Exhibitors Herald World (Oct-Dec 1930)

October 11, 1930 EXHIBITORS HERALD-WORLD 37 w NEW PRODUCT This department does not attempt to predict the public's reactions to pictures. It does, instead, present detailed and accurate information on product, together with the frank and honest opinion of the reporter. THE BIG TRAIL AN EPIC. Produced by Fox Films. Directed by Raoul Walsh. Story by Hal G. Evarts. Assistant director, Archibald Buchanan. Chief Grandeur cameraman, Arthur Edeson. Chief standard film cameraman, Lucian Andriot. Sound man, George Leverett. Art director, Harold Miles. Cast: Tyrone Power, Marguerite Churchill, Tully Marshall, El Brendel, Ian Keith, John Wayne, Charles Stevens, David Rollins, Frederick Burton, Russ Powers, Louise Carver, William V. Mong, Dodo Newton, Ward Bond, Marcia Harris, Marjorie Leet, Emslie Emerson, Frank Rainboth, Andy Shufford, Helen Parrish. J HE BIG TRAIL" is an epic. It is the story of the glory, tragedy, fun and romance of the people who settled the Lewis and Clarke territory. It follows the lives of a great group of pioneers from Missouri through the plains, across the deserts, into the mountains and then through the wilderness of Nebraska and Wyoming. Raoul Walsh's production unfolds many fine spectacular events in the history of that trek. Approximately 100 great prairie schooners carried hundreds of men, women and children from homes of comparative security into the dangers of the unsettled country. Oxen, cattle, horses and poultry were taken. Walsh has placed all this on the screen. At the outset he depicts by action and dialog the fineness of spirit with which the people set out. He introduces Ian Keith, John Wayne, Marguerite Churchill and Tully Marshall as the central characters who have important parts in the story that runs through the greater drama. Their story is, after all, rather unimportant when contrasted with the tale of the moving community itself. The finest part of the picture is the storm sequence. Rain in unprecedented quantities thrown upon the location set brought the first night audience to its feet, applauding and awed. Never before that I have known has such a storm been brought to the screen. It was the more effective for the fact that it was on Grandeur. The increased size of the film everywhere brought out the beauty and depth of the settings. The finest phase of the picture is the photography and the choice of the locations. With the Grandeur camera turned on those locations Walsh has been able to make truly sensational shots. Another of the exciting parts of the show is a well constructed fight between the pioneers and the Indians who occupy the territory on which the whites expect to settle. A good piece of drama is enacted. The individual acting honors go to Ian Keith and Marguerite Churchill, although as said heretofore, it is not the kind of picture that permits the individual to stand out to any great extent. Miss Churchill appears to be a fine, wholesome type of young woman who has HERO OF THE WEEK Raoul Walsh, who made an epic of vaslnesa and sweep in his direction of Fox*s "The Big Trail." poise and dignity, modesty and charm. Her admirer, John Wayne, carries on very well. Considerable time was given the production and much of it went into the business of finding locations that suited the story as well as into an intense effort on the part of the director and cameramen to get the most effective results after settings were found. It is certainly not the kind of picture that is made every day. It is the kind that can be turned out only by the expenditure of unusual effort, organization, planning and scientific skill. Its vastness and its sweep make it what it is. — Douglas Hodges, Hollywood. A FALL TO ARMS LARRY DARMOUR PRODUCTION Radio Pictures — Sound A good story and a capable cast form a background for "A Fall to Arms." second of the Laugh series being produced by Darmour with Louise Fazenda starred. Miss Fazenda uses slapstick to great advantage and for a lot of laughs all through the film. The story puts her in the role of a mistreated boarding house maid who falls heir to a supposedly gushing oil-well only to find it a "has been" gasoline station when she sees it. The story is full of laughs from start to finish with Max Davidson getting a big share of them. The picture is 2,000 feet long. * * * THE SEA WOLF MILTON SILLS' LAST! Produced and distributed by Fox. Directed by Alfred Santell. From the story by Jack London. Scenario by Ralph Block. Dialog by Samuel N. Behrman. With Milton Sills, Jane Keith, Raymond Hackett, Mitchell Harris, Nat Pendleton, John Rogers, Harold Kinney, Harry Tenbrook, Sam Allen. Release date, September 21, 1930. Footage, 8000. A HIS last screen appearance of Milton Sills, in the screen adaptation of Jack London's famous story, "The Sea Wolf," is a fine dramatic achievement in characterization. Ably supported by a most excellent cast, the late star gave life to a figure long familiar in print to the large group of London's readers. It is the story of a rough sea captain, whose philosophy of life is summed up in the expression "the big fish eats the small fish," and who carries out that idea in all his dealings with men. When a young weakling is shanghaied by the crew and taken aboard Wolf Larson's ship, The Ghost, a water front girl, who had been attracted to the boy, follows to be with him. There follows the conflict between the boy and Larson, which presents an excellent opportunity for Sills to portray the unfeeling and heavy handed manner of the sea captain. It is ironical that in the end, when Larson's ship has been left a derelict by the brother who hated him, the man who had no sympathy for the weak is blinded by the application of a hot poker in the hands of the cook. The young couple, who previously escaped from the ship, return to it, after floating in an open boat, to find Larson in a dying condition. Before he dies, he requests the boy to read the Lord's prayer, and in a most effective scene directs him to the nearest land. Jane Keith presents an admirable performance, chiefly noteworthy for the restraint and sincerity of her portrayal of the girl who attempted to pit her wits against the "wolf." She is very attractive, and renders her lines quietly but effectively. Raymond Hackett plays the shanghaied boy who, under the lash of Larson's tongue and fists, gains in mental and physical strength, and does a fine piece of work. John Rogers as the cook who fawns upon Larson because he fears him, but hates him for the manner in which he is ill treated, deserves special mention for his performance. He not only provides a bit of comedy here and there, which serves to relieve the intensity of the drama, but reaches a height of dramatic ability when he leaves his galley, poker in hand, to find Larson. Photography is of a uniform excellence throughout, featured particularly by several fine shots of the sailing ship on the sea, and