Motion Picture News (Oct-Dec 1930)

October 11. 1930 M o ti o n P i i i it r c X e w s 55 Opinions on Pictures The Big Trail ( Fox ) In-the-Bag Spectacle \ Reviewed ''y Red Kann i Y< »l" remember "The Covered Wagon, course. Here's one of the same type, pruduced as a spectacle de luxe, but in taller form. It's a money picture. As bait for the public, the picture offers Jove interest, a hoke brand of villainy, an assortment of physical thrills, production values in large slices and comedy supplied by 111 Brendel and Russ Powell. The hring-the-kids-back-to-the-theatres movement, in particular, will get its greatest impetus to date from "The Big Trail," for here is the type of picture that will make the juveniles remember how to stamp their feet, clap their hands and whistle. The hero is very much of a hero and the heroine is rich in traditional sweetness and purity, while the villain, right down to his bushy whiskers, is the dirty dog you would expect him to be. You've got to hand it to Raoul Walsh lor his treatment. In "The Big Trail" he had a story of epic theme. But, stripping it down to its essentials, the yarn is in reality a Western, stepped into the glorified class by virtue of the sweep injected in the form of a production embellishment. The director demonstrated himself to be clever enough to follow the traditional formula for all Westerns. That accounts for the direct, matter-of-fact, and even routine type of performance and explains why hero, heroine and villain play their parts as they do. In other words, subtleties in histrionics are the bunk for Westerns. Walsh knew it and sidetracked the danger of attempting otherwise. In story value the picture is largely a series of episodes tied loosely together with a love skein in which John Wayne and Marguerite Churchill are the sweeties and Tyrone Power head man of the crew of bad boys, in whose ranks are Ian Keith and Charles Stevens. You see the Eastern pioneers setting out from Westport to make the grade of the Oregon trail and to extend the borders of the American republic to the Pacific Northwest. John Wayne, exfootball player and former technician on the Fox lot, plays the scout who leads the pioneers through the wilderness to their promised land. He falls for Miss Churchill and she for him, although it takes a lot of footage for her to admit the fact. Keith is angling for the girl as well and almost lands her, while Wayne and Power establish their cordial dislike for each other at the outset. The scout, pledged to avenge the death of a trapper buddy, gradually establishes the fact it was Power who engineered the murder. The story thread demonstrates that Power know s of "Wayne's suspicion and arranges with Keith to make way with the hero. Several attempts prove abortive ; Keith is shot as he attempts to murder Wayne and the wagon team is carried through to the Oregon country. With the safety of the pioneers assured, Wayne sets out in a snowstorm to avenge his pal's murder, finds Lopez. Power's sidekick, deserted ard frozen on the trail, and later throws the knife that brings the villain to :id. It is. however, the sweep of the spectacle and the lavishness with which the production was made that gives it its money-making slant WaWi went nil the way and spent almost $2.1100.000 on the negative before the job was over. You see innumerable covered wagons, hundreds of extras, long and beautiful "pan" shots of the wagon train on the road. There is a buffalo hunt, the fording of a river wherein horses and people are swept down stream by the force of the current; a snowstorm, a good, old-fashioned but nevertheless thrilling Indian attack on the wagons and the lowering of wagons, cattle, women. children and men over the mountainside that blocks the trail to the west. The sound effects are extremely effective. Indian yells, the thunder of horses' hoofs, the braying of oxen, the shots of the muleteers — the whole business is there. It may sound juvenile, but to this writer the gathering of the Indian clans, the thumping of the war drums and the whoops of the redskins as they prepared for battle, provided a kick that still lingers. It's positively blood-curdling. "The Big Trail" is Wayne's first picture, but far from his last. The boy is tall, goodlooking and not much of an actor. At least, not much on the basis of the picture. But his inexperience as a trouper serves him in good stead, since it results in an extremely natural, if not dramatically forceful, performance. The women will go for him without doubt. That settles the immediate future for him at least. Miss Churchill has little to do. She is never called upon to do anything but the perfunctory heroine stuff and does that satisfactorily enough. Tyrone Power plays in the best traditions of the ten-twenty-thirty villain and, as such, does a good job. Ian Keith, gambler gentleman, is O. K. in a part that isn't supposed to and won't elicit sympathy from the public. El Brendel is pretty much dragged in by the ears to supply the laughs and gets away with the job. The mob throughout the country has probably seen enough of him to guffaw on sight. Shorts showing development of Oregon country might go very zvell as preliminary number. Produced and distributed by Fox. From original story by Hal G. Evarts. Dialogue by Jack Peabody. Mane Boyle and Florence Postal. Photographed by Lucien Andriot for standard; Arthur Edeson for Grandeur. Length (standard). 