Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1938)

July 2 . 1938 MOTION PICTURE HERALD 43 nical standards of camera work and editing are not always of the best grade, the novelty of the hunt and the method used in tracking down the beast should hold the attentive interest of the more sportive of the audience, particularly the masculine element. The short, which because of its length could be worked into filling out a single feature programme as an added extra attraction, was seen at the Criterion Theatre, one of Broadway's first run houses, where a midafternoon and predominantly male gathering followed the hunt with evident appreciation and enjoyment. Running time, 28 minutes. The Story of Dr. Carver (MGM) Exceptional The life story of the negro scientist. Dr. Carver, is material of an inspiring nature worthy of fuller treatment than ten minutes of running time can cover. Tracing the strange and exemplary history of the doctor from his early slave days through his first stages of research and experiment in the problems of soil cultivation up to investigation of the curative powers of peanut oil for the treatment of infantile paralysis, the miniature is just about the criterion of short subject production. The effectiveness of its moving message of sacrifice and human betterment is treated with respectful appreciation in Mr. Pete Smith's commentary. The material should be given wide screening throughout the length and breadth of the land. The miniature biography is ideal for school audiences and better film groups. — Runningtime, 10 minutes. Happy Scouts (Universal) Passable Close on the trail blazed by Donald Duck's gay troop of "Good Scouts" come Scoutmaster Oswald, the Rabbit, and a corps of camping ducks. Without the enhancing value of color and the amusing personality of the inimitable Donald, Oswald's hiking expedition is passably good fun on its own activities. The usual camp trials of opening a can of beans and building a fire are humorously caricatured. The finale of the black duckling scout with an alligator is a bit far fetched but still good for a laugh or two. The kids will find the whole affair much to their liking. — Running time, seven minutes. International Rhythm (RKO Radio) Variety Presenting an array of talent from such antipodal points as a Russian gypsy orchestra and an Hawaiian string ensemble, the bill in addition offers an exotic Slavic singer and a petite Oriental miss who gives a whirling exhibition of an Occidental buck and wing dance number. The highlight is the expert harmonizing of a Negro choral group. Ray Smeck and his Aloha Islanders, Ada Brown and the Cecil Mack Choir, Princess Chiyo, Mara and Mogiloff's Balalaika Orchestra are the entertainers. — Running time, 10 minutes. Window Shopping ( Columbia ) Cartoon This animated cartoon concerns itself with the adventures of mice in the hours of the night when man is supposed to sleep. Six mice go window shopping and as suspected linger longest at the delicatessen window and finally enter the store to feast and make merry. The six mice have multiplied a hundred fold by this time and when dawn comes a-creeping over the rooftops the army of mice hurry helterskelter towards the manholes and home with an assortment of food, clothing and anything else they manage to acquire. Running time, 7^ minutes. The Cheese Mappers (Universal) Amusing An amusing cartoon takeoff" on crime activities and police methods of grilling suspects is pictured in this latest drawing from the Oswald group. Public Rat Number 1 accompanied by the innocent Baby Face Rat raid a kitchen and when the dishes come to life, the elder rodent skips the scene and leaves his younger companion to take the "rap." Follows a third degree scene and the escape of the unfortunate animal. Finally, the two rats meet face to face and through the instructive means of a good beating, the real criminal is apprehended and justice is served. A little too mature for the youngsters, the fable will appeal chiefly to the adults in the audience and the more worldly wise of the adolescent group. — Running time, seven minutes. Hide and Shriek (MGM) Spooky, Our Gang In playing detective. Alfalfa and his pals track two suspected candy chiselers and find themselves in an amusement park "haunted house." The rest of the Our Gang business can be readily imagined. The juveniles make believe of sleuthing is amusingly and cleverly portrayed. The sequences with the kids involved with the strange setup of the "haunted house" is particularly hilarious. The younger element in the audience will relish the subject with complete childish enjoyment and the adults will be patronizingly amused. — Running time, 11 