The Film Daily (1929)

THE i Sunday, November 17, 1929 " HMH DAILY Clara Bow in "The Saturday Night Kid" (Part-Talker) Paramount Length: (3739 ft. A MONEY -GETTER. THE HOTSY TOTSY GIRL IS TONED DOWN CONSIDERABLY. MADE FOR THE SHOP GIRL VOTE. An original script adapted to Clara Bow, but giving her little chance to pull her hotsy totsy stuff. Looks as if they are gradually training Clara to go nice and sweet in her future pictures, and get away from the sexy parts that made her rep. Maybe her fans will adjust themselves to the toned-down Clara, but she has lost a lot of her color in this one. She is the little gal in the big Ginsberg department store, in love with the handsome floor walker, played by James Hall. Her young sister also falls for the hero, and in a misunderstanding over some store funds gives the impression that Clara has stolen them in order to save herself. The usual mixups and adjustments, with Clara and her sweetie in the clutch at the end. Weak ending, with nothing in the story to build any real interest. The story is at fauft, being weak and colorless. Clara and Hall better than material. Cast: Clara Bow, James Hall, Jean Arthur. Charles Sellon, Ethel Wales, Frank Ross, Edna May Oliver, Hyman Meyer, Eddie Dunn, Leone Lane, Jean Harlow. Director, A. Edward Sutherland ; Authors, George Abbott, John V. A. Weaver; Adaptor, Lloyd Corrigan ; Dialogues, not listed; Scenarist, Ethel Doherty ; Cameraman, Harry Kishbeck. Direction, satisfactory. Photography, good. Greta Garbo in "The Kiss" (All-Talker) M-G-M Length: 6781 ft, SOPHISTICATED DRAMA OF CONTINENTAL LIFE PUTS GRETA GARBO IN A NEW KIND OF ROLE BUT TRAGIC STORY MISSES. Drama. This was from an original screen story by George M. Saville, and it was directed by Jacques Feyder, the French technician, with all the sophisticated Continental touch. Greta (iarbo, as always, is very alluring, and exercises her exotic charm throughout the dramatic portrayal. But the subject matter is too tragic, and the ending not the type that the average fan looks for. Greta has married a wealthy silk merchant of Lyons, a suspicious man with whom she is very unhappy. She accidentally kills him in a jealous quarrel. A jury calls it suicide, and then Greta goes into another love affair and another jealous situation arises. Shapes up as pretty sophisticated fare that lacks the American slant, and it is problematical whether the Garbo fans will feel enthusiastic about seeing their favorite in this type of production. Feyder worked the camera technique in many novel ways and achieves some effective shots. Cast: Greta Garbo. Conrad Nagel, Anders Randolf, Holmes Herbert, Lew Ayres, George Davis. Director, Jacques Feyder ; Author, George M. Saville; Dialoguer, not credited; Adaptor, Hans Kraly; Editor, Ben Lewis; Titler, Marian Ainslec; Cameraman, William Daniels. Direction, satisfactory. Photography, good. Paul Muni in "Seven Faces" with Marguerite Churchill, Lester Lonergan, Russell Gleason (All-Talker) Fox Length: 7750 ft. GOOD ENTERTAINMENT FROM THE ANGLE OF MUNI PLAYING SEVEN ROLES, WITH LOVE STORY AND STRONG HEART INTEREST FINISH. Character drama with French locale. Designed to exhibit the protean abilities of Paul Muni, who plays the role of an aged wax museum attendant throughout the picture and enacts the other six parts in a brief dream scene. The characters thus portrayed are figures from the museum and include Napoleon, Don Juan, Franz Schubert, Joe Gans, a costermonger and a hypnotist. Not likely that this angle will strike much appeal, despite Muni's genuine versatility. But there is a love story, with Marguerite Churchill and Russell Gleason as the principals and Lester Lonergan as the stern father, that holds interest fairly well and winds up with a powerful heart interest finish. This punch in the finale partly offsets earlier mildness and leaves an impression. Cast: Paul Muni, Marguerite Churchill, Lester Lonergan, Russell Gleason, Gustav von Seyfferitz, Eugenie Besserer, Walter Rogers, Salka Stenermann. Director, Berthold Viertel ; Author, Richard Connell ; Dialoguer. Dana Burnett ; Adaptor, Not listed; Editor," Ed Robbins; Cameraman, Joseph August. Direction, top-notch. Photography, good. "Night Parade" with Hugh Trevor, Aileen Pringle (All-Talker) Radio Pictures Length: 6665 ft GOOD PRIZE FIGHT ATMOSPHERE AND SNAPPY RACKETEER STORY PUT THIS OVER FOR THE POPULAR CROWD. HAS THE PUNCH. Drama of the prize ring. Adapted from the Gene Buck stage play, "Ringside." Mai St. Clair directed this with good atmospheric treatment of the prize ring, and got the punches over with regularity. It has the popular appeal with the story of the young champ framed by a gang of racketeers with the help of a gal. They get him drunk the night before the bout, and he accepts a check to throw the fight. Then his dad and^a newspaper reporter with the help of the nice girl straighten him out to go in and win with a wallop. Fight stuff realistic and carries a big wallop, and has