11.314 feet; (Grandeur), 14.200 feet. Running time (standard), 126 mins. Release date, November 2. THE CAST Breck Coleman John Wayne Ruth Cameron Marguerite Churchill Gussie El Brendel Zeke Tully Marshall Red Flack Tyrone Power Dave Cameron David Rollins Pa Bascom Frederick Burton Windy Bill Russ Powell Lopez Charles Stevens Gussie's Mother-in-Law Louise Carver Wellmore William V. Mong Abigail Dodo Newton Sid Bascom Ward Bond Mrs. Riggs Marcia Harris Mary Riggs Mariorie Leet Sairey Emslie Emerson Ohio Man Frank Rainboth Ohio Man's Son Andy Shufford Honey Girl Helen Parrish Reno (Sono Art-World Wide) Fair, But Has Angles (Reviewed by Charles F. Hynes) THIS has big exploitation possibilities due to the title and theme, but the picture doesn't live up to them. It's fair entertainment and carries interest because it marks Ruth Roland's return to the screen, but the return is not a very auspicious one. The big angle is the title and divorce mill slant, which can be worked up for a big campaign. The story hasn't a great deal of wallop, following fairly obvious lines. Montagu Love and Kenneth Thompson do good work, and Sam Hardy is okeh in a part which doesn't call for much. The frame-up for divorce evidence is not convincing and the court seems to take pretty much for granted in not summoning some o f the witnesses at the barbecue, who would have done much to offset the damaging evidence introduced by the scheming husband. Ruth is the wife of a tyrannical roue (Montagu Love). Deciding upon a divorce, she leaves for Reno with her four-year-old son. En route she meets an old sweetheart (Kenneth Thomp son), who stops off at Reno, not knowing that also is Ruth's destination. The husband appears on the scene and begs forgiveness. This is part of his scheme to frame his wile, lit pretends to go back to New York, but has the maid phone Ruth her sun has disappeared, and she rushes home from a party m the company of the former sweetheart. The maid, paid by the husband, leaves the house, and Ruth is caught in Thompson's arms, the latter having asked her for a goodbye kiss on the eve of his departure for South America. The court places the child in the custody of a matron, pending the divorce trial. In the interim, the husband's duplicity is exposed and lie is killed while speeding to kidnap the child. ( omedies needed for program balance. Produced and distributed by Sono Art-World Wide Pictures. Directed by George J. Crone. Story by t i irnelius Yanderbilt, Jr. Adaptation and dialogue bj Harry E. Cham] lee and Douglas W. Churchill. Photographer, not credited. Length, 7,200 feet. Running time, 80 minutes. Release date, Oct. 1. THE CAST Felicia Brett Ruth Roland Alexander W. Brett Montagu Love Richard Belden Kenneth Thompson J. B. Berkley Sam Hardy Ann Hodge Alyce McCormick Tom Hodge Edward Hearn Lola Fealey Dons Lloyd Rita Rogers Judith Vosselli Marie Virginia Ainsworth Mrs. Martin Beulah Monroe Bobby Brett Dnuglas Scott Judge Cooper Emmett King Prosecuting Attorney Henry Hall Defending Attorney Gayne Whitman Remote Control (M-G-M) Amusing (Reviewed by Jack Grant) CONSIDERING all the trouble M-G-M had in making this Haines opus, it turned out a pretty good little comedy. Four directors in all tried their hands at transcribing the stage play to the screen. It might be guessed, therefore, that little of the original remains. "Remote Control" was a mystery thriller which met with fair success on Broadway. No element of mystery enlivens the film. Rather is it a more or less well connected series of gags about a wise-cracking announcer in a radio station. The opening is the conventional Haines flirtation stuff. Bill is introduced as a sort of a Merton of the Mike. J. C. Nugent, his employer, discovers him practicing talking in approved announcer style into a dummy microphone during working hours. The boss hurries Bill out to wait on a customer, none other than Marv Doran. Bill, as usual, flirts outrageously with the girl, pursuing her into the street. Here there is a whale of a laugh sequence with an Austin. Mary gets in the car and tries to drive away. Haines, on his knees on the curb, pulls the tiny auto back with one finger each time she starts off. Bill gets fired for loafing, so trails Mary into a radio broadcasting station. There he encounters Charlie King, an old pal, and, incidentally, Mary's brother. Charlie tells his troubles in putting the station on a paying basis and Bill volunteers his aid. An advertisement for talent brings Benny Rubin, Polly Moran, Cliff Edwards and Roscoe Ales to apply for jobs. Each does his or her specialty, thereby making it unnecessary for Metro to make an all-studio revue this year. The ad also attracts the attention of John Miljan, head of the Ghost Gang, crooks par excellence. Miljan sees possibilities of directing his gangsters by broadcasting instructions and signs at the radio station as a professional mystic and seer. This phase of the plot and the robbery of the Junior League girls are the only bits of business retained from the oricrinat play. In the play, however, a mystery centered about the leader of the Ghosts. The audience is not in on the know as in the picture. Haines become-* froublesome to Miljan in