Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Feb 1935)

January 12, 1935 MOTION PICTU RE HERALD 27 cine and surgery is nil. As the son turns against the father, dog catchers capture and gas his pet, Lazurus. Kendrick goes to the pound and gets the dog's body. The rest of the theatricalism is subjugated to Dr. Cornish's experiment. With Kendrick, the discoverer of the necessary fluid, making offstage comment, the actual workings of the Cornish experiment are completely and minutely shown. Naturally the show's actor hero is hailed as a miracle man, but Cornish is shown as a real one. If there was enough public interest in the original experiment to keep it a matter of front page news interest for weeks, it certainly seems that there should be enough showmanship ingenuity to make it equally interesting and attractive on the screen. It may not prove an easy feat to accomplish, but it surely does make possible a talking about something new. The human interest angle of the sustantiating story also should be given a little attention. There is pathos to the drama of the man's life and also to that of his son. — McCarthy, Hollywood. Produced and distributed by Universal. Directed by Dr. Eugene Frenke. Original story by Dr. Eugene Frenke and James Hogan. Screen play by Arthur Horman and John F. Goodrich. Dialogue by Mary McCarthy and L. Wolfe Gilbert. Art director, Ralph Berger. Photographed by Robert Planck. Sound supervision, Richard Tyler. Film editor, Harry Marker. P. C. A. Certificate No. 425. Running time, when seen in Hollywood, 60 minutes. Release date not yet set. General audience classification. CAST John Kendrick Onslow Stevens Danny George Breakstone Dr. Louise Stone Lois Wilson Mrs. Kendrick Valerie Hobson Dog Catcher Stanley Fields Dr. James Frank Reicher Mr. Arnold Richard Carle Interne Dean Benton Nurse Lois January Mickey Richard Quine Mrs. Vandergriff Maidel Turner Judge George MacQuarrie Dr. Henderson ....Otis Harlan and Dr. Robert E. Cornish Radio Parade of 1935 (Associated British Pictures) Musical Comedy The outstanding merit of this British picture is the combination of really strong story value with a series of performances by well known radio and variety artists, some of them American, which are definitely entertaining and original. Much of the material is British and will be new to American audiences, an asset in some stations and a drawback in others. There is a final color sequence, by the New British process Dufaycolor, which has technical weaknesses but provides a good spectacular climax. Essentially the activities of the National Broadcasting Group, as pictured, are a satire of the method of the official British Broadcasting Corporation. This is reflected in scenes showing the staff working under conditions of military discipline, and the departmental yesmen who surround the director general. The American public may miss this point, and the bit on "high brow" items, but the episodes have intrinsic humor. All the individual performances fit neatly into the plot development. The story follows : The busiest man in the N.B.G., the complaints manager, fails to recognize the director general and tells him what he thinks of the program with such vigor that he is entrusted with the job of program organizer, with a free hand. He gathers a remarkable collection of talent but, on the eve of his first broadcast, the bar is put up by a theatre group who have the artistes under contract. He sets to and recruits a new set of performers from the staff of the broadcasting station. An inventor, opportunely presenting himself, is en^abled to score a big triumph by putting the show over by television in color, screens being erected in public places for the purpose. ClifTord Mollison in the lead has pep and humor, and Helen Chandler makes an attractive secretary for him. Alberta Hunter, the Three Sailors, Eve Becke, Will Hay, Haver and Lee, Ronald Frankau, Teddy Joyce and his band, and a host of others put over their special acts. Exploitation here must make an asset of the British material, and of the fact that a satire of British broadcasting is being presented, and where that appeal can be made good the real originality of the plot and speed of the treatment may balance the absence of obvious American values. — Allan, London. Produced by British International Pictures and distributed by Associated British Pictures. Directed by Arthur Woods. Story by Reginald Purdell and John Watt. Script, dialogue and lyrics by Jack Davies, James Bunting and Paul Perez. Camera, Cyril Bristow and Philip Grindrod; color scenes, Claude FrieseGreene. Sound, C. V. Thornton. Running time, 85 minutes. Classification, "G." British Censor's Certificate, "U." CAST Director General Will Hay Joan Helen Chandler Jimmy Clare Clifford Mollison Commissionaire Billy Bennett Inventor Hugh E. Wright Director's Assistants. . .Dave Burnaby, Robert Nainby, Jimmy Godden, Basil Foster, Ivor Maclaren Clare's Assistants The Three Sailors Carl Graham Alfred Drayton Reporters Qapham and Dwyer Piano Tuner Gaude Dampier Window Cleaners Gerry Fitzgerald, Arthur Young Scrub Women Lily Morris and Nellie Wallace Appearing as radio performers: Teddy Joyce and his Band, Peggy Cochrane, Yyette Darnac, AJberta Hunter, Ted Ray, Joyce Richardson, Buddy Bradley Girls, Beryl Orde Death a\ Broadcasting House (ABFD-British) Mystery Drama There is considerable originality in both plot and setting of this British production. It provides an interesting and accurate picture of the methods followed in the official headquarters of broadcasting in a country where the air is a Government monopoly. The central dramatic idea is well put over, and is such as to lend itself to exploitation. The