Motion Picture Magazine (Aug 1928-Jan 1929)

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WARMING UP DICHARD DIX'S baseball film follows the formula for sporting pictures. A rube pitcher wanders in .from the country and just naturally excels all the men in the Big Leagues. But one great big bully of a batter on the opposing team gets his number, and Richard can't do a thing with him. He finally works off this complex, during the last minutes of the Big Game. Anyone who is unable to palpitate over curves and strikes and innings will find the surrounding story rather slim. It's one of those pictures in which the aristocratic young heroine dresses up as the kitchen maid to make her beau feel at ease. This little snob is played nicely by Jean Arthur, who looks like an animated Mary Brian. Baseball and Richard Dix meaning what they do to the American people, this ought to be thoroughly satisfactory to most of you. It's clean. THE DRAG NET I7VELYN BRENT and George Bancroft do their stuff in *-J one more attempt to duplicate the success of "Underworld.' This is the slowest moving crook drama on record. There's a very good story concealed here somewhere, but it gets so entangled in festoons of confetti and other strange forms of what we may as well call symbolism, that nothing much comes of it. The grouping and lighting are often beautiful and much more dramatic than the action. But there are some grand moments. It's about a policeman who goes all to pieces when he's tricked into thinking he has killed his pal. It would be more convincing if we were let in on some of the steps in his degeneration. Evelyn Brent hasn't much to do but look disgusted. And William Powell is just what experience has xpect. So is George Bancroft. taught yout DETECTIVES £EORGE K. ARTHUR and Karl Dane are back again. Karl is house detective in a hotel, and George, a bell-boy, is one of those amateur sleuths who know so much more about crime than any mere professional can ever hope to. Marceline Day, as the girl they both hanker after, has nothing to do but look pretty and a bit terrified. They all get involved with a strange hypnotic thief who carries them away in caskets. Then it turns into one of those typical spooky comedies that take place in a deserted house, with the usual sheets, shadows, and banging doors to chill you while you laugh. It's reasonably amusing. And for the benefit of those who can't resist a female impersonation, George K. Arthur does a very funny one. He's just too dainty for words in his chambermaid costume. In fact, George is head man in this picture, but that shouldn't trouble Karl Dane, after his triumph in "The Trail of '98." THE STREET OF SIN THHIS picture is both sordid and arty — than which there is no more distressing combination. It is stark realism in a. Caligari setting. And it is most unpalatable. The story is of the Big Boss of this squalid street — a tremendous, cruel, disreputable fellow — and his experiences with a Salvation Army lassie. The effect of Fay Wray's smile under the poke bonnet is almost instantaneous, and a few hours after they meet, the erstwhile criminal is seen bathing babies in the Army Shelter. The idea is that love and purity can redeem the worst of men, and he finds greatness in dying to save the now nicely scrubbed babies. There are many disappointments in this picture. But the greatest is Emil Tannings. He does not seem to have risen above its mediocrity. I don't know exactly how anyone could bring magnificence to such a part, but I thought Jannings would have some magic to invest it with. 61