Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (Sep 1934 - Aug 1935)

8 INDEPENDENT EXHIBITORS FILM BULLETIN WHAT THE CRITICS SAY about the current films . . . Excerpts of newspaper and magazine reviews HX LOVE YOU ALWAYS Columbia With Nancy Carroll N. Y. Times "... A depression story with some shining moments of truth and a sometimes fresh and touching manner ... it describes the difficulties of a young married couple in jobless New York, the initial impetus to conquer the world, the discouraging social realities, the crackup of the marriage under the endless futility of trying to get somewhere. . . . The film could have been twice as effective without the narrative fireworks, as King Vidor proved in "The Crowd." . . . She (Nancy Carroll) is just right here as the wife." N. Y. World-Telegram ". . . The film engages the efforts of Jean Dixon and Nancy Carroll, two attractive and talented players. But their efforts, while wellintentioned, are unavailing, since the piece in which they appear is a shambling and silly entertainment. . . . Although the actors appear to be seriously concerned with what is happening to them as characters in this artless little screen deformity, their commendable anxiety is not contagious enough to hold the members of the audience, who at one performance of the film took pernicious delight in giggling at the actors' plight, and in the cradle scene increased these giggles to unrestrained laughter." WEST POINT OF THE AIR Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer With Wallace Beery Phila. Evening Ledger ". . . More substantial story, though it has fewer unusual flying scenes. . . . Introduces an effective father-son conflict." Phila. Inquirer ". . . The pattern has fewer variations than usual since various episodes are virtually exact counterparts of those found only a month ago in Jimmy Cagney's 'Devil Dogs of the Air'. . . . Beery is gruff, good-natured, sentimental and long-suffering as Big Mike. . . . James Gleason is amusing so far as opportunity permits." Baltimore Evening Sun ". . . Young boys should enjoy 'West Point of the Air' no end; while those elders who accompany them should find no trouble in being pleasantly diverted by Mr. Beery and his associates, the flag-waving, the illustrations of father-love and the stunt flying." Phila. Record ". . . By this time every man, woman and child who goes to the movies must know the A B C of American military ideology. To wit: discipline, courage of the death-defying variety, unquestioning allegiance and the virtue of subordination. 'West Point of the Air' repeats the credo with equal patriotic fervor — but less entertainment — than the others. . . . The presence of Wallace Beery in the cast is the film's claim to distinction." PRIVATE WORLDS Paramount With Claudette Colbert, Charles Boyer N. Y. Herald-Tribune ". . . It is all the sort of neurotic material that the cinema seldom dares to handle but, thanks to the excellent direction of Gregory LaCava and the admirable acting of an excellent cast, 'Private Worlds' becomes arresting and unusual drama. . . . Miss Colbert's performance as the girl psychiatrist of the fable is the one that the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences must have thought they were rewarding when they proclaimed her the Duse of 1934. . . . 'Private Worlds' can hardly be described as a pleasant picture, and its preoccupation with mental diseases does not make for audience gayety." N. Y. World-Telegram . . . Genuinely moving, authentically entertaining film drama. ... It is a beautiful blending of finely wrought drama that is taut with theatrical suspense, humor that is biting and witty and passion that is at its highest and clearest point. In other words, in spite of the fact that it has a medical background and theme, 'Private Worlds' is a romantic drama. . . . Charles Boyer is nothing short of superb." LET'S LIVE TONIGHT Columbia With Lilian Harvey, Tullio Carminati Baltimore Sun ". . . Men are not likely to care much for the film, despite the charms of Miss Harvey. But Mr. Carminati will probably be sighed over by the girls. . . . What the film lacks chiefly is humor. ... It doesn't quite come off. The sparkle, the snap, the fun are missing." Phila. Evening Ledger ". . . Somehow it is hard to work up a real good sympathy for the people concerned and as a consequence 'Let's Live Tonight' is pallid screen fare. . . . Director Victor Schertzinger falls far below the standard he exhibited in 'One Night of Love'. The story that he has to work with is weak." N. Y. Times ". . . Miss Lilian Harvey and Tullio Carminati fall in love at Monte Carlo and, in an excessively whimsical moment, call each other Monte and Carlotta in order to avoid commonplace introductions. After their beautiful moment on Mr. Carminati's yacht, the handsome and cynical bachelor steals out of the damsel's life forever. If you have seen more than ten films in your life, you will not have to be told that the participants spend the next forty-five minutes languishing in polite despair for the partner of that wonderful night. . . . AH in all, 'Let's Live Tonight' is something the world will little note nor long remember." THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH Gaumont-British With Peter Lorre, Leslie Banks, Nova Pilbeam N. Y. World-Telegram ". . . Will cause you to hold your breath while you watch, with enjoyable suspense, the movements of a fascinating gang of malefactors who stop at nothing, not even kidnapping, in their efforts to murder a prominent European statesman. . . . Acted to the hilt by a cast that includes Peter Lorre, who was the sinister child murderer in 'M'; Nova Pilbeam, who tore your heart to pieces with her performance in 'Little Friend' . . . provides a legitimate wallop for moviegoers whose appetites for excitement have been ruined by some of the recent thriller films." N. Y. Times ". . . The swiftest screen melodrama this column can recall. . . . Scenes which merge so breahtlessly that you are always rapt and tense." THE LOST CITY Hollywood With William Boyd N. Y. American "... A regular baby-scarer. It calls for exclamation points between each word. . . . But unless you're partial to the old-time serial technique and a sort of Jules Verne plot done in nickel-novel fashion . . . may fail to thrill." N. Y. Sun ". . . An amazing fantasy of an electrical genius gone mad. The picture is quite mad, too, mad enough to fill the Globe to capacity yesterday noon. . . Exuberant with action . . . small boys will adore it. Quite a few grown people took the trouble to sit through it yesterday." N. Y. Daily News ". . . Easily one of the best horror pictures since 'Frankenstein'." THE WORLD ACCUSES First Division With Vivian Tobin, Dickie Moore N. Y. Times ". . . Heaps a deal of grief upon the doorstep of Vivian Tobin, who suffers from start to finish as the actress who marries into the wealthy family, whose husband is killed in a night-club brawl, and whose infant child is taken from her by the court and turned over to the mother-in-law. . . . The picture depends largely for its appeal on the pout of Dickie Moore and the cute remarks of Cora Sue Collins. This corner found the strain too great." THE FLORENTINE DAGGER Warner Bros. With Donald Woods, Margaret Lindsay Phila. Evening Ledger ". . . Eerie lighting and excellent playing in the character roles atone for the mishandling of the plot. . . . Under the guiding hand of Author Ben Hecht, the plot started out bravely in life as a magazine story. It had logic and suspense. These are wasted in a fumbling adaptation to the screen. A bit of miscasting is thrown in for good measure. . . . Margaret Lindsay is a pale, flat-voiced young lady, and Donald Woods — despite much grim protruding of his battleship jaw — is a young man competing far above his class." GOLD DIGGERS OF 1935 Warner Bros. With Dick Powell, Gloria Stuart Baltimore Sun ". . . The show is compounded of Dick Powell, tuneful songs, slapstick interludes and a few scenic song and dance spectacles, staged on a colossal scale. . . . The film has a fair sprinkling of laughs. . . . Mr. Powell is his own sweet self He never changes his characterization, and people are beginning to suspect that he couldn't if he tried."