Motion Picture News (Jul - Sep 1930)

A u g ust 2 3 , 19 3 0 Motion Picture News 57 Leather Pushers i ( Universal) Chapter I, "Kid Roberts" Plenty Fast UNIVERSAL gave its new featured player, Kane Richmond, an ideal vehicle in which to make his screen debut. Richmond, following the footsteps of Reginald Denny in the "Leather Pushers," is an admirable physical type with a polished poise so necessary for Witwer's well known character. He has personality, an easy manner, is fairly good looking and gives a convincing performance. Made many times before, the "Leather Pushers" now appears in talking form. Needless to say, the material is just the thing for sound. Universal apparently realized this and gave considerable thought to the "mike." Albert Kelley is to be commended for his directorial job. He has turned out a fastmoving short nicely balanced with thrills, comedy and love interest. Running time, each about 19 minutes. Snappy action to offset a slow-moving feature. The Hot Air Merchant ( Paramount ) Good Short CHARLES RUGGLES in the skit he used in vaudeville. He is the soap-box orator, intent upon saving men from matrimoniallycrazed women. It has a running story, punctuated by Ruggles' sarcastic remarks. A young man is shown falling for a designing blonde and Ruggles carries it through to the pacingthe-floor-with-the-baby era. Running time, 15 minutes. Good with musical or feature lacking comedy. The Cactus Kid i Mickey Mouse — Columbia ) Good Cartoon MICKEY is a cowboy in this and rides to a saloon to make love to a rodent senorita. The villain enters and there is considerable fun. It averages well with others of this popular series, and has a sufficient number of laughs to please most audiences. Running time, 9 minutes. Use where musical-comedy balance is needed. Satan's Fury (Pathc — J 'agabond Adventure) Good THE "Vagabond Director," Tom Terriss, invades volcanic peaks in New Zealand for this issue of the Vagabond Adventure series, and he is not only the star and director, but delivers a synchronized lecture. The latter is more thrilling than the actual scenes, for his voice takes on a ludicrous touch of excitement as he is shown darting about the steaming ground, eluding geysers of steam and boiling pools, and as he stresses the tremendous dangers in which he found himself one wonders how the cameraman managed to keep on grinding. However, the setting is unusual and it will be enjoyed by the average audience. Running time, 10 minutes. Good as balance for a light bill. Hello, Television (Educational — Comedy) Clicks ANDY CLYDE'S spontaneous humor is always good for a laugh. In this one he's at his best, which is saying plenty for any tworeeler. His droll patter and funny capers, helped a lot by a well executed plot and intelligent direction, go hand in hand to make a well rounded comedy reel. A marriage by television which upsets the plans of the girl's father is a new wrinkle. Running time, about 18 minutes. Nice stuff to balance a dramatic feature. Use a newsreel, too. Short Subjects The Imperial City (F itcPatrick—l raveltalk) Very Interesting JAMES FITZ PATRICK, who started the travelogue lecture cycle, takes the audience to Peiping, China, in this entertaining subject. Peiping is the imperial city of China, formerly called Pekin, and in this Fitz Patrick includes many points of interest. It's well done, as are all of this producer's shorts. Running time, 8 minutes. Good on comedy bill. The Story Book Paradise ( Paramount ) Very Good THIS SHOWS up a number of the kid shorts which have been made, for it boasts a troupe of kids of real ability. It's a dream affair, the kids dreaming they are in Mother Goose land. There are a number of novel turns and some excellent kid chorus work. Running time. 10 minutes. Stress this for kid trade. Girl Shock (M-G-M) Silly THIS is a w^ild comedy in which Charley Chase is cast as a girl-shy youth who gets goofy every time he touches a girl's hand. It's silly stuff, but has the redeeming feature of action and some low comedy gags which get laugh. Chase rates better vehicles than this. Running time, 20 minutes. Xeeds strong feature support. Average Husband (Educational — Comedy ) Pretty Good THE story, as the Educational dialogue writer would say it, "came over in the boat before the Mayflower." The antiquated plot, however, is redeemed by able handling and a few modern twists and settings which bring it right up to date. There are enough laughs to warrant a fair spot on your bill. Running time, about 17 minutes. Best with an ace-high dramatic feature. Thank You, Doctor ( I'ita phone Varieties No. 1026) Clever and Funny AX ingenious woman crook furnishes the theme of this clever short. She goes to a jeweler and asks that a pearl necklace be sent on approval to her uncle, a brain specialist who conducts a "nut" house. Then she asks the doctor to examine her brother whose delusion she says is that he has lost a string of pearls. So when the jewel salesman arrives, he is taken for a lunatic, with some interesting and funny complications. Running time, 9 minutes. Good for any bill. All for Mabel (Pat he) Feeble THE less said about this "comedy" the better. If your audiences have any intelligence at all they'll groan in agony at the dialogue. It's probably the worst we've ever heard ; the creator of the many bad puns in it should be exiled to Siberia. The story is almost as bad. It centers about the attempts of a freshman to get the athletic hern's girl. Don't show this in college towns. Directed by Harry Delmar. Running time, 18 minutes. Surround it with an exceptionally strong bill. Monkey Meat ( Educational — Cartoon) Makes a Nice Dish THE usual plot, that of animal antics set to music, but done this time in a most pleasing manner. Chiefly because of the originality in gags used, this is a welcome relief from the cut-and-dried cartoon material predominating in majority of current-day cartoons. Orchestral work is above the average, sending entertainment value skyward. Running time, about 6 minutes. Produced by Audio-Cinema for Paul Terry-Toon series. There's plenty of snap in this one; spot it where a feature is in need of light cartooncomedy relief. Railroad Follies (Vitaphone Varieties No. 4209) Novel Short THE railroad companies might well capitalize the novel suggestion which forms the basis of this entertaining short. The gag is to entertain the customers on trains by means of a master of ceremonies presenting a varied program. This has a couple of dance acts, chorus, spieler and a turn by an alleged Houdini. who can't get out of a strait-jacket and keeps asking the m. c. to "Stall, pal." It's a good subject which will get some laughs. Running time, 8 minutes. Will fit any bill. The Indians Are Coming ( Universal) Serial, IS Episodes, 2 Reels Each Great for Youngsters COWBOYS and Indians done in the modern style, running leaps and bounds ahead of outdoor serials of the earlier days, and greatly enhanced by clever sound work, able direction and thrilly action. Photography is splendid. In houses where this type of material is liked, the audience will give it warm reception. The twists injected by Director Henry MacRea are not the usual sloppy affairs, but bear indication of having been well planned. The cast is commendable. Running time, each about 19 minutes. Feature comedy will go with this. Laundry Blues (Pathc — Aesop Sound Fable) Dandy THE creators of this cartoon used plenty of imagination and as a result they've turned out a short that's packed with laughs and a decided relief from the current similarity of cartoons. The setting is a Chinese laundry, with a quartette of Celestial manglers putting on a song act. A Jewish customer, with almond eyes, tries to retrieve his shirt with a kosher ticket, but the "no tickee, no washee" rule holds. Then one of the laundrymen, using a caricature of Rudy Vallee for his inspiration, commits murder on a saxophone. Lots of fresh gags in it. Running time, 10 minutes. Will bolster up a weak bill. Audio Review, No. 34 (Pathc) Passable TERRY RAMSAYE apparently dug deeply into the library to get out this issue of his weekly. Most of it consists of shots of various parts of the globe, under the heading, "Around the World in Eighty Looks," and while the selected shots are interesting they are too brief. The tour starts at New York and ends at San Francisco, and takes in many of the romantic spots of the earth. The issue is rounded out with views of three bear cubs being fed from a bottle. Their antics are decidedly amusing. Running time, 8 minutes. Okay to round out a diversified program.