Universal Weekly (1933-1935)

Jan. 13, 1934 UNIVERSAL WEEKLY lAPTURES NEW YORK A New Elissa Landi Hailed By Regina Crewe in New York American A SMARTLY amusing Continental comedy has been wrought into first rate film fun to usher in a bright and sparkling New Year season at the Roxy Theatre. It is romance through and through, romance taken with a grain of salt, light and laughing, always char ning. And it helps confirm earlier suspicions that the particular niche for Elissa Landi is in the realm of comedy and farce rather than drama. The fun begins when Elissa and Paul Lukas, Monte Carlo bound, meet as the Countess von Rischenheim and the Count von Rommer, although Elissa is merely Marie, maid to her titled mistress, and Paul is masquerading as the great lover to whom he is valet. They persist in their mutual deception, and the make-believing involves them in some romantic frivolities culminating in the valet's entertainment of the maid in his master's palatial apartments. Both are skilled in the technique of flirtation carefully acquired during their opportunities to observe the carryings-on above stairs, and Lukas knows just the proper instant to substitute the soft, romantic haze of candlelight for a too revealing electric glare. But amorous thoughts are shattered when the real Count, clad as a butler, plays that role by appearing with the candelabra! Elissa is hastily dismissed by the em barrassed imposter, and with her goes the Count's cigarette case, to be discovered later in her mistress' bag by a suspicious husband. So the plot thickens! And, of course, smarting under unjust accusations of her spouse, the genuine Countess dashes off to the Casino, where fate contrives that she encounter the master love maker whose methods have proved so successful when imitated by his valet with her maid. Thus it happens that Marie and her Josef, pursuing their amour; the young Count and the Countess, who are experiencing the beginning of a beautiful friendship; and the old Count, her husband, hot upon the trail of his wife and her suspected lover, all arive at the apartment for a swell third act denouement. See it for yourself at the Roxy and enjoy the fun. Miss Landi does one of her best bits as the masquerading maid, playing the part lightly, airily, quite in the spirit of the piece, and both Mr. Lukas and Mr. Asther, among the screen’s more polished and convincing Lotharios, pretend in a manner to make the frailty of Miss Londi and Dorothy Revier enjoyably believable. Lawrence Grant is a properly unsympathetic husband, while the decorative Esther Ralston, Lois January and Warburton Gamble help the humor of the situations as opportunity affords. + + + 44 4By Candlelight’ Is Gay Comedy,” Says Bland Johaneson in Daily Mirror THIS charming, sly continental comedy represents the first boudoir picture of Director James Whale, who has specialized with brilliant success in Universal's fine series of thrillers. It is a triumph for him. A clever play, a captivating cast, smart dialogue, enchanting settings, attractive costumes are manipulated, with this director's skill, into a compact, finished light comedy. It is touching, as well as spicy and witty, as diverting an hour's gaiety as the screen has offered this season. The plot has no great originality. It is the treatment and acting which lend it freshness and sparkle. Paul Lu( Continued on Page 28) I Beautiful Wynne Gibson and Onslow Stevens play the principal roles in the engaging mystery drama now entitled “ The Crosby Case.” This was previously referred to in the studios as “ Special Investigator” and has to do with the remarkable unravelling of a crime by a district attorney, who himself ivas put on the spot. It has a swell cast. + + + “77/E CROSBY CASE ” BIG CITY MYSTERY ONE of the most baffling bases ever brought to the attention of a police commissioner to solve was the Crosby murder mystery. It started when an apparently drunken man reeled out of a fashionable apartment house into the dusky, rainy streets and fell dead in front of a passing taxicab. When the ambulance came it was discovered that a bullet had killed him: that he was dead before the taxi hit him. Pressure was brought to bear against the District Attorney from all sides, demanding a speedy solution of the crime, and the relentless investigation soon brought to light five suspects, all of whom might very justifiably have committed the murder. This Universal drama, directed by Edward L. Marin, moves rapidly and absorbingly, to a totally unexpected climax, when, as in all the best murder mysteries, the guilt is fastened upon a hitherto unsuspected person.