the elements that _ the thrill fans love. Hugh Trevor handles the pug hero part nicely, and Aileen Pringle and Dorothy Gulliver are the femme menace and draw respectively. A pop subject for the average house. Cast: Hugh Trevor, Lloyd Ingraham, Dorothy Gulliver, Aileen Pringle, Robert Ellis, Lee Shumway, Ann Pennington, Ann Greenway. Director, Mai St. Clair; Authors, Gene Buck, Hy Daab; Adaptor, Not listed; Editor. Not listed ; Dialoguer, Not listed ; Cameraman, William Marshall. Direction, snappy. Photography, good. Short Subjects SOUND "Rubeville Nite Club" Pathe Fair Hodge-Podge Based on the idea of opening a night club to put some life into a slow hick town, this short includes a hodge-podge of comedy, singing, dancing and orchestra numbers of fair merit. Though it is not a wow he entertainment holds to an even and satisfactory level all the way Rube comedy is provided by the owner of the club and his rival, the sheriff. A village quartette bit also is unusually funny. For eye appeal there is a nifty French girl number and the chorus background. Will prove acceptable most anywhere. "Teddy Brown and His Band" International Photoplay Distributors Fat Man. Capers Teddy Brown's several hundred pounds of avoirdupois stands out in this musical short. Brown aggravates a xylophone and promotes comedy while his orchestra furnishes augmentation. The mere sight of such an over-sized man toying with agility and ease on a xylophone is occasion for hilarity, and Brown is also there on laugh-producing mimicry. "Screen Snapshots" Columbia A moderately interesting "trip through Hollywood" reel showing Sammy Cohen, Joe E. Brown and family, Anita Stewart's wedding, Ruth Roland, Ben Bard, Gertrude Olmstead, Stepin Fetchit, Joseph N. Schenck, Harry Richman, Reginald Denny, Norma Shearer, Irving Thalberg, Hoot Gibson, Lilyan Tashman, Edmund Lowe, Bessie Love, Harold Lloyd and the whole Quillan family with Eddie featured. Ten minutes. "Clancy at the Bat" Mack Sennett A Home Run A thoroughly enjoyable baseball comedy that will provide a quarter hour's entertainment of a substantial nature. Plenty of laughs all along the line, concluding with a comedy finish that is a smash. Harry Gribbon and Andy Clyde are co-featured and they do fine work. A top-notcher of its kind. Worth strong billing as a real laugh getter. Two reels. "Tarzan, the Tiger" (Serial) Universal Great Kid Stuff Jungle serial, marking the synchronized debut of the popular Tarzan chapter plays, with Frank Merrill and Natalie Kingston as the leads. The first episodes deal with Tarzan's return to the jungle in search of the gold and jewels of Opar. Plenty of action, thrills and suspense. Henry McRae did a fine job of the direction, and Wilfred Cline's photography is good. Kdgar Rice Burroughs authored the serial. With his name, plus the big following already built up for Tarzan among children and grownups as well, this is a safe bet for the wired houses. There are 10 chapters of two reels each. "Black and Tan" RKO Hot Number Very fine production of jazzy colored atmosphere, expertly directed by Dudley Murphy under supervision of Dick Currier at the RCA Gramercy studio. It is handled by an all-colored cast depicting life in the black and tan section of Harlem, in New York City. Duke Ellington and his allcolored orchestra put over the hot jazz, and how. The atmosphere is colored cabaret night life, and is colorful and peppy. The gal is the dancer, who is taken ill just as she is about to go on. Her man is at the piano, and as she sways in dizziness, the camera effects show her thoughts. She sees the band and the various performers swaying and reeling about her in multiple form. Fine photographic trick stuff that is beautifully done. Windup shows the gal dying, with the orchestra playing her favorite harmony , a wild, spiritual mixture that has a haunting refrain that gets you. A novelty done with class that should go big anywhere. Time, 20 mins. Bits of Broadway M-G-M Pleasing Variety Four short numbers, including Earl and Bell, string instrumentalists and singers; Titta Ruffo, opera singer; Keller Sisters and Brother Lynch, vaudeville favorites, and Phil Spitalny's Hotel Pennsylvania Orchestra. Makes a pleasing variety group of moderate strength. (Twelve minutes). "Hell's Bells" Columbia-Disney Ace Cartoon Another of the Silly Symphony series, with the cartoon work outdoing previous efforts in its ingenuity. With Hades as the scene of action and a set of grotesque animals of all sizes as the performers, the reel is continuously amusing as well as fascinating. The graceful contortions and rhythmic gyrations of the dumb caricatures evoke both laughter and wonder. Appropriate sound effects by Cinephone. Six minutes. Oswald in "Amateur Night" Universal Good Cartoon Oswald, the rabbit, promotes some laughs with amateur theatricals in which a group of vari-shaped animals disport themselves in amusing manner. " Rates with the better class of animal cartoons. (Five minutes).