Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (Sep 1935 - Aug 1936)

INDEPENDENT EXHIBITORS FILM BULLETIN1 REVIEWS (Continued from Page 8) responsive audience. It will satisfy those fans, inasmuch as there is a good deal of action and fair suspense worked up to the climax. The yarn is just routine, dealing with the good girl who has been accomplice to a gang, but decides to go straight, only to have the gangsters harass her when she meets an honest bank manager. Director Charles Lamont makes the most of a cheap production, keeping the sequences skipping along at a good pace. Failure of this to be suited for anything more than part of a dual bill is due to weakness in cast. Blackmer and Shirley Grey are O. K. in romantic leads and Madison and Betz carry gangmen roles with proper menace, but they are not saleable. Will get by in cheap action nabes and rurals, but impossible for better class spots. PLOT: When Shirley Grey tenders her "resignation" to Madison's gang, she gets a razzing that leads her to pull off one more job, single-handed, just to show what she can do. After that, she travels west and goes to work in a bank. There she meets Blackmer, the manager, and a romance grows between them. The gang, however, finds her and they try to force her to help them rob the bank. They pull the job and kidnap Blackmer, but Shirley calls the police and, telling them who she is, takes them to the hideout. In the gunfight, Shirley is slightly wounded and Blackmer tells her he loves her regardless of what she has been. AD TIPS: The gangster angle is all-important and should be sold in action spots. LJ. CAPPY RICKS RETURNS BOX-OFFICE RATING COMEDY MELODRAMA . . . Very entertaining programmer . . . Has plenty of action and sentiment . . . But would have to be a masterpiece to overcome complete lack of marquee names . . . Rates • • — . Republic 67 Minutes Robert McWade . . . Ray Walker . . . Lois Wilson . . . Florine McKinney . . . Man Mountain Dean . . . Oscar Apfel . . . Lucien Littlefield . . . Directed by Mack Wright Here is a swell little comedy-melodrama based on one of Peter B. Kyne's most popular stories, but a case of heart-break when one has to figure its box-office value. CLEM'S Independent Movie Supply House 30 Years of Faithful Service to Every Theatre Owner M VIM: S I REE1 PHILA., PA. Production is fully adequate, yarn first rate, players excellently fitted for their roles — but the cast is too much for even a masterpiece to pull against. Once the patron gets inside the theatre, "Cappy Ricks" will entertain immensely, but there isn't one name in the cast that will draw a sou to the till. For action spots, there is a dandy rough and tumble fight, with Man Mountain Dean, the bearded wrest ler, getting plenty of laughs with his mauling, which is on the "Three Stooges" order. There are also thrill elements in Walker's swimming and diving from ships. McWade turns in a grand piece of acting as the gruffy old Cappy. If sold strongly, this may bring fair returns, but in the face of its lack of one draw name, it rates below-average. It is not a sea story. FLASH PRE -REVIEW BIG BROADCAST Paramount A lot of stars and lesser names in what amounts to a series of screen vaudeville acts. Makes for mediocre entertainment, but the long list of attractive names will bring it through to better-than-average business. ELK (N. Y.). PLOT: McWade, Cappy Ricks, comes out of retirement to help Kenneth Harlan and Lucien Littlefield, who are running his lumber business, outwit his rivals, attempting to secure passage of a law prohibiting the use of wooden shingles as roofing, thereby cleaning up with their own patented roofing material. McWade sends for Walker, his go-getter assistant. A whirlwind campaign is initiated to obtain sufficient petitions against passage of the bill, during which Walker falls in love with Florine McKinney, daughter of the rival boss. Things happen quickly when thugs are brought in to destroy the petitions, with McWade rounding up Man Mountain Dean for the big fight to a happy finish in the office. Walker suspects McKinney of being her father's spy for a while, but it is proven otherwise. AD TIPS: Best to sell this as one of Peter B. Kyne's best stories. Veer away from the sea story angle, billing as "A salty tale of the waterfront." Omitting cast altogether and featuring the author may not hurt. NONNIE. MERRITT CRAWFORD (Continued from Page 5) "Monopoly" is the natural and necessary solution of their problem, with just enough trust-controlled semi-independent producers and theatres as camouflage to make it appear that "competition" still exists. With the rapidly rising market in practically all film stocks, this tendency will steadily become more acute. Even a conviction in the St. Louis case will do little to hold it back. The only present protection for the independent exhibitor is organization, effective buying pools and the like. But even this is not going to be his ultimate solution, in this writer's opinion. Eventually, the independent showmen must combine to form their own producing units and to create a chain of distributing points, which will offer definite inducements to independent production talent. Only a movement along these lines can successfully oppose the concentrated power of the huge financial interests, that steadily dominate the major film companies more and more and dictate their policies. ATLAS CORP. OPERATIONS— No proof of this statement is needed. Nevertheless, I respectfully refer those interested to examine the increasing holdings of the Atlas Corporation, an investment trust, frequently mentioned in connection with reorganization proposals for RKO. This company for some time has been a most important factor in Paramount and 20th-century Fox. It is reported that the company has acquired Mike Meehan's stock interests in K-A-O, which operates theatres principally in the metropolitan area. Meehan's holdings of K-A-O preferred stock are said to total $3,500,000, a mere drop in the bucket, by the way, as compared with the Atlas Corporation's interests in the other companies mentioned. Apparently, Atlas has not yet bought in to Warner Bros.-First National or M-G-M. Its other theatre holdings, if any, are not known. At least no published data is available. But this investment trust's holdings already arc sufficiently significant to make future developments decidedly interesting. What banking or industrial group it may be which controls the Atlas Corporation is not indicated. But it may be the subject of future commentary in this department.