| Peter Pan 1924 | |
Recommended for all ages. "A perfect blend of fairy tale magic with Sir James Barrie's special kind of whimsy and pathos.... Though essentially theatrical (deliberately and sincerely so, out of respect to the form of the original), and only occasionally taking advantage of the possibilities of the cinema (as in the shots of the mermaids lolling off the Catalina coastline, or the incredibly lovely shot of the galleon taking off from the water and flying back to London), Herbert Brenon's adaptation of Barrie's 'Peter Pan' was an enchanting film. Barrie's text was condensed but undistorted (except for some sub-titles which, for the U.S. market, established the Darling children as Americans), and the beauty of his original dialogue, which could so easily slip into fey or embarrassing sentimentality, was handled by both performers and director with impeccable taste. Most of all, the film owed its success to the energetic, sprightly, dancing, joyous performance by Betty Bronson as Peter. Even if one can sense, occasionally, the off-screen guidance of this then relatively inexperienced teen-age actress, it is a radiant performance, capable of shifting from joy to sadness with the slightest change of expression or a nuance of body movement." --W.K. Everson
• Directed by Herbert Brenon. Written by Willis Goldbeck, from the play by Sir James Barrie. Photographed by James Wong Howe. Special Effects by Roy Pomeroy. With Betty Bronson, Ernest Torrence, Cyril Chadwick, Virginia Brown Faire, Anna May Wong, Esther Ralston. (1924, 101 mins, silent with live musical accompaniment, Print courtesy WKE)

