Exhibitors Herald World (Oct-Dec 1930)

October 4, 1930 EXHIBITORS HERALD-WORLD 29 w NEW PRODUCT This department does not attempt to predict the public's reactions to pictures. It does, instead, present detailed and accurate information on product, together with the frank and honest opinion of the reporter. AMOS 'N' ANDY "Check and Double Cheek" A BIG PICTURE. Produced and distributed by Radio Pictures. Directed by Melville Brown. Story, music and lyric by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. Adaptation by J. Walter Ruben. Recorded by George D. Ellis. Cameraman, William Marshall. Musical numbers by Duke Ellington's band. Art director, Max Ree. Assistant producer, Bertram Millhauser. Cast: Freeman F. Gosden, Charles J. Correll, Sue Carol, Charles Morton, Rolf Harolde, Edward. Martindel, Irene Rich, Rita LaRoy, Russel Powell. ' 'Check and double check" is a big picture on which Radio has 6pent many diligent hours and it has received the painstaking treatment that was expected. It's a story about two negroes, the Fresh Air Taxi Cab Company, Incorpulated, and Madam Queen. It is more than a radio act. It has love interest, suspense and climax. It should be noted that the love interest and climax is not nearly so important to the picture as the comedy. It, like others of the big comedies of the year, attempts to subordinate the plot for the sake of good hearty laughs; and it succeeds in doing so, remarkably. There was no danger of Amos and Andy losing their place of importance in the cast. And that goes despite the fact that I have regularly admired the work of Charles Morton, the juvenile lead, in other shows. Morton incidentally is the only white character to appear in any scenes with the negroes. In each scene Melville Brown has seen to it that the Africans doff their hats as he leaves. The story of the co-stars runs more or less parallel to that of Sue Carol and Morton up to halfway in the picture. Then Morton's effort to locate papers in an unoccupied building in Harlem brings him into contact with them. From that point Amos and Andy continue to be an indispensable quotient in the solution of the plot. The dialog is fast and effective. The picture apparently is not hurt by the fact that the minors in the cast made no attempt to speak with a Southern accent although they were practically all of Southern birth and breeding. The Amos and Andy dialog is as excellent as would be expected, and their pantomime appeared to please patrons of the theatre preview night as well as the dialog. Their expressions are fairly as funny as their utterances. Toward the end of the picture their excellent acting and the business given to them brings a fine piece of pathos into the show. The balance of the cast is important. Ralf Harolde as the menace is a good heavy. Irene Rich adds much loveliness to the picture. Sue Carol is herself; she has very little to do, but does it charmingly. Edward Martindel is an able father again. It's one of R K O's best productions to date and it's packed with laughs. — Douglas Hodges, Hollywood. HEROES OF THE WEEK i^k. : its turns from an air journey, on which he has been propelled by means of a cannon, he lands in the dressing room of his sweetheart, to find her in another's arms. His rendering of "Laugh, Clown, Laugh" is a clever satire on the original thought behind the song, and when he spurns the sorry "girl" it is a good laugh. More animateds like this one would help a great deal. Running time, 10 minutes. A THE BAD MAN WALTER HUSTON— BANDIT! Produced and distributed by First National. Directed by Clarence Badger. Based on the play by Porter Emerson Browne. Screen adaptation of Howard Estabrook. Cameraman, John Seitz. With Walter Huston, Dorothy Revier, James Renni, O. P. Heggie, Sidney Blackmer, Marion Byron, Guinn Williams, Arthur Stone, Edward Alderson, Harry Semels. Release date, September 14, 1930. Footage, 7124. W. Amos 'n' Andy (Freeman F, Gosden and Charles J. Correll) for their acting as well as their dialog in R K O's "Check and Double Check " CIRCUS CAPERS AN AESOP SOUND FABLE Pathe — Sound After an endless succession of more or less stereotyped animated cartoons, Pathe has in this one a good deal of real originality, which has been the crying need of these short features. The circus comes to town, with elephants that dance and the clown who is in love with the bareback rider. Really amusing stunts follow in the big top. When the clown re ALTER HUSTON is more than a little appealing as the jolly bandit who is a law unto himself 'round and about the Rio Grande, in this screen adaptation of the stage play of the same name so popular a few years ago. Huston, in a makeup featured by plastered hair, black mustache and darkened face, shows his teeth in elegant robber style, portraying the role created by Holbrook Blinn in the "legitimate" original. He is a good hearted Robin Hood, who gathers contributions at the points of several guns and enjoys immensely staying about three jumps ahead of the Rangers. It is somewhat unfortunate that in this picture he is not given particularly able support in all instances by the supporting cast. Dorothy Revier, who has the feminine lead as the illtreated wife of a Wall street promoter, seems to render her lines in a manner a bit too stilted to be real. James Rennie portrays the young ranch owner who is saved from the loss of his property (through the amusing efforts of Pancho Moving slowly with their ox-drawn wagons across trackless plains, the pioneers struggled westward— scene fro." the Fox production of Raoul Walsh's "The Big Trail."'