"Irish Luck" really isn't as bad a picture as Meighan usually performs in, the reason being largely that there are things in it to draw one's attention away from Meighan. There are, for example, some excellent shots of Blarney Castle and the countryside about Killarney which are downright pretty. Just when one's enjoyment of the ivied walls and crested turrets reaches its height, Meighan walks in like an American tourist in a china shop and ruins the entire effect. We would infinitely prefer to see Ireland alone.
In so far as it remains a pleasant travelogue of Ireland, "Irish Luck" is a great picture. Beyond that it is terrible. Knowing how we felt about Mr. Meighan, the producers added insult to injury by using him in a double role, first as an American policeman and secondly as an Irish lord. It reminded us of the time that Buster Keaton took the part of the entire audience, the orchestra, and the cast, in one of his earlier comedies. It was just about as convincing.
In "Madame Behave" Julian Eltinge is allowed to do all the cute things that Sid Chaplin forgot to do in "Charley's Aunt." There are some moments of genuine slap-stick merriment, when Julian's trousers peep from below his skirt and Ann Pennington treats him like a sister. The latter incidently does a near- ly perfect Charleston: one of the two things for which she is noted. But where as Sid Chaplin made an extremely homely and ridiculous woman, Julian Eltinge is far too natural and graceful to be interesting. It is only as a men that he seems ridiculous
Read more in News
Hyde Lectures of Cercle Francais