Exhibitors Herald World (Oct-Dec 1929)

42 EXHIBITORS HERALD-WORLD December 7, 1929 New York Showings And Why Not ! ! (Special to the Herald-World) HOLLYWOOD, Dec. 3.— Word comes to the Hal Roach studio that the Laurel and Hardy comedy, "We Faw Down," has been re-named in England to "We Slip Up." Beanie Walker sees no reason why the follow-up comedy "They Go Boom" should not be changed to "They Detonate." "Taming of the Shrew" THE arrival of "The Taming of the Shrew" on Broadway gave New York an exciting and a glamorous evening. The picture started as a huge success, and whether the credit for this belongs to Shakespeare, Douglas Fairbanks, Alary Pickford, Sam Taylor or United Artists is rather beside the point. The result is far more important than any of its factors. "The Taming of the Shrew" is comedy of the highest order, fresh, robust, hearty. It is slapstick and rough, which United Artists and the authorities hasten to tell us, is exactly how Shakespeare meant the thing to be played. It is funny, continuously and uproariously funny. At the moment this is written, I don't know what the critics have had to say about "The Taming of the Shrew." I suppose they will find that Shakespeare hasn't been followed to the letter, or has. They will discover that Fairbanks has departed from his usual acrobatic acting, or maybe he hasn't. They will complain that Pickford doesn't remind one of a shrew, or maybe she overdoes it. Forget any such picayunish plaints. "The Taming of the Shrew" is grand entertainment. It is an achievement of which motion pictures, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford may be proud. Furthermore, "The Taming of the Shrew" looks like the hottest kind of box-office. It is proof of the old saw that a good picture is the first requirement of film entertainment. "The Taming of the Shrew" came to Broadway on one of the coldest nights of the year. With the wind whistling and howling up the canyon, a swanky audience crowded into the Rivoli theatre for the opening. Frankly, they didn't see the picture under the best of conditions, as they had to sit and toast their toes for twenty minutes before the curtains parted. And then they had to sit through three shorts, the last of which was as inane an introduction to "The Taming of the Shrew" as man could devise. And still this new Pickford-Fairbanks combination promises to be a sensation. — P. A'. "The Vagabond Lover" DUDY VALLEE and his Connecticut Yankees last week made their first • appearance in an all-talking feature picture. Radio Pictures gave Rudy a Broadway opening at the Globe theatre. Mute testimonial to the sway that the young bandmaster exercises over the gabbier sex was the fact that women in the audience outnumbered men five or six to one. And how they applauded. Before the curtain went up on the screen Vallee appeared from the wings. He stood in the spot for almost two minutes before the applause which greeted him subsided. Then he spoke modestly about the picture, thanked Creelman, Neilan, Le Baron and Marie Dressier for their cooperation in its making. Next he called on Don Dickerman who two years ago at the Heigho Club gave Rudy and his Yankees their chance. For a minute Dickerman and Vallee put on a mutual congratulation act. Then the curtain rang up and the show was on. Reproduction was almost uniformly good and I heard the old tunes much better than I had ever done over the radio. The audience was quiet when he sang and it applauded after every number was over. Evidently, too, it liked his band. Unfortunately, while Vallee obviously exercises a certain sway over his hearers (the secret of which I have never been able to fathom) he is not an actor. It would have been kinder not to have had any closeups of the singer in action. Buck teeth weren't made as an aid to heart throbs and a wooden ex pression is seldom conductive to emotional fervor. The majority of the Yankees, too, were struck with a sudden stiffness when the camera slewed in their direction. They reminded me of a bunch of wooden Indians — that is, in the sequences in which they were not indulging in the actual business of their lives and creating captivating harmonies with a variety of instruments. Then they were fine. They were natural and quite at ease. Elsewhere they were lost — something, too, for which a director must have been partially responsible. Sally Bane, a newcomer I think, was Rudy's foil. She looked sweet and soft and photographed very well indeed. She was not called upon to do a great