Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1936)

60 rather than serve. The duel is fought and Fritz is killed by the Baron. Learning of his death, Christine leaps from the window of his apartment to her death. — Weaver, New York. Produced by Elite Tonfilms. Directed by Max Ophuels. Play by Arthur Schnitzler. No P. C. A. certificate. Release date February 27, 1936. Running time, 87 minutes. CAST Weiring Paul Hoerbiger Christine Magda Schneider Mitzi Schlager Luise Ullrich Lieut. Fritz Lobheimer Wolfgang Liebeneiner Lieut. Theo Kaiser Willi Eichberger Baron Eggersdorf Gustaf Gruendgens Baroness Eggersdorf Olga Tschechowa Major Eggersdorf Paul Otto Farmer in the Dell (RKO-Radio) Comedy This IS an all-audience picture, alive with appeal to general patronage, with Fred Stone, Jean Parker and the fact that the story from which the picture was adapted ran serially in the Saturday Evening Post as its chief selling angles. Showmen have ample material with which to work, for the material presented is of the homespun, down to earth type that has been proved entertainment value. Not a pretentious picture by any means, it nevertheless runs along at a rapid pace and tells its tale of a simple, wise Iowa farmer who suddenly finds himself a motion picture star, and of the result of his popularity and newfound wealth have on his wife, daughter and friends. Director Ben Holmes made the most use of the material presented him by author Stong, who will be remembered for his novel "State Fair" and the Will Rogers picturization. Although some situations appear to border on the farcical at times, Holmes manages to bring things to a plausible and entertaining climax. Others in the cast include Esther Dale, Moroni Olsen, Frank Albertson, Maxine Jennings, Ray Mayer, Lucille Ball and Rafael Corio. The picture opens with the entire Boyer family, composed of Fred Stone, Miss Parker as the daughter and Miss Dale as the mother, selling their Iowa farm to move to California. Miss Dale finally settles her family in Hollywood, with aspirations of making a film star out of her daughter, and through a milkman she wangles a studio pass. Stone, entirely against the idea of any of his family appearing in pictures, nevertheless takes Miss Parker to the studio just to satisfy his wife. Stone, however, makes a few suggestions while visiting a set and much to his surprise is hired for a part. The daughter, much to her own satisfaction, is ignored. From then on Stone's rise to stardom is quick, the mother of the family finally being let in on the fact that it is her husband instead of her daughter who is the real celebrity in the family. Immediately she "goes Hollywood." Returning home from location Stone finds he has a new home, palatial and entirely contrary to his liking. He goes into a complete revolt' when his wife plans to marry Miss Parker off to a fake nobleman. In a hilarious sequence Stone regains control of his home, curbs the social aspirations of his wife and settles the romantic difficulties of his daughter. Interwoven are several intimate glimpses behind the scenes of a Hollywood studio, another point that can be strongly relied upon in an exploitation campaign. Showmen might do well to see this before playing it and thus pick out those points best suited for their situations.— Baehler, New York. Produced and distributed by Radio. From the novel of the same name by Phil Stong. Screen play by Sam Mintz and John Grey. Photographed by Nick Musuraca. Edited by George Hively. Directed by Ben Holmes. Associate producer, Robert Sisk. Running time, 67 minutes. P. A. C. Certificate No. 1991. General audience classification. CAST Pa Boyer 'Fred Stone Ma Boyer Esther Dale Adie Boyer Jean Parker Chester Hart Moroni Olsen Davy Davenport Frank Albertson Gloria Lucile Ball MOTION PICTURE HERALD The Wedding March (FrancoA merican S ales ) Italian Drama Tullio Carminati, whose work in "One Night of Love" made him a box office factor in America, speaks, in Italian, one of the principal roles of this importation. English subtitles interpret the dialogue clearly. The production is competently constructed and especially well photographed. Although a musician's strivings for recognition supply the principal motivation, it is not a musical production and Sig. Carminati doesn't sing, but is cast, in fact, as a wealthy business man. Mario Bonard's direction is admirable throughout. Carminati's name is the outstanding exploitation factor save in situations where the allItalian dialogue can be depended upon to bring out adequate support of the box office. Although cast as an ultimately kindly villain, nothing in the character he plays is of a nature to offset whatever popularity he may have acquired through American appearances. In the story Kiki Palma, as a daughter of an Italian nobleman, falls in love with a poor musician, played by Cesare Batterini, and elopes with him to Paris, where they are married. Their money exhausted, she visits an old school chum, now married to a business man (played by Carminati), who gives her husband employment. When he steals from the company enough money to buy a piano, his employer withholds prosecution and allows him to retain his job, meanwhile arranging for the wife to spend some time at his country place as house guest. Here he seeks to take advantage of her indebtedness to him, makes ardent love to her, to which advances she finds herself