Motion Picture Herald (May-Jun 1936)

May 2 3, 19 3 6 MOTION PICTURE HERALD 27 THE CUTTING ROOM Advance outlines of productions nearing completion as seen by the Hollywood staff of the Motion Picture Herald M'Liss (RKO Radio) Dramatic Romance "M'Liss" is an adaptation of a short story of the same title by Bret Harte. One of America's most famous authors, his works are vivid word pictures of California in the early gold miningdays. The story has been published many times, produced as a play on five or six occasions and previously adapted to the silent screen with Mary Pickford as the star. Timed in 1885, localed in Smith's Pocket, a typical mining town in the Sonora country, "M'Liss" is a human story, filled with the comedy, romance, drama and tragedy peculiar to the country of the time of its heterogeneous collection of pioneer settlers, miners, gamblers, fops and dandies, good women and bad, and all the other colorful characters that Harte so interestingly has portrayed in his many works. Its central character is a primitive mountain girl. It chronicles events which cause her to experience within a few weeks more romance, tragedy, excitement and spiritual exaltation than most folk know in a lifetime. Foremost among the film's themes is the romance between the girl and a young school teacher, a love affair made thrilling by the circumstances that made any wild attractive girl the target for the impetuous desires of baser men who justified their actions by the law of the gun. As production effects and backgrounds recreate the atmosphere of California in the eighties, Ann Shirley, previously seen in "Chasing Yesterday," "Steamboat Round the Bend" and "Chatterbox," is M'Liss. John Beal, featured in "The Little Minister," is the school teacher. A long list of popular players will be seen in supporting roles, including Guy Kibbee, Moroni Olsen, Douglas Dumbrille, Frank M. Thomas, Ray Mayer, Arthur Hoyt, _ Barbara Pepper, Margaret Armstrong, William Benedict, James Bush, Fern Emmett and Esther Howard. The director, George Nicholls, Jr., has made all the Radio pictures in which Miss Shirley appeared, also "Return of Peter Grim." Winds of the Wasteland ( Republic ) Action Drama Thrill action is the principal fundamental of this story. Timed to the period when the pony express was passing out of existence and the first telegraph wires were being strung across mountains and prairie, it majors in thrilling situations, uniquely occurring, which are being counted upon to provide adventure entertainment that will be appealing to that segment of theatre patrons who like their screen fare served to them in lusty, vigorous style. The plot centers around a victimized pony express rider and an unscrupulous operator of big stage coach lines. With a girl and a fat government mail-carrying contract as a prize, the big production feature is a stage coach race between the rivals, one bent on revenge, the other determined that he alone shall be the winner. Based on an original screen play by Joseph Poland, with John Wayne starred, the produc tion is being directed by Mack Wright, who has handled many of the recent Republic action features. As the entire action takes place in the open, the picture is being shot in California's Sierra Mountain and Sacramento Valley country. Scenic effects, that have become such an important adjunct to the entertainment of outdoor pictures, promise to provide many beautiful backgrounds. As drama is the essence of the story, the romantic contrast nevertheless is of importance, and in that phase Phyllis Fraser, the only woman in the cast, is of considerable help in causing Wayne to outwit his rival, Douglas Cosgrove. The remainder of the cast is composed of players typical to western pictures, such as Yakima Canutt, Lane Chandler, Sam Flint, Lew Kelly, Robert Kortman, Ed Cassady, Joe Yrigoyen and Jack Ingraham. Trapped by Television ( Columbia ) Melodramatic Romance As the title tone indicates, this promises to be fantastic drama. Contrasted by comedy and pungent romantic love interest, it is the story of a young inventor who perfected a television method, what happens to him when he tries to market it, also what happens and how to the crook who tries to steal the invention. Blending dramatic, romantic and comedy elements, against a background of knavery and crookedness, production effects accentuating the scientific sense of the title, the story is composed of elements that are popularly appealing in character. Based on a story by Sherman Loew and Al