The New Pictures

Lost in the Arctic. In 1913, Explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson led an expedition for the Canadian government into the Arctic. Four men became cut off from the main party and were never heard from. Ten years later, H. A. and Sidney Snow set out with cameras to discover what happened to the four men. Lost in the Arctic is an authentic and thrilling record of the Snow expedition. They went up the west coast of Alaska, hunting whales and walruses, lassoing a 2,200-pound polar bear and taking him aboard ship alive, hobnobbing with colonies of seals, strange birds, Eskimos. North of Alaska, on Herald Island, they found the remains of a tent, guns, cooking utensils and the bones of four men lying, side by side, on the frozen ground. The Snows, father and son, buried the bones, solemnly, and then raised a flag claiming Herald Island for the U. S. Explorer Stefansson commented on the film via Movietone.

Hot News. After 15 minutes of nonsense on the antics of news reel camera-grinders, including some scrambling on the head of a fake Statue of Liberty, Hot News becomes hilarious and develops a plot. There is a Maharajah, who has never been photographed. Miss Pat Clancy (Bebe Daniels*) and her cocky rival, Scoop Morgan, set out to film the Maharajah. Disguised as entertainers, they are admitted to a country estate where he is sojourning. They put on a dance which is really a fight for a camera crank, with Miss Pat kicking, biting, and wrapping her legs about the neck of Scoop Morgan. Later, the Maharajah discovers that he has been photographed; he swoons. A doctor offers to aid him, takes him to a tent, murders him, steals his precious emerald. And, all the while, Miss Pat, hidden in an adjoining tent, is recording every detail of the murder with her camera. How this scoop of scoops reached the office and what happened to Miss Pat are done in the best delayed-climax manner.

Forbidden Hours. In a land somewhere in the Balkans perhaps, King Michael IV (Ramon Novarro) loves a prime minister's niece (Renee Adoree). He is such a good king and his love is so sincere that the people accept the girl as their queen. It might make a willy-nilly musical comedy.

United States Smith. For the sake of the education of a poor boy, U. S. Smith of the U. S. Marines plans to raise money by throwing a prize fight. But the poor boy says: "No, you mustn't do that." And so U. S. Smith knocks out his opponent, wins glory and a girl. Undistinguished cast, undistinguished action.

* She fits, better than most, the gum-chewers' idea of a movie queen. They can call her a senorita because she has one-half Spanish blood in her. They can say she has famed "It" because she has often appeared on the screen without very many clothes (Male and Female). They can suspect her of fickle loves (Sprinter Charles Paddock). They know she is ath-a-let-tic by the way she bounces around on the screen. She may be classified somewhere between a capable actress and a capable clown.