Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1938)

OCTOBER 2 2, 1938 1? 'SERVICE DE LUXE' Feeble Comedy Rales • Hollywood Preview Universal 85 Minutes Constance Bennett, Vincent Price, Charlie Ruggles, Helen Broderick, Mischa Auer, Joy Hodges, Haliwell Hobbes, Chester Clute Directed by Rowland V. Lee With a brand new, fresh and smart story idea, this should have been among the brighter film offerings of the season. Instead it is very feeble stuff. Screenplay fails to utilize advantageously the clever idea, the actors overwork themselves for weak laughs and, as for director Lee, one wonders if he were really at the studio when all this took place. SERVICE DE-LUXE wastes a worthwhile cast, for not one has an opportun ity to display any talent worthy of the name. This will "lay an egg." Miss Bennett runs a service which attends to wealthy clients' personal needs. She arranges parties, cures hangovers, changes opera tickets and generally helps organize people's lives. She longs for a man who knows his own mind. He turns up in the person of Vincent Price, a young fellow from up-stale with plans for a new type, inexpensive tractor. Unknown to him, she is instrumental in getting him an interview with Charlie Ruggles, an important manufacturer of farm implements. Ruggles likes the idea, requests Bennett's service to fake care of him, and Price starts work on a model. When Ruggles' nit wit daughter, Joy Hodges, decides to marry Price, Bennett reveals who she is. But Price decides to marry Joy anyhow. For the tag, he manages to palm her off to Mischa Auer and marches up the aisle with Bennett. Miss Bennett's scenery chewing would do justice to any good road show Simon Legree. Price hails from the New York stage. He should return immediately, for he strikes us as being the most ineffectual new personality brought to the screen in years. His voice is dull and his lines are delivered in a slow wearisome monotone. Helen Broderick and Mischa Auer try desperately with the material at hand. That they score a few laughs is a credit solely to their ability. Poor Charlie Ruggles plays one of the most implausible characters ever put into a story. Joy Hodges is frightful. HANNA (Hollywood) "JUVENILE COURT* Strong Exploitation Meller Rales • • • for action spots, good dualler elsewhere. Columbia 61 Minutes Paul Kelly, Rita Hayworth, Frankie Darro and His Gang Directed by D. Ross Lederman This can be sold for very good grosses in action houses. Fashioned on the form of 'Crime School', it is a fastmoving, punchy melodrama about the slum-bred boys who are America's potential gangsters of tomorrow. Frankie Darro and His Gang are as tough a lot of young mobsters as one might desire and they give the picture a virility that men and boys will relish. For the exhibitor who knows how to sell a title like this one, JUVENILE COURT will show a handsome profit. Paul Kelly, youthful Public Defender, loses his plea to save a gang killer from the electric chair. He is accused by the killer's sister and brother, Rita Hayworth and Frankie Darro, of "laying down" on the case. Winning the cooperation of Rita, Kelly convinces the Governor of the value of organizing a Police Athletic League. Kelly seeks to enlist the support of Darro and his gang of young hoodlums, but encounters fierce opposition because of their hatred of cops. He finally wins them over. Just as he is proving to the authorities that his organization has value, the kids almost upset his whole scheme by running off with the receipts of a benefit being run for their fund. Just as the public is turning on Kelly, the boys return the money and promise to behave. Kelly handles the role of the kids' lawyer friend in smooth style. Hayworth is a fair romantic interest. Acting honors go to young Darro and his mob. D. Ross Lederman gets credit for a snappy and forceful directorial job. AD TIPS: Exploit the title! Call it "A Smashing Indictment of A Society Thai Permits Slums To Exist and Kills Their Product!" Give lop billing to Darro and His Gang. Call them "The Sh.ms Gang." PIX WHERE THE RUEEALO ROAM9 Average Hitter Rales • • in western houses. Monogram 62 Minutes Tex Ritter, Dorothy Short, Louise Massey and The Westerners, Horace Murphy, Snub Pollard, Karl Hackett Directed by Al Herman This is not up to the high standard set by the first Tex Ritter vehicle for Monogram, but it is still good western. Principal fault is a prolonged let down in the action midway thru the picture, when a lengthy session of cowboy yodeling and corney dancing takes place. It ruptures the yarn for too long a stretch. Where Ritter clicks, this one should get average business. The midway vaudeville show divides the story into two rather disconnected halves. In the first, Ritter swears over his mammy's grave to get her murderer, if it's the last thing he does. The second half is pretty much routine horse opera, with law and order triumphing over the villains. The action is good enough. So is the singing, of which there is loo much. Buffalo shots are skillfully dubbed in. Ritter handles his role adroitly. He is one of our favorite westerners today. PIX Film Itulletin Reviews Come Straight-From-the-Shoulder