The New Pictures

Trailing African Wild Animals. Mr. and Mrs. Martin Johnson are the latest tripod nimrods to return to Broadway with the pelts and carcasses (in celluloid) of giraffes and jungle tigers. In the classic English of a recent advertisement they bring the " mighty monarchs of the murky morass, pinioned and pictured."

Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have gone one step beyond any of their predecessors in photographing snakes, leopards, zebras and lions in private life. It's getting to the point in Africa where no zebra can take a drink without suddenly perceiving the camera click in the bushes of the water hole. And as for elephants taking a bath--they might just as well give it up as far as any privacy is concerned. All of which is a manner of saying that the present film is uncommonly realistic. For sceptics who refuse to accept this statement on the grounds that the critic's African information is derived solely from childhood visits to the zoo, it may be said that the film has been placed in the archives of the American Museum of Natural History as a scientific record.

The Girl of the Golden West. This picture, by Puccini's opera, out of David Belasco's play, reveals movies prepared in the Rockies, seasoned with Mexican spurs and served with a garnishing of pistol shots. To make the result completely satisfactory, the cook (Director Edwin Carew) followed Belasco's original recipe carefully. Accordingly his play combines plausibility with excitement. For such a movie may the strange gods of Hollywood be praised.

Sylvia Breamer is consistently entertaining in the title role. With the exception of Warren Kerrigan, her satellites twinkle pleasantly in their several spheres. Kerrigan has apparently been touched by the Valentino influence and plays his highwayman a trifle daintily.

The spirit of the piece is sustained in the direction and the titling. Example: "In the days of '49 mails were scarce and females scarcer."

Soul of the Beast. Here are two widely different points. of appeal. One is the curious fascination of an amiable trick elephant (Oscar); the other the uncommon good looks of the heroine. Though the rest of the production be negligible, for those who have a friendly feeling for Madge Bellamy and elephants it will afford a modicum of entertainment.