Martin, with screen play by Lee Loeb and Harold Buchman, the yarn is a combination of scientific imagination and practical drama. Surmounting many difficulties in financing his television apparatus, the inventor first sees his machine tampered with at a time when he hopes to give a demonstration that will result in its sale. Aided by a strongarm collector and a girl who can tell the difference between right and wrong, the machine is repaired by the hero and a second demonstration scheduled. This time the villain who seeks to steal it for himself is hoist by his own petard as the melee he precipitates is witnessed via television by officials of the company interested in buying it. The small cast narrating the story is made up of a group of wellknown players. Leads are Mary Astor, Lyle Talbot as the inventor and Nat Pendleton. Support includes Joyce Compton, Thurston Hall, Henry Mollison, Wryley Birck and Robert Strange. The Bengal Killer (Warner) Despite the apparent significance of the title, this is not an Indian jungle story. Instead, it is a circus story. The setting in which most of the story takes place is a real circus, inside and outside the big top, the special trains on which it travels, the winter quarters, sideshows and dressing tents. Much of the drama centers upon the cages in which the wild animals are quartered, trained and exhibited. Real circus folk, animal trainers, acrobats, clowns, aerialists and riders appear throughout the story. It gives a panorama of the real existence of the colorful clan that entertains in the big tents. With realistic drama and simple but unusual love interest, the story is being geared to be adventurous, exciting and thrilling, under direction of Louis King, maker of the recent "Road Gang." The yarn is an original screen play by Roy Chanslor and Earl Felton. Against the colorful background, the story's drama and romance center upon three persons, an animal trainer, an acrobat, a girl, and an untamed tiger. The tiger escapes to terrorize the circus and the town in which it is playing. Recaptured by the trainer and his assistant, a battle ensues in which the trainer is maimed. Recovering, he falls in love with and marries the girl, thereby engendering romantic conflict with his acrobat pal. It builds to a tense situation that finds the trainer willing to sacrifice his own happiness for that of two younger folk. The part of the trainer is played by Barton MacLane, currently in "Jail Break" and "Bullets or Ballots." The acrobat is Warren Hull, now in "Love Begins at 20," and the girl is June Travis, who made her debut in "Ceiling Zero" and soon will be seen in "Earthworm Tractor." Supporting players featured are Paul Graetz, Joseph King, Richard Purcell and Carlyle Moore, Jr. Educating Father (20th Century -Fox) Domestic Comedy This production is the second in the series of American family pictures which was successfully launched with the presentation of "Every Saturday Night." It is another chapter in the lives of the Jones family. It features several of the players who appeared in the initial film. Jed Prouty is again Mr. Jones, Spring Byington is Mrs. Jones and Florence Roberts again is Granny. The same quartet of juveniles who were so prominent in "Every Saturday Night" — Kenneth Howell, June Carlson, George Ernest and William Mahan — again will be seen as the children. James Tinling, who functioned similarly in the first picture, again directs and Max Golden is also the producer. The picture is based on a story by Katharine Kavanaugh, author of the first. She, Edward T. Lowe and John Patrick collaborated on the screen play. In addition to the group of players presented in the first picture, this adds Shirley Deane, Dixie Dunbar, Francis Ford, Charles Tannen, J. Anthony Hughes, David Newell, Charles H. Wilson, Jonathan Hale and Erville Alderson. Typically homey Americana in character, the picture is being made for entertainment of the average American family audiences which wishes to see the everyday adventures, joys and sorrows of similar American families. The story concerns the experiences of a man who doesn't want his son to become an aviator. The boy has no desire to follow in his father's footsteps and become a pharmacist. On that basic plot is centered all the entertaining stuff typical of the average family, its romance, drama and comedy. Eventually the father is glad that his son knows how to fly, for even though he gives him the jitters in a breakneck flight, the boy is the hero who saves his business.