STELLA DALLAS
Starring Belle Bennett
PHOTOPLAY
December, 1925
Photoplay recommends this picture, without the slightest reservation, to every theatergoer, hoping that the public will demonstrate its appreciation of a great screen drama by rewarding its producer with unmistakable approval. Say it with tickets - the song of the box-office is sweeter music than the arias of the critics.
"Stella Dallas" comes nearer being a perfect translation of a novel to the screen than any picture in screen history. It is a masterful piece of work, reflecting credit on its producer, Samuel Goldwyn, its director, Henry King, its continuity writer, Frances Marion, its author, Olive Higgins Prouty, and every member of the cast and organization.
Here, too, is one of the greatest performances ever given to the screen - that of Belle Bennett in the title role. The role of the dowdy, ill-bred wife of a rising young lawyer, developing from a buxom girl of nineteen through to a tragic middle age and renunciation of her only child, is one of the most difficult that any actress has ever been called upon to do, and Mr. Goldwyn's selection of her for the part was a stroke of genius, as was the work of the director in guiding her through the characterization. As a matter of fact, nearly every performance in the picture ranks as one of the best of the month in a production that stands alone among its competitors on these pages this month.
Lois Moran flashes onto the screen as a glorious addition to our younger stars; Ronald Colman, Alice Joyce, Jean Hersholt, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., almost uncanny in his remarkable resemblance to his gifted father, all deserve praise far beyond the limited space of this report.
Go and see this picture or forever hold your peace about the art of the motion picture.