Hollywood Spectator (1931)

8 Hollywood Spectator expressing itself with the spoken word. It has deluded itself into the belief that it should speak its stories, and when it first began to talk, the public shared the delusion. But the public, invariably more intelligent than those who cater to it, was the first to realize that it was a delusion. When the realization comes to the film industry and it begins to make motion pictures that compare in quality with the talkies it now is making, prosperity will return to Hollywood. T ▼ V Crime PERHAPS pictures depicting crime do not provoke people to commit crime. Perhaps they do. We won’t go into that. But there is one angle of the argument that interests me. Opponents of gangster pictures base their opposition on the view that scenes showing gangsters at work provoke young men to imitate in real life what they see on the screen. In rebuttal the film business points out that every crime picture ends with positive proof that crime does not pay, which being the case, the picture serves a useful moral purpose. Let us assume that an impressionistic youth follows the course of a gangster picture. For five-sixths of the footage of all of them the gangster is shown as a romantic, glamorous figure living in luxury and with unlimited money. In the final sixth the lesson is taught that crime doesn’t pay. The gangster is caught. The lesson the youth learns is what he must do to keep from being caught. Instead of being taught to be lawful, he is taught to be careful. ▼ ▼ ▼ Daddy Long Legs WHO WAS it who said of some play that it produced enough dimples to catch the tears it provoked? I thought of it while viewing Daddy Long Legs , the Fox picture starring Janet Gaynor and directed by Alfred Santell. It is strong in that sentiment which we characterize as human, but so adroitly did Sonya Levien write the screen version of the old play and so matter-of-fact did Santell make his direction, that the picture does not venture so far into sentiment as to consist of nothing else. It is an admirable vehicle for the adorable Janet who once again demonstrates her vast capacity for keeping lumps in our throats. Before viewing the picture I had read the local reviews of it and was quite prepared to hear Janet reading her lines in a thin and colorless voice. That was the impression the reviews gave me. But I found her voice to be completely satisfactory, full and rich and of that soft and appealing quality that one would associate with such a personality. Janet’s performance is a delight. Not only does she possess an extraordinary spiritual quality that sets her apart from all other girls on the screen, but she is mastering rapidly all the technical requirements of the acting profession. ▼ ▼ WARNER Baxter makes an ingratiating lead for Janet, giving a smooth and easy performance that adds much to the enjoyment of Daddy Long Legs. His ridiculous mustache, however, makes him hard to look at. Una Merkel makes my capitulation to her charms complete. She is an excellent comedienne and has done enough already to earn her a lasting place in pictures. John Arledge is a young man whom I haven’t encountered before, but if the Fox company, which has him under contract, is wise, I will be given plenty of opportunity to grow acquainted with his screen appearances. He is a youth who has a lively sense of comedy values, and he displays as much ease before the camera as we could expect from a veteran. Sheila Mannors is another newcomer from whom we should hear, as she has obvious charm and promise of ability. Claude Gillingwater, a really splendid artist, has a part that is not big enough to do credit to his ability, but I was pleased to see him again. I don’t know the names of the individual children who attracted my attention in the opening sequence. All of them, however, gave fine performances. ^ ▼ At BEST, though, Daddy Long Legs, technically speaking, is a mechanical picture saved from being commonplace only by the presence and superb performance of Janet Gaynor. There is nothing distinguished in the direction, and the cutting is not even intelligent. Daddy Long Legs is going to suffer at the box-office from the very bad parts that have been given Janet Gaynor since we’ve had talkies. Her followers struggled with her through these atrocities, but each one showed a falling off in patronage and it will take more than one good picture like this one to bring her back. What little she gains from Daddy Long Legs and perhaps from Merely Mary Ann, will be lost when she appears in the musical offering which Fox now is preparing for her and Charlie Farrell. Both of them are going to sing. The Fox organization seems to have gone insane. In Janet Gaynor it has perhaps the greatest potential money-maker in pictures, but if its sole aim were to destroy her box-office value, it could not proceed along more effective lines. V ▼ T Ladies’ Man THAT THERE is no hope for a box-office revival if Hollywood continues to put its faith in all-talkies is demonstrated conclusively by the reception given Ladies' Man by both the public and the critics. I missed seeing it at the studio, and after it was released I read so many unfavorable comments on it that I concluded it was not worth seeing, and as I can not divorce my inclination from my duties as a reviewer, I made no effort to catch it at a picture house. Against my inclinations, however, I was dragged out one night to a house that was showing it. When the curtains were drawn across the final fade-out I turned to Mrs. Spectator and remarked, “That is one of the finest all-talkies I have seen.” And she, always a wise and discriminating judge, agreed with me. Ladies’ Man has everything — -some beautiful direction by Lothar Mendes, really splendid performances by William Powell, Kay Francis, Olive Tell, Carole Lombard and Gilbert Emery; a sumptuous and pictorially effective production, and a capably written script for which Herman Mankiewicz deserves credit. It is a gripping drama of human emotions.