deal. Marie Dressier, in a heavy society role, stole the picture. But whatever criticism there may have been among the audience about Rudy's capabilities as an actor, it was quite obvious that they were pleased with him whether he could act or not. His name/his singing and his band were quite enough. He was popular and he got applause — lots of it. Included in the evening's program were two short subjects worthy of notice. One was "Old Bill's Christmas," from the story by Bruce Bairnsfather, who will be best remembered from his play, "The Better 'Ole." Old Bill of the Better 'Ole now comes to the screen in a poignant and, in some respects amusing sketch of Christmas, 1915, in the trenches. Great care was used at the Gramercy studio here, where the subject was made, to insure correctness of detail. J. Leo Meehan directed. Dick Currier supervised. Henry Wenman played the lead. The second was "Mickey's Big Moment," from the famous Fontaine Fox cartoons, a Larry Darmour production which brought laughs from all over the house. — D. F. "General Crack" A X event of the week was the opening *V Monday night of "General Crack," with John Barrymore, at the Warner theatre. It is the actor's first starring role in a full length all-talking production. The picture, by the way, is in technicolor. In "General Crack," Barrymore impersonates a swashbuckling soldier of fortune who fights the wars of others as a means of punishing the aristocracy for robbing him of his Duchy. As the hired commander-in-chief of the armies of Emperor Leopold of Austria, Crack demands in payment for his victories half the gold of the kingdom and the hand of the Archduchess as well; His demands met, he snubs the court by jilting the lady for a gypsy dancer met at the roadside. Highlights of the picture, taken from George Preedy's romantic novel, are scenes of cavalry in combat. The opening was attended by who's who in the New York end of the motion picture industry. Dialog Lures Carew; Returns After Year (Special to the Herald-World) HOLLYWOOD, Dec. 3. — Arthur Edmund Carew returned to Hollywood this week after an absence of more than a year. Carew invested in a business enterprise which took him to New York. The business has been liquidated and he is in Hollywood to make his sound film debut. Warner Brothers Open Fourth Pacific Coast House at Whittier, Cal. (Special to the Herald-World) NEW YORK, Dec. 3.— Warner Brothers opened their fourth Pacific Coast theatre last week, the Whittier theatre, Whittier, California. A group of Vitaphone stars headed by Frank Fay attended the affair. First National's "Footlights and Fool" was the opening attraction. The other three houses operated by Warner's in California are: Warner Brothers theatre, Hollywood; Warner Brothers, Los Angeles, and Fresno, Fresno. Marin Supervises, Korda Directs "Dollar Princess" As First Fox Assignments (Special to the Herald-World) HOLLYWOOD, Dec. 3.— Ned Marin will act as associate producer on "The Dollar Princess" for Fox. Alexander Korda will direct. The story is from the Leo Fall stage romance. The film is now in preparation and will begin production within several weeks. Revnes Joins Columbia Production Department (Special to the Herald-World) NEW YORK, Dec. 3.— Maurice Revnes, prominent figure in the production field, has joined the Columbia executive list. Revnes will act in an executive capacity in the company's production staff on the West Coast. Revnes achieved his first prominence as a Broadway producer, mostly of Molnar plays. He also served in the Fox, M G M and" United Artists production departments. Revnes comes to Columbia from Pathe, where he handled "Paris Bound" and "The Awful Truth." United Artists Appoints Ted Reed Sound Director (Special to the Herald-World) NEW YORK, Dec. 3.— Ted Reed has been given the post of director of sound at the United Artists studios, according to John W. Considine, Jr., production executive for Joseph M. Schenck. Reed will have all technical sound work under his supervision, and will also assist writers and directors in using the medium of sound in the best possible way. Curfew Would Require Children Home by 8:30 (Special to the Air -aid-World) QUEBEC, Dec. 3r— A move has been made to tighten up on the juveniles in Quebec, the proposal being to require all children under 16 to be in their homes at 8:30 P. M. in winter and 9:30 in summer. The curfew follows up the law prohibiting any child under 16 entering a moving picture theatre — and the law has been rigidly enforced for a year.