Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-06-04 | Page 11 | Great Audience Sees 'over Top' at Orpheum

Great Audience Sees 'Over Top' at Orpheum CERGEANT ARTHUR GUY EM PET. , Ggrlen boy. hero of a hundred fights j with the Huns, went "over the lop" at : the Orpheum theater yesterday after noun ' j and evening-, and with him went the sym-j sym-j pathies and cheers of two capacity au- j diences. They cheered Empey to the j echo, but the local United States nia-i nia-i riiiH recruiters, who staged a big sham ; I battle as the picture prelude, shared: ! largely in the enthusiasm. "Over the Top" must be written a! triumph for the Utah boy who, won the i I plaudits of the allied nations with his fa- j i mous book and for the Vitagraph com- I ! pany, its producers. It is first of all a vivid, heart-stirring patriotic appeal. 1 Then it's the sergeant's "notebook of a Tommie," brought to life with some gracefully interpolated love scenes woven through the strong romantic story told i by the picture. j The photoplay in its entirety is unques- tionably one of the finest of all the mo- j tion picture war silhouettes. Empey and the boys they are all American soldiers in the picture go over the top on trench raids in a manner to arouse the keenest I en l.hustasm. They do it just as Empey I describes it in his personal story, with j many of the highlights of the book present j j in truly recognizable form. i i The picture is convincing, because it i makes one feel that it is accurate in action and in detail. The Utah boy lives again on the screen the thrilling moments he experienced during the eighteen months he was on the western battlefront as a British soldier. He also proves himself a si er ling motion picture actor, going through the various scenes as capably as his chief supporters, Lois Meredith and V i 1 1 i a m M o r r i so n . Miss Meredith is a beautiful girl and does excellent work as the heroine of the photoplay. Thousands Thou-sands of American soldiers are used in filming t he big battle scenes. The local producers have given the big picture an elaborate setting, with appro-pria appro-pria te lobby a nd auditorium decorative effects. The marines staged a true -to-rife sham battle, going over the top in true American style to the tune of volley I after volley from their rifles. They end I the prelude with a beautiful tableux ef-I ef-I feet.