responding favorably. She dashes back without notice to host or hostess and, arriving home, prepares poison for herself as a way out. Her husband arrives, followed by her admirer, who, realizing the depth of their attachment, withdraws. Produced and directed by Mario Bonard. No. P. C. A. certificate. Release date not set. Running time, 92 minutes. CAST A wealthy Parisian Tullio Carminati His wife Diane Lante A provincial musician Cesare Batterini His wife Kiki Palrna Their friend Enrico Viarisio Public Nuisance No. 1 (Cecil GFD, England) Musical Farce Neither musical nor farce but a quite entertaining blend of both, this first feature of Cecil Films, the Herman Fellner unit releasing through General Film Distributors in the L'nited Kingdom, offers American exhibitors a usable piece of light entertainment. Without much in the way of settings it has some good comedy situations, several snappy song numbers, and it is a point that its best material is in the last reels. Frances Day and Arthur Riscoe, the leads, sing their stuff well. Miss Day looks good and Riscoe is an efficient clown, but the exploitation line seems to be provided by the story, which relates the adventures of the ne'er-dowell nephew of a rich hotel proprietor, sent to Nice as a waiter and, attempting to put a rival hotel out of business, discovering that his uncle has bought it. He clears the original place of its guests in turn only to discover that the uncle has decided not to sell after all. The ruses by which the hotels are cleared — in the one case by the creation of a whisper that the food is bad, and in the other by the introduction of live fish into the water supply — are put over very well. Paralleling the comedy stuff is the waiter-hero's pursuit of a pretty shop girl for whom, without her knowledge, he has obtained a fortnight's holiday in the hotel. "Me and My Dog" and "Between You and Me and the Carpet" are lively song numbers. Claude Dampier is a good comedy second to March 14, 1936 Riscoe and Peter Haddon puts over a caricature of a film producer which ought to be as well appreciated in America as in London. Previewed at the Placa, London, it got good laughs once the story was into its stride after a rather dragged opening. — Allan, London. Produced by Cecil Films, Ltd. Distributed in England by General Film Distributors Ltd. Story idea by Franz Arnold. Scenario, Val Guest. Directed by Marcel Varnel. Camera, Claude Friese-Greene. Music and lyrics, Vivian Ellis. Running time, 79 minutes. General audience classification. CAST Frances Travers Frances Day Arthur Rawlings Arthur Riscoe Miss Trumps Muriel Aked Feather Claude Dampier Richard Trelawny Peter Haddon Mr. Snelling Sebastian Smith Arthur Rawlings, Sr Robert Nainby Head Waiter Anthony Holies The March of Time (RKO-Radio) News Feature Superior in choice of subject and photographic quality to many or most previous editions, Number 3 of the March of Time for 1936 is engrossingly interesting screen material. The burden of narration is more evenly divided between view and voice than in earlier numbers and the somewhat choppy tenor of highlight shots is less disturbing. As to technique and content it rates high in its series. The edition opens with informative scenes showing location of and life upon Devil's Island and its adjacent penal colonies, with less emphasis on the rigorous punishment meted out than on the recently developed system of escape and the probable consequence, abandonment of the islands for prison purposes. The middle and major item is a timely treatment of the Japanese situation with direct reference to the recent assassinations, one of which is re-enacted, and with official quotation of the government attitude toward insurrection in the army. This is the strongest subject matter from the box office point of view. The third and last item deals with the Gloucester fishing grounds and the fishermen's attitude toward a suggested congressional measure lifting the duty on Canadian importations, showing how opposition was brought to focus and the measure killed. — Running time, 21 minutes. Pathe Topics No. 4 (RKO-Radio) Variety Subject Three widely varied topics are lumped together and clearly if not brilliantly presented. Application of chemistry in agriculture in a manner intended to overcome seasonable shortages of certain products provides an informative beginning. A shot of the Good Story Club in session, with Gene Lockhart telling an old funny story with no sidesplitting result, is a bit of a letdown. The subject finishes mildly with camera shots at the scene of the Winter Olympics, which are not in progress at the time. — Running time, 10 minutes. Flash Gordon (Universal) Thirteen-Eplsode Serial As produced by Universal with Larry (Buster) Crabbe in the name role, Alex Raymond's King Features Syndicate cartoon strip possesses all the ingredients that have won the adventure story a wide newspaper following, plus melodramatic power and a seeming plausibility unobtainable on the printed page. To children who have followed the character in daily or weekly struggle with fantastic foes and forces, and to adults similarly addicted, the screen version offers superb materialization of their favorite hero, heroine and vallians. Staging of the three episodes screened for the press is excellent, the frankly fantastic settings, costumes, mechanical equipment and wild (Contiimcd on following page)