Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (Sep 1935 - Aug 1936)

WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 1936 1 1 ANTHONY ADVERSE Hollywood Preview BOXOFFICE RATING BIOGRAPHICAL DRAMA . . . Masterful, compelling entertainment . . . Wide popularity of novel assures large audience among reading public . . . Beautifully produced and photographed . . . Expert performances . . . Rates • • • for general patronage and • • • • for class spots. Warner Bros. 138 Minutes Frederic March . . . Olivia deHavilland . . . Donald Woods . . . Anita Louise . . . Claude Rains . . . Steffi Duna . . . Edmund Gwenn . . . Billy Mauch . . . Ralph Morgan . . . George E. Stone . . . J. Carrol Naish Directed by Mervyn LeRoy A brilliant picturization of Hervey Allen's popular and widely-read novel. All the sweep and compelling drama of the original have been caught in a powerful film, which, at times, reaches the zenith of screen spectacle. Mervyn LeRoy's masterful direction gives unity to the widely spaced episodes which comprise the adventures of the central character. Fredric March playing the role of "Anthony Adverse" as a man, gives a sincere and sustained portrayal which will please the most critical. Billy Mauch, the child Anthony, is likewise very effective. Condensing the lengthy novel into this one-sitting film form has been accomplished with skill in a compact, fluent script. Five main sequences, neatly strung together, tell the main story. The mood of the period has been beautifully captured and sustained and the dialogue is always adult. There is no question that "Anthony Adverse" is a notable production and will find a large and responsive audience awaiting it in better class theatres. Generally, however, the very weight and scope of the story can be expected to act against its success. It should get well above average grosses everywhere, ranging downward as the intelligence of the audiences is lower. PLOT: Anthony Adverse, born out of wedlock to the lovely bride of a Spanish nobleman and a dashing Irish adventurer, is placed in a convent. At the age of ten he is apprenticed to a merchant, who is actually his grandfather. Thus, he begins h s contact with little Angela, daughter of the merchant's cook, a contact which is to have a lasting effect upon his entire life. Grownup and married, Anthony goes first to Havana, then on to the African coast, where, through circumstances, he becomes a slave trader. The years find him back in France, where he comes afoul of the Spanish grandee's hate. Here lie becomes reconciled with his wife, now a famous singer and favorite of Napoleon. Happiness seems in their grasp, when fate again intrudes and in the end we find him off to new adventures in America, together with his young son. AD TIPS: Tie up with book stores, libraries, etc. on novel around which this story is built. Sell March as the "perfect Anthony Adverse" and conduct a contest on who else might hate been able to play the role, or why March is so suited to play the character. This is one of the most important pictures of the year, so sell! HAR BLAIR (Hollywood). ONE RAINY AFTERNOON BOXOFFICE RATING COMEDY . . . One of the lightest, frothiest continental farces yet to grace the screen . . . Laughs all the way, charming romance and a travesty on our moral code . . . Rates • • • for class houses; * * for naborhoods; less for action and rural spots. United Artists (Pickford-Lasky Prod.) 8 6 Minutes Francis Lederer . . . Ida Lupino . . . Hugh Herbert . . . Roland Young . . . Joseph Cawthorn . . . Donald Meek . . . Erik Rhodes Directed by Rowland V. Lee Much ado about nothing, but done with such verve, sprightliness and downright charm that it creeps up on you. Did you ever dig your fork quizzically into a whipped cream eclair, mutter a satisfied "Ummmm" at the first taste, then gobble up with sheer delight the remainder of the fluffy tid-bit? Well, the initial PickfordLasky production is just that sort of thing. It is brittle, sparkling champagne comedy, farce and travesty. Directed with deftness, performed with the necessary airiness, appointed with very clever dialogue, this story about a stolen kiss and what momentous developments it brought in its wake is as graceful as one of the falling raindrops. Outstanding in the cast are Donald Meek, who has one of the funniest bits in a season of films, Hugh Herbert, more nervously comic than usual and Francis Lederer, who exudes his particular and charming brand of romantic comedy. This is a sweet dish for class houses, where it rates well above average, but will have to rely largely on word-of-mouth selling in the naborhoods and rural locations to get fair grosses. PLOT: Lederer attends a Parisian cinema in the company of a countess, who is fascinated by him and is enjoying much of his company without her husband's knowledge. Due to a mixup in seats, he kisses Ida Lupino, who is sitting next to him and who he thinks is his companion. The League tor Protection of Public Morals, causes the affair to be widely publicized and Lederer is arrested. Wishing to avoid scandal, Lupino pays his fine after a ludicrous trial, but this only makes him the man of the hour, with women rushing to the theatre, where he acts. Lederer and Ida fall in love and at the premier of a new show, they re-enact the kissing scene, but, this time, in earnest. AD TIPS: Sell on the "preachy" comedy angle. Feature the oast, great supporting people. Ask the women in catch copy: "What would yon do if a handsome stranger suddenly kissed you in a darkened movie theatre?" NONNIE. And So They Were Married BOXOFFICE RATING COMEDY . . . First half extremely funny, but it bogs down in last two reels . . . Should please average audiences . . . Rates • * generally and may do better with selling. Columbia 7 3 Minutes Melvyn Douglas . . . Mary Astor . . . Edith Fellows . . . Jackie Moran . . . Donald Meek . . . Dorothy Stickney . . . Romaine Callender Directed by Elliot Nugent Had the swift, comic tempo of the first half of this film been maintained in the second half, this would have been one of the outstanding comedies of the year. As it is, "And So They Were Married" is an amusing domestic comedy hilarious in parts, dull in others. The extremely funny situations in the first half of the film more than compensate for the less interesting "boy loses girl" complications that come later. One particularly comical sequence takes place in the huge dining room of the brand new mountain hotel, where Melvyn Douglas and Mary Astor, who learned to hate each other on their first meeting, are the only guests and are harassed by a typically obnoxious resort hostess and entertainment director. Cast stand-outs are little Edith Fellows and Douglas. Dorothy Stickney, as the gabby hostess, and Romaine Callender, the annoying entertainment director, Donald Meek, the flustered hotel manager, all turn in highly comic performances. This has strong exploitation angles that will boost grosses if applied. "Married" should bring average or better business generally. PLOT: Divorcee Mary Astor and her young daughter, Edith, two man haters, encounter Douglas, .1 widower, on their way to a mountain resort hotel. They have a tiff on the road and continue then verbal battle in the hotel, where they are mistaken for man and wife. Word arrives that a snow landslide has blocked the road. At dinner that evening, Mary and Douglas are annoyed no end by the hotel s professional joy-makers and they finally become friends just to escape their tormentors. Douglas' (Continued on page 12)