Exhibitors Herald World (Oct-Dec 1930)

October 4, 1930 EXHIBITORS HERALD -WORLD 31 of this sort. The same type of thing has been done before on the silent screen but with not nearly as much punch as "Her Man" is able to offer to the picture public. — Charles S. Aaronson, Neiv York City. A THE STEEL HIGHWAY ROARING RAILS! Produced and distributed by Warner Brothers. Story by Maude Fulton. Adaptation, Maude Fulton. Dialog, William K. Wells. Director, William Wellman. Film Editor, Ed McDermott. Camera. Chick McGill. Cast: Grant Withers, Regis Toomey, Mary Astor, James Cagney, J. Farrell MacDonald, Joan Blondell, Lillian Worth, Walter Long, Fred Kohler. W, HEN Warner Brothers titled this product The Steel Highway" they planned to make a railroad story, but "The Steel Highway" is a powerful domestic drama, gripping from start to finish, with the railroad merely a background. It is a drama of great power, highly interesting and fascinating. Mary Astor reveals herself as an actress and Grant Withers is just as strong in his role. Regis Toomey, who can laugh and at the same time give you a catch in the throat, does his bit in making "The Steel Highway" one of the best railroad pictures of all time. Maude Fulton has given the picture, to begin with, a strong plot. With this to work on, Wellman has made a real production, and Miss Astor, Withers and Toomey follow through with excellent performances. The railroad is made an indigenous element of the story only inasmuch as Toomey makes use of a train during a flood for a death trip. His suicide follows his discovery that his best friend, Withers, has found himself in love with Toomey's wife. The love affair proves to be the motive for Withers to forsake a career o£ drinking and idling. It is all convincingly constructed. While there are others in the cast, they, like the engines and the cars, provide the background for the story. The camera work is good, and so is the sound. The picture is made real by the extraneous noises of locomotives and such, even if they make the dialog hard to catch at times. — Edward Churchill, Hollywood. YOUNG WOODLEY ENGLISH THEATRE'S FIRST! Produced and distributed by Elstree Productions. Directed by Thomas Bentley. Dialog by John Van Druten. Based on the play by John Van Druten. Scenario by Victor Kendall. Photographer, ClaudeFriese-Greene. With Madeleine Carroll, Sam Livesay, Aubrey Mather, Billy Milton, Gerald Rawlinson, John Teed, Tony Halfpenny, Frank Lawton. D, "ECIDEDLY able direction and an excellent cast are the conspicuous features of this, the opening picture at the Cohan theatre, leased by British International Pictures for the showing of English films on Broadway. Frank Lawton, who, it is understood, has been less than two years before the camera, handles the role of the young schoolboy, which was created by Glenn Hunter on the stage, with a naturalness and ease worthy of any actor. John Van Druten, author of the original stage play, wrote the dialog for the screen version and did a most satisfactory piece of work. Direction is particularly commendable in that the film holds the interest closely throughout, despite the fact that the action is psychological rather than physical. The entire picture has the ring of authenticity about it, from the scenes of the school buildings and grounds to an interesting shot of a cricket match in progress. The latter, incidentally, provides well spaced relief from the dramatic intensity of the story. CHARLES RVCCLES, for his delightful comedy in the Paramount film, "Her Wedding Night." The 17-year-old boy, more or less a poet by nature, falls in love with the attractive wife of the headmaster of the school, who is decidedly older than his wife and entirely the pedagogue. Sam Livesey takes this part, giving a perfect portrayal of the stodgy master whose idea of good educational method is strict discipline, and who enjoys hugely finding a boy in error. At tea one day, Woodley confesses his love for Laura Simmons and a dramatic height is reached when Simmons returns suddenly from a cricket match to find his wife in the boy's arms. Laura saves the boy from expulsion, but later tells him her feeling is more maternal than otherwise. Here both Madeleine Carroll, as Laura Simmons, and Lawton do some of the finest work of the film, giving an impression of utter sincerity in their characterizations. When ragged by two of his fellow prefects, who compose a little ditty regarding his affection for Laura, Woodley attacks one of them with a breadknife. He is restrained by Ainger and Milner, the others of the group, just as Simmons enters the room. Finding here an excellent excuse for the removal of Woodley, the headmaster calls the boy's father and forces his withdrawal from the school. Aubrey Mather, as the father of Woodley, is quite capable in the role of the understanding and sympathetic parent, while John Teed is equally good as Ainger, friend and study companion of the boy. There is not a weak spot in the entire cast, with the principals especially giving exceptional performances. The recording throughout is very clear (though in one or two instances the voices were a trifle too loud, a condition easily remedied). Though a bit out of the ordinary in that it is a psychological study of an individual, "Young Woodley" must rank as a really fine production.— Charles S. Aaronson, New York City. A DIVORCE AMONG FRIENDS MARITAL MIXUP! Produced and distributed by Warner Brothers. Original story by Jack Townley. Screen adaptation by Arthur Caesar and Harvey Thew. Dialog by Arthur Caesar. Directed by Roy Del Ruth. Film edited by Owen Marks. Camera, Dev Jennings. Director of music, Erno Rapee. Cast: James Hall, Irene Delroy, Lew Cody, Natalie Moorhead, Edward Martindale and Margaret Seddon. -F OUR characters — James Hall as the bossy husband, Irene Delroy as the obedient but suspicious wife, Natalie Moorhead as the lure for Hall, and Lew Cody as the drunken friend of Miss Delroy — make "Divorce Among Friends" laughable, interesting and filled with good advice to young married folk. For those who like domestic comedies which skirt along the edge of tragedy and through their very exaggeration reveal how husbands and wives should not act toward one another, the product is packed with interest from beginning to end. There is considerable dialog — perhaps a little too much for those who are partial to action — but it is clever and well done by the four leading characters. While Miss Delroy, Miss Moorhead and Hall are uniformly good, the veteran Cody practically takes over the picture. He displays a fine art as a comic and, in addition to this, reveals himself as an exceptionally clever actor — not that most theatre goers think he isn't. He improves with the years. His piano playing is exceptionally good — a background for three or four domestic sequences. He, as the "drunk," fits his music to the moods of Hall and Miss Delroy, and this, as an overture, adds to the atmosphere. His intoxication is as near genuine in interpretation as anything which we have seen on the screen. The action is slow, and I felt I wanted to get behind and push now and then. The story involves the misunderstandings of Hall and Miss Delroy after two years of marriage. Miss Moorhead steps into the picture at the wrong time for everyone but herself, for the husband and wife have just had a spat. She makes Hall the unwilling victim of her advances. Cody also marches into the picture at about this time but fails to win Miss Delroy. Camera work is good and the recording is above par. An orchestra plays throughout the picture. The musical score blends so well with the emotions which are being depicted on the Standing guard in the bleak desolation of' a winter wilderness. John Wayne as he appears in the Fox epic of the pioneers, "The Big Trail. " HIM