The Educational screen (c1922-c1956])

April, 1930 111 QuiuiiiiiiiiiiuiMn ■iM.i.iiimiimmimmimH i ■••■•i.niiiiii.iiiimii ■■•■■■■■■•■■i iiMiiiMiiMiiiiniiiiiimiiimiin.ii.i«iii •••■ ■■•■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■i • MMg] THE THEATRICAL FIELD CONDUCTED BY MARGUERITE ORNDORFF QlllM(IMIIIIIIIIItllMllfllllMtllll***(ltlMIIMIIIItnil(*lltlllMM«IIIIIIMIHllllllllllll ijii«iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii>iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiM*iii»«iiiiiiini»iiiiiiiii»*«iiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii«iiiiiiiiiii»i*iiiiiiiiiiiiiinipl Theatrical Film Reviews for April [276] BURNING UP (Paramount) Speed and thrills in the good old Wallie Reid style are offered you in Richard Arlen's first starring picture. He and Tully Marshall, Sam Hardy, and Francis McDonald are as engaging a bunch of crooks as ever swindled a small town banker. The banker, played by Charles Sellon, has a daughter — they always have — and that daughter is none other than Mary Brian. When Richard and his racing car come to town to inveigle the banker into betting twenty-five thousand dollars on a fixed race — well, he just naturally changes his mind when he sees Mary. Amusing and peppy. (See Film Estimates for March) [277] SEVEN KEYS TO BALDPATR (R. K. O.) Richard Dix puts life into this somewhat ancient thriller, with capable assistance by Miriam Seegar, Margaret Livingston, Dewitt Jennings, Lucien Littlefield, and others. Surely everyone knows the story of the writer who wagers that he can go to a deserted inn at midnight in the dead of winter, and turn out a ten-thousand-word story by midnight of the next day. But even if everyone does know it, nobody is going to be bored by Mr. Dix's sprightly presentation of it. {See Film Estimates for February) [278] SEVEN DAYS' LEAVE (Paramount) One of the year's gems from every standpoint, unless, of course, you consider Barrie too sentimental for your taste. Barrie wrote into The Old Lady Shows Her Medals a little old London charwoman who longed to do her bit in the war but didn't know how. In order to maintain her standing among her associates with sons at the front, she chose a name at random from the newspapers, invented a soldier son to fit it, and wrote herself letters purporting to come from him. Unexpectedly the soldier turned up on London leave, sick of the war and ready to desert, but his brief contact with the game little scrubwoman changed his mind and sent him back to the trenches to die. Diminutive Beryl Mercer is the center of the picture as Mrs. Dowie, and Gary Cooper tops her by a foot and a half at least, as the disgruntled Highlander. Miss Mercer's performance is a thing worth remembering, and Mr. Cooper's is unusually fine, despite his handicap in playing opposite such skill and experience. {See Film Estimates for February) [279] DEVIL-MAY-CARE { Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) Ramon Novarro sings and chuckles his way through a romantic affair, as a staunch Bonapartist, pursued by the King's men, masquerading as a servant in the house of a royalist friend, and employing most of his time in singing love songs to a fair guest. The Shepherd's Serenade and How Can You Be So Charming are the melodies most likely to linger in your memory after the picture is forgotten. Dorothy Jordan is petite as the heroine, but not outstanding as to voice. Marion Harris, recruited, I believe, from vaudeville, sings the supposedly Napoleonic ditties in approved 1930 "blues" fashion. It's a not altogether believable combination. {See Film Estimates for March) [280] DISRAELI (Warner Brothers) George Arliss gives a magnificent performance in the play that served him so long and so excellently on the stage. Mr. Arliss' characterization of the brilliant prime minister is subtle, suave, edged with a biting humor, tempered with a whimsical sweetness, and mellowed by years of playing it always with his utmost skill. The story deals with Disraeli's fight to secure England's world position by obtaining control of the Suez canal, his encounter with a clever woman spy, and his efforts as a matchmaker in behalf of a young man in his employ. His own tender love story runs through the background of the play, Mrs. Arliss playing Lady Beaconsfield with beautiful delicacy. Joan Bennett, Lane Chandler, and David Torrence are splendid in the supporting cast. By no means overlook this. {See Film Estimates for December) [281] THE SHIP FROM SHANGHAI { Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) A rip-roaring melodrama in which five very smart and very superficial people are brought up against reality with a bump when the crew of their sailing vessel mutinies under the leadership of an insane steward. The idea, I suppose, is to show how each of the five meets the situation. So far as I can see, none of them meets it; they just drift along with it, hoping something will turn up. Louis Wolheim as the madman is given the doubtful benefit of innumerable