Modern Screen (Dec 1931 - Nov 1932 (assorted issues))

REVIEWS ♦ ♦ ♦ An entertaining and helpful guide to read before you choose your talkies ALEXANDER HAMILTON Made fascinating by the artistry of George Arliss, and by the prototypes of Washington, Jefferson, and other historic figures of the Revolutionary period, this is a fine, intelligent, (Warner Brothers) but unexciting motion picture. It adheres rather closely to the "Disraeli" formula, with the plot complicating Hamilton's legislative efforts through the medium of an affair with Mrs. Reynolds, impersonated by June Collyer. Not the least of the film's value is in the startling resemblance of the players to the figures they portray. For the rest, it is all Arliss, with Doris Kenyon, Dudley Digges and Monte Love assisting. The dramatics of Hamilton's later life are neglected. Glorifying the gridiron star, the first of the THE SPIRIT OF season's football epics features such pigskin MOTRF HA AAF warriors as the far-famed "Four Horsemen," N^ 1 KC unmc Frank Carideo, Bucky O'Connor, and other (Universal) illustrious names mentioned with reverence wherever the conversation turns to touchdowns. But even in such company, Lew Ayres as hero, and J. Farrell MacDonald, substituting for Knute Rockne as the Spirit of Fair Play, are strong enough to arrogate a place for themselves in the cinema sun. The conventional love interest, intrigue, and the usual bunk with which the average football yarn has heretofore been interwoven, is pretty well abandoned here. The picture is worthy of its title. STREET SCENE (United Artists) A splendid drama, brought from stage to screen in brilliant fashion, this tense story of city streets is one of the season's finest films. The fable deals with a love-starved beauty of the tenements whose tawdry romance reaches Page One of the tabloids in a blood-and-bullets climax. There is also the pathos of her daughter, rather hopelessly enmeshed in the tentacles of the slums. And the bitter, biting humor contributed by the bedraggled neighbors. Every part is superbly played. Perhaps the members of the original stage cast are best — especially Beulah Bodi. But Sylvia Sidney and William Collier, Jr., acquit themselves nobly. THE GUARDSMAN (M-C-M) The first lady and gentleman of the modern stage reach Plollywood via the Theatre Guild route in this suave, sophisticated, wholly delightful entertainment. In Alfred Lunt you'll find a new talkie hero. And in Lynne Fontanne a star with more glamor than almost anvone. The plot of Ferenc Molnar's play tells what happens when a jealous actor masquerades as a dashing officer in order to try his wife's affections. Plis suit succeeds too well for his liking. In fact, he becomes the lady's lover. Does she penetrate her husband's disguise and know him all the time? If so, he's a poor actor. If not — well, in any event, how he wishes he knew ! PENROD AND SAM (First National) Primarily for the kids, this screen version of Booth Tarkington's juvenile story will please Mom and Pop as well as the youngsters. The adult actors really don't mean much here, excepting Charles Sellon. The children hold the screen, and the honors as well. That accomplished actor, Leon Janney, portrays Penrod in a manner that brings both tears and laughter from his audience. And Junior Coghlan plays the boy's glum looking pal. Some of the best sequences deal with the initiation of the town pests into the boy's secret society. And there's a certain sob in the scene where young Penrod's chuckles are silenced by the death of his beloved dog. 57