main appeal in America is likely to rest on the story, but some use may be made of the fact that the actual studios of Broadcasting House have been filmed. There are interesting contrasts with American methods and, among other things, a detailed illustration of the "synthetizing" of radio drama; actors are in one studio, musicians in another, effects workers in a third, and the director controls the whole from a central station. The story largely depends for its effectiveness on this fact. An actor in a radio play, whose part demands that he shall be strangled at the microphone, is actually murdered when the scene is reached. He is alone in a studio and his dying gasps are regarded as a particularly effective piece of acting. His fate is not discovered for ^ome moments. The most obvious suspects are the director of dramatic broadcasts, a star actor in the cast, the director of variety, an attendant, a member of the public "audience," and a dramatist. Eventually a detective arrives at the truth by staging a reconstruction of the crime which establishes that the dramatist has arranged a false alibi by means of a six-minutes' telephone call covering the period of the crime. Various details of the development are not only clever in themselves but will suggest good showmanship ideas. One is the use of the Blattnerphone, instrument which records sound on a steel wire for later repetition. The murder scene had been so recorded, so that the actual sounds made by the dying man can be reproduced and their effect on the various suspects observed. There is also a good idea in the fact that the sound of a ticking watch has been recorded. All the "possible" criminals' watches are collected and their sounds transmitted by microphone for comparison. All this helps to create a good atmosphere of suspense which is heightened by the originality of the setting. There is an incidental point of appeal in the introduction of such wellknown British characters and broadcasters as Hannen Swaffer, Vernon Bartlett, Gillie Potter, the Gershob Parkington quintette and Eve Becke. The atmosphere is English without any qualification, and that also applies to the accent ; where that is not a disqualification, there is good entertainment value. — Allan, London. Produced by Phoenix Films and distributed by Associated British Film Distributors. Directed by Reginald Denham. Story by Val Gielgud and Holt Marveil. Adaptation by Basil Mason. Running time, 90 minutes. CAST Detective Ian Hunter Leopold Dryden Austin Trevor Joan Dryden Mary Newland Rodney Fleming Henry Kendall Julian Caird Val Gielgud Guy Bannister Peter Haddon Poppy Levine Betty Davis Herbert Evans Jack Hawkins Sydney Parsons Donald Wolfit Sir Herbert Farquharson Robert Rendel Police commissioner ^ Gordon McCleod Joseph Higgins Ivor Barnard Peter Ridgewell Bruce Lister Weisskopf Howard Dougrlas Only Eight Hours (MGM) Romantic Drama The drama, romance and thrill of this picture is told principally against the background and atmosphere of a metropolitan hospital. Essentially it is a character drama of a young doctor more interested in being of service to humanity than in adhering rigidly to hospital rules and regulations when it's a matter of life and death. Well presented and acted with an air of understandable realism, the picture moves fast, establishes its major points of interest quickly, and holds them expertly. While heavily dialogued in spots, there is sufficient action and just enough illusion to permit the imagination to function. Definitely serious in tone, the picture in fulfilling the impression created by the title crowds much interest into the period covered by its most dramatic scenes. In the beginning it portrays effectively Chester Morris' willingness to pay scant heed to house rules and thus jeopardize a promising career by violating ethics in a life or death occasion. Dismissal, which forebodes failure in his life work and also menaces his romantic inclinations with Virginia Bruce as she seems to favor the more law-abiding Doctor Robert Taylor, takes on an added interest when Morris comes under the wing of the smitten Billie Burke. The picture builds to its dramatic climax when Morris, who has been reinstated as a member of the hospital staff, directs a difficult and dangerous operation upon himself. His heroism naturally wins the girl back and firmly establishes him in his vocation. In incorporating tried and proved entertainment element within itself, the picture is one for which good showmanship should do much. With the title to begin with there is ample room for much ingenious and unusual exploitation. While it lends itself readily to contacts with members of the medical and nursing profession, means to arouse attention of the general public should not be overlooked.— McCarthy, Hollywood. Produced and distributed by MetroGoldwynMayer. Producer, Lucien Hubbard. Directed by George B. Seitz. Screen play by Michael Fessier and Samuel Marx. Art director, Cedric Gibbons. Associates, Howard Campbell and Edwin B. Willis. Photographed by Lester White. Film editor, Ben Lewis. Technical director, Thomas F. MacLaughlin. Based on unproduced play, "The Harbor," by Theodore Reeves. Running time, when seen in Hollywood, 65 minutes. Release date, Feb. 8, 1935. General audience classification. CAST Dr. Morgan Chester Morris Madge Virginia Bruce Mrs. Crane Billie Burke Dr. Ellis Robert Taylor Dr. Waverly : Raymond Walburn Dr. Harvey Henry Kolker Mrs. Harrigan Dorothy Peterson Frank Snowden William Henry Mary Mary Jo Mathews Harris Snowden Robert McWade Moxley Donald Meek Telephone Operator Louise Henry Hardy Johnny Hines Harrigan Addison Richards Albright Bobby Watson (.Continued on page 33)