The Last Trail (Thomas Mix). It is a relief, now and then, to sit back and consume a westerner a picture where the hero streaks across the horizon on his able, horse, waves his lasso, humiliates the suave villain, rescues a milk-fed maiden. The plot is worthless; Zane Grey wrote it. The action is great; Cowboy Mix, Horse Tony, Bloodhound Blinkerton, two careening stage coaches did it.
The Night of Love (Ronald Colman). If a duke carries off the bride of a gypsy chieftain, why should the gypsy chieftain not steal the duke's mate? In the 17th Century he should and he did. What with some frenzied mob scenes, some beauteous scenery, some warm gypsy love by Mr. Colman, a near-burning at the stake, a window-jumping by the heroine, The Night of Love is a seeable picture.
The Kid Brother (Harold Lloyd). Great dark houses crashed and rocked with laughter last week. Funnyman Lloyd is loose again. Before permitting himself to be released Mr. Lloyd always examines his gag staff* to be sure no drop of marrow lingers in their funny-bones. He asks the continuity men if they have achieved the highest possible pitch of acceleration. The result is houses that crash and rock. Mr. Lloyd remains original, rapid, hysterogenic. This time he is Harold Hickory, rabbitty member of a bearish backwoods sheriff's family. He outwits his lumbering brothers and a traveling band of medicine fakers; outflirts the faker's delicious dancer (Jobyna Ralston). Latest Lloyd laughables: a "grinning" stork; laundry on a kite string; amorous tree-climbing; a monkey in a man's shoes; synthetic dishwashing; ringtoss with life-preservers to capture the villain, upend him, paddle him ashore with a broom.
*A "gag" is to cinema what a "smart-crack" is to theatre—an action or series of actions (instead of words) conceived and perfected as a distinct unit to be woven into sequence with other "gags," as close together as may be. Funnyman Lloyd, gag connoisseur, exhausted the combined efforts of three expert gagsters in making The Kid Brother.