GREAT GABBO MISSES GREATNESS

Page Nine Von Stroheim Plays Great Gabbo. With Sympathetic Understanding Songs Dances Out of Place Says Critic. The Great Gabbo film attraction at Ilie Palace Orpheum theater this week misses greatness by about three songs and five dances. It is essentially a fantastic story of a temperamental ventriloquist as wierd a tale as ever could he conceived by the unusual Ben Hecht Into it very unfortunately the directors have seep fit to inject in numerable musical comedy scenes songs and dances that add nothing new in the way of entertainment and succeed only in delaying the plot.

The strangeness of the story and the mighty acting of Erich von Stroheim alone prevent the plot from being entirely submerged in a flood of dance scenes. It is Stro heims first talking role Gabbo is a ventriloquist outward ly haughty selfish and cruel who gives expression to the promptings of a finer nature through the mouth of a wooden dummy Otto Otto is traeted like a human be ing by its owner Aloud Gabbo ar gues with his conscience. The dum my its vocal representative an swers Tn a fit of pride and anger Gabbo ves his partner a tal on ed.