The Film Daily (1934)

THE « « « REVIEWS of the NEW PICTURES I J^ DAILY « « « "FINISHING SCHOOL" with Frances Dee, Billie Burke, Ginger Rogers, Bruce Cabot RKO 73 mins. ENJOYABLE ROMANCE OF MODERN YOUTH WITH MANY LAUGHS AND SNAPPY TEMPO. Very satisfactory entertainment enveloping a sweet romance, suspenseful situations, delightfully fresh dialogue and comedy of the better sort. The story concerns Frances Dee, who, as the daughter of rich parents, is sent by her society-mad mother, Billie Burke, to an exclusive finishing school. There Frances meets a roommate, Ginger Rogers, who makes the best of life and takes the bitter with the sweet. At a week-end party in New York, Frances is saved from the advances of a drunken admirer by Bruce Cabot, an interne who is working his professional way by acting as a waiter. They fall in love and spend one romantic evening together. Frances' infatuation for Bruce is discovered by her mother and also the school superintendent. They resort to every method to separate the pair, but all ends well. All parts are well handled and Ginger Rogers is st her best. Cast: Frances Dee, Billie Burke, Gingei Rogers, Bruce Cabot, John Halliday, BeularBondi, Sara Haden, Marjorie Lytell, Adalyn Doyle, Dawn O'Day. Directors, Wanda Tuchock, George Nichol Is. Jr., Author, David Hempstead; Adaptors, Wanda Tuchock, Laird Doyle; Editor, Arthur Schmidt; Cameraman, J. Roy Hunt; Recording Engineer, John L. Cass. Direction, Fine. Photography, Excellent. "GUILTY PARENTS" Syndicate 66 mins. CRUDE FILM OF MISGUIDED YOUTH TELLS SORDID STORY WITHOUT ANY ENTERTAINMENT VALUE. Evidently planned as a production to sell on the sensational sex angle, but there is nothing in the plot to justify even that. Or if there was, the censorship handicap has forced them to do some cutting sc that what remains is a very flat, crude recital of a girl's adventures in the big bad city. Nothing of any consequence happens from the standpoint of sexiness or sensationalism. It is poorly acted, directed and produced. The story material is amateurish. The press book promises a lot of the lurid atmosphere, but the picture fails to deliver. Jean Lacy has the role of a girl in a small town who is too intimate with her schoolboy sweetheart. They decide to run away to New York where the child can be born and they can be married without any disgrace. The young lad is killed in a holdup of a garage to get funds for their trip, and the garage man is also killed. So this furnishes the reason for the girl being dogged b police wherever she goes. A series cf experiences in cheap rooming houses, dance halls, etc., till she finally kills a man for taking advantage of her innocent young girl friend. Tried for murder, she jumps to her death as the jury is about to free her. Cast: Jean Lacy, Glen Boles, Donald Keith, John St. Polis, Lyntcn Brent, Robert Frazer, Gertrude Aster, Isabel Lamal, Alisa Aristi, Leon Holmes. Director, Jack Townley; Author, same; Editor, Ethel Davey; Cameraman, Robert Doran. Direction, Poor. Photography, Fair. I OR 1 PERSONS Above the Sth Floor $6.00 and up Enjoy the comforts of a parlor and bedroom suite. . . . All rooms equipped with combination tub and shower bath, and running ice water. Ideal location — adjacent to shopping, business and theatre districts. SWIMMING POOL AND GYMNASIUM FREE TO GUESTS FOREIGN FILMS "TANNENBERG," in German; produced by H. P. Film; directed by Heinz Paul; with Karl Koerner, Henry Pless, Sigurd Lohde, Victor de Kowa, Hans Stuewe, Kaethe Haack, Hertha von Walther, Erika Dannhoff, Franziska Kinz, Rudolf Klicks. At the Yorkville Theater. Excellent war film depicting incidents in East Prussia during the 1914 period. Acting is very good and the nature of the picture makes it easily understandable even to those not knowing the Ge man language. "Pagliacci" with Henry Hull Educational 12 mins. Excellent Something entirely new in presentation of opera on the screen. Several scenes are presented from the famous opera, with leading opera singers lending their voices unseen, while well known stage players enact the roles. No attempt is made to create the impression that the players are also singing. It is expertly done. The effect is very striking and natural. It is practically a return to the silent technique, with the splendid cast able to devote their entire ability to pantomimic action without worrying about their voices and the mike. Henry Hull does a superb performance. The production is equal to the very best features in quality and treatment. Director Willam DeMille handled it with telling effect. John Erskine supplied the English libr.etto, and Clara Beranger a very colorful and close knit scenario. Audio Productions sponsored the innovation. Cast includes Dan Gridley, Rose Tentone, Ralph Magelssen, James Montgomery, Frank Chapman. It is easily the finest screen production of an operatic score. With the radcal innovation in one set of actors supplying the action and opera singers the splendid vocalization, here is a class novelty that will create unbounded discussion and comment from many sources. Music lovers will go for it in a big way. "The Big Bad Wolf" (Silly Symphony) United Artists 9 mins. Fine This subject is sure to please, especially audiences which enjoyed "The Three Little Pigs." The cast :ncludes the Big, Bad Wolf, Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs. The fable tells how the two foolish little pigs advise Red Riding Hood to take a short cut through the forest to her grandmother's home and accompany her. When the Big Bad Wolf accosts them in the forest the two pigs scurry home to tell the pig who built his house of bricks what had happened. He hastens to grandmother's home and saves the day by routing the wolf. "Recommend the picture without reservation!"— Akron Times-Press. The screen's greatest emotional triumph, Frank Borzage's "NO GREATER GLORY", based on Ferenc Molnar's world famous Get your box-office ready for the J Spring clean-up! JOHN BARRY JJ MORE in "20th Century", with Carole Lombard.Walter Connolly, I Roscoc Karris. A HowardHawks | production from the; sensational :• sta{:e smash by Ben Hecht, Charles f Ma: Arthur, and Charles Bj| MiJhoIland. ' The powerful story of a love too 3 \ great for one woman! Presenting,,! J ; | in her greatest role, ELISS A LANDI i J l> i in "Sisters Under The Skin", with* § , ' I Frank Morgan.Joseph Schildkraut. ., j V. Directed by David Burton. jA