Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1934)

4 MOTION PICTURE DAILY Saturday, January 6, 1934 Looking 'Em Over "By Candlelight" (Universal) Highly sophisticated romantic comedy, "By Candlelight" represents splendid entertainment for mature audiences. It is decidedly not a family picture. To those who like this type of picture it offers a sparkling tale and dialogue that is witty and intelligent. Based on the play of a season or two ago and set in Vienna, "By Candlelight" has for its central figures a butler to a prince and a maid to a lady of high society. Declaring a holiday from reality, they meet when the one passes himself off as his master and the other as her mistress. The pair are surprised one night in each other's company when the prince arrives home earlier than expected. In the end the truth comes out and the two decide not to let their lowly stations in life interfere with the course of true love. Elissa Landi as the maid has never acted so well nor ever been photographed to such advantage. Paul Lukas is fine as the butler. Nils Asther does good work as the prince. Other players are Dorothy Revier, Warburton Gamble and Esther Ralston. James Whale directed. "Fog" (Columbia) A fairly good mystery drama which succeeds in holding the interest to the end despite some confusion and delay at the outset in establishing motives for the murders which follow. This delay, leaving most of the possible suspects without a motive for associating them with the crimes, delays establishment of proper "menaces," as well, with the result that the picture is without a great deal of suspense at the time the crimes are committed. The setting for the story, aboard a fog-wrapped ocean liner, makes for good atmosphere. Robert McWade, a millionaire, is murdered. An original will of his, later changed, made Helen Freeman, a spiritualist, his heir. The picture, however, shows McWade murdered by a man in the dense fog on shipboard, which removes her as a suspect. No other motives are sufficiently established for the performance of the crime among the others at this point. A ship's doctor, who apparently has discovered the guilty party, is later murdered, as is Miss Ereeman, herself, when she is about to disclose the identity of the culprit during a seance on shipboard. The unraveling of the crimes is accomplished by Donald Cook, who comes under suspicion, first, when he is revealed as the dead man's missing son, and heir under the new will. A romance between Mary Brian and Cook is interwoven. "Bombay Mail" (Universal) Reminiscent of "Rome Express," here's another mystery thriller in which practically all of the action takes place aboard an express train en route from Calcutta to Bombay. The suspense is well sustained throughout and, while the yarn lacks a romantic thread, it is thoroughly entertaining. Headed by a cast which includes Shirley Grey, Ralph Forbes, Onslow Stevens, Tom Moore, Hedda Hopper and Brandon Hurst. Edmund Lowe turns in a swell performance as Inspector Dyke investigating the murder of Ferdinand Gottschalk. The others also do good work. All leading players are thrown together in the list of suspects, some having a motive for wanting to put the victim out of the way while others have secret missions which are bared in the investigation. Walter Armitage, one of the suspects, is killed by the mysterious murderer because he knew too much. Eventually, Forbes is revealed as the culprit, but not until the train reaches its destination. Audiences should be urged to see it from the beginning. The suspense may be ruined otherwise. The native backgrounds and the costumes of some of the principals lend color to the picture. "The Lucky Texan" (Monogram) Fine acting is so unusual in westerns that George Hayes, an old-timer, nearly runs away with this one. He has a keen sense of timing and plays his comedy scenes with a shrewd knowledge of what it's all about. Hayes is a rancher with no cattle and is taking things easy when John Wayne, son of an old friend, arrives to live with him. A granddaughter, Barbara Sheldon, comes a little later. Wayne and Hayes find gold. Lloyd Whitlock and Yakima Canutt set out to find the diggings. They shoot Hayes and Wayne is accused of murder, but the complications are straightened out in the end. R. N. Bradbury, a veteran with westerns, wrote the story and directed it. It's a first class job for pictures of this type. The story has enough ramifications to keep the interest up. In addition to the usual chases and fights, there is a novelty sequence where Wayne does a remarkable slide down a sluiceway in pursuit of one of the heavies, and another where Hayes in an old Ford and Wayne on his white horse pursue Whitlock and Canutt, who are fleeing on a railroad handcar. "In the Money" (Chesterfield) Although "In the Money" looks like a pale copy of "Three-Cornered Moon," it has enough hilarity to make it mild entertainment if nothing more. The producers, Invincible, had the good sense to include "Skeets" Gallagher and Warren Hymer in the cast. It is due chiefly to these two that the film does not sink into boredom. Again there is a family of scatter-brained individuals. Whereas in "Three-Cornered Moon" the head of the family was a silly mother, in this one the chief of the menage is a mousy professor who is made too much of a moron to be believable. Sponging on him are a houseful of children and a son-in-law. When the prof loses his dough they are in a desperate plight. Into their midst walk Hymer, a prizefighter, on whom the youngest daughter is sweet, and Gallagher, his manager. When the kid of the family is faced with the loss of the use of his limbs as the result of a motorcycle accident, "Skeets" comes to the rescue by forcing his fighter into a match with the champ. Of course, Hymer wins, and everything turns out rosy. The fadeout has Lois Wilson, the only sensible member of the household, in the arms of "Skeets." Others in the cast are Sally Starr, Arthur Hoyt and Junior Coghlan. Frank Strayer directed. MOTION PICTURE DAILY* HOLLYWOOD PREVIEW "Fashions of 1934" (Warners) Hollywood, Jan. 5. — Adapted from a story by Harry Collins, at one time America's leading dressmaker, in collaboration with Warren Duff, "Fashions of 1934" entertainingly reveals the racket behind the style parade. It's a swell show, with drama, musical divertissement and comedy radiating from a unique story hub in balanced proportion. William Powell, as a quick-thinking promoter, flashes from stocks to fashion pirate ; to design purloining ; to ostrich feather salesman ; to musical show impresario ; to king of fashions, and to titular head of Maison Elegance, all through his good-natured chicaner}-. In his schemes he uses Frank McHugh as a stooge, Bette Davis as a fashion artist for business and relaxation ; Veree Teasdale. . Russian countess from Hoboken, for intrigue, and Hugh Herbert, ostrich feather grower, as a witty and yet unwitting pawn. Powell is aces as a suave bunco artist. He fits his role like his formfitting clothes. Both Herbert and McHugh contribute laughs in big shakes. Miss Davis adds an exotic allure and Miss Teasdale provides the s. a. foil. An augmented ostrich feather dance number by Busby Berkeley has girls and music in a novel spectacle which equals anything he has yet conceived. The adaptation is by Gene Markey and Kathryn Scola. The dialogue is smart and the direction well paced. "Fashions" is a box-office attraction and swell entertainment for everj'body, especially the women.