minutes. Stranger Than Fiction, No. 52 (Universal) Oddity Comprising a well balanced collection of novel items, this newest issue is generally in keeping with the usual high standard of entertainment and appeal. Showing the latest in inventions and in piano prodigies, the material offers an introduction to a sister team of Philadelphia butchers together with a demonstration by a trick canine from Atlanta, Ga. For the June newlyweds planning to build a love nest, an inspection of two architectural oddities, a circular house and a home built from newspaper, should be of interest. — Running time, nine minutes. Voyage to Cebu ( De La Varre Devlin ) Travelogue In this travelogue subject Andre de La Varre presents the interesting city of Cebu in the Philippines, an archipelago of some 7,000 islands stretching for nearly 1,000 miles between the Pacific Ocean and the China Sea. It was at Cebu that Magellan was killed while attempting to pacify natives. A shipping center Cebu was under Spanish rule until the SpanishAmerican war in 1898. Now a thriving American-Filipino city as depicted by the camera Cebu still has the same appearance as it had under the Spanish in the houses, churches and buildings that make up the city. Running time, 9 minutes. You Leave Me Breathless ( Paramount ) Screen Song When a first rate orchestra plays second fiddle to a running line of goofy gags and cartoon drawings, that is news. Not that Jimmy Dorsey and his tunesmiths do not give the title song of this subject a smoothly set rendition, but Max Fleischer and his penmen have embroidered the reel with clever and crazy illustrations that may draw from the audience a more pronounced response in laughs than the bouncing ball will stir up in community singing. The jokes and tlie sketches visualize what a television set of 1945 will portray, and with the problem of televised entertainment fresh before tlie public through air and press notice, this silly spoofing of the scientific project should prove to be lots of fun and frivolity for audiences. — Running time, eight minutes. Stars in Stripes (Universal) Mentone Musical Ed East and Ralph Dumke, known to radio listeners as the "Sisters of the Skillet," are jailed for playing swing music. While behind the bars the players are entertained by a visiting variety show, with a quartet of girl roller skaters, a colored "blues" singer, a harmonica group and a dance team. The general quality of the talent presented is enough to make one believe the offenders were sentenced to capital punishment rather than penal servitude. The subject may hold some interest with audiences which like to see air personalities become visual realities. Running time, 17^ minutes. Czechoslovakia on Parade (MGM) Tinnely Concerned with the tiny country considered the tinderbox of the European political situation, this FitzPatrick travel excursion carries more than its customary "pretty picture" entertainment in view of the pointed timeliness of the material presented. Instead of the military review, which continental dictionaries believe to be exclusively synonymous with the word "parade," the show given by the people of this democratic land is, as is noted in the spoken commentary, one in which musical instruments and not martial armament are carried. Running time, nine minutes. New York Quota Bill Languishing The proposal introduced in the New York City Council early this spring designed to require producers whose pictures are to be shown within the city to make 10 per cent of their total product in New York will be permitted to die in committee, it was learned this week. The measure was introduced by Councilman Hugh Quinn of Queens and had the backing of eastern studio unions. It proposed the licensing by the city of producers and distributors whose pictures were to be shown in city theatres. In order to obtain the license, the producers and distributors would be required to certify that 10 per cent of their product had been or would be produced within the city limits. Court Disnnisses Two Warner Actions Two stockholders' actions against Warner Brothers, instituted in 1935, were dismissed by Peter Schmuck, New York Supreme Court justice, Tuesday on the ground that the plaintiffs had failed to prosecute. The first suit, brought by Jacob Weintraub, as a stockholder, named as defendant besides the company and its directors, Renraw, Inc., and the second brought by Adolph Greenberg, another stockholder, included McClure, Jones and Companv, and Goldman, Sachs and Company, as defendants, in addition to those named in the first suit. Both actions charged the defendants with "waste and mismanagement" in conducting the affairs of the company.