father of Waters itself. The story suggests
all the other stories of gentle old men brought into contact with
the love of a child. Peter Lane, something better than a tramp,
considerably less than a gentleman, falls heir to "Buddy,"
the four year-old offspring of a careless lady who dies while
she is escaping from a life of which she has grown weary. The
little fellow snuggles down close to the old gentleman's heart,
and when the authorities, represented by an avaricious agent of
a home-finding society, attempts to take him away, Peter demures
and likewise decamps. To amuse the boy, he whittles toys for him
out of soft pine sticks and is happy -- until "Booge"
comes along. "Booge" is another ne'er-do-well with the
true paternal spirit, and Peter's jealousy of Buddy's love for
him is both pathetic and amusing. The ending sees all parties
to the adventure happy, with Peter marrying a widow lady that
he may have a real home for the boy, and "Booge" taking
again to the open road. The cast is headed by Fred Turner, whose
characterization of Peter is excellent; Harry Todd, an equally
good Booge; and Bobby Kelso as the boy. Florence Vidor and Lillian
Leighton lend capable support.