The Film Daily (1934)

THE •£&H DAILY Saturday, June lo, i?i4 « « « REVIEWS of the NEW FEATURES « « « "HERE COMES THE GROOM" with Jack Haley, Mary Boland Paramount 64 mins. HILARIOUS FARCE. JACK HALEY SCORES IMPRESSIVELY AS BIG SCREEN COMEDIAN. A distinct triumph for Jack Haley who keeps scoring from the time he first appears and right through to the finale. The lad has an original comedy slant all his own, an artless, effortless way of scoring his effects, a fine pantomimic gift, and a positive genius for arousing the sympathy of the audience — the trick that makes all great comedians. Director Edward Sedgwick deserves a lot of credit for giving Jack a free hand to handle his business. He never overplays. Perfectly natural. The farce has a far-fetched plot, but the situations are so hilarious that you overlook the improbabilities in the general fun. Jack has a sweetie who wants him to desert piccolo playing to become a bandit. He tries to please, gets in a jam with the cops, and flees into a Pullman compartment where a bride on her honeymoon (Patricia Ellis) has been deserted by the tenor Masked Marvel of the radio. She makes a deal with him to pose as her Masked Marvel hubby and save himself from going to jail. From there on it is a series of funny situations with Jack Haley piling up the laughs without any effort. Cast: Jack Haley, Mary Boland, Patricia Ellis, Neil Hamilton, Isabel Jewell, Lawrence Gray, Sidney Tcler, E. H. Calvert, James Burtis, Ward Bond, James Farley, Arthur Treacher, Ernest S. Adams, Edwin Sturgis. Director, Edward Sedgwick; Author, Richard Flournoy; Screen Play, Leonard Praskins, Casey Robinson; Cameraman, Henry Sharp. Direction, Very Good Photography, Okay. THE INDUSTRY'S DATE BOOK Today: Meeting of S. M. P. E. board of directors at Westchester Country Club, Rye, N. Y. lune 16-July 2: International Motion Picture Week, Vienna. June 18: Meeting of Paramount's National Advisory Council of Theater Operators, Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles. June 18-19: Warner-First National regional sales meeting, San Francisco. •une 18-20: RKO annual sales convention, Drake Hotel, Chicago. June 18-20: Paramount annual sales convention, Hotel Ambassador. Los Angeles June 18-22: American Federation of Musicians convention, Cleveland. June 20: Annual Boat Ride of the Warner Club aboard S.S. Peter Stuyvesant to Bear Mountain. June 22: Hearing on Edwin Wick's Buffalo court action seeking injunction against Code Authority. June 24-26: Convention of Southeastern Theater Owners Association, The Ansley Hotel, Atlanta. July 25: I.T.O.A. boat ride and outing. June 28: World premiere of "The World Moves On" at Criterion, N. Y. Aug. 1-20: Second Exhibition of Cinematography, Venice, Italy. June 18: Exhibitor mass meeting under auspices of Independent Exhibitors' Protective Association at Hotel Broadwood, Philadelphia. Oct. 29: S.M.P.E. Fall Meeting, Hotel Pennsylvania, New York. "LET'S TALK IT OVER" with Chester Morris, Mae Clarke, Frank Craven Universal 69 mins. DRAMA CARRIES POP APPEAL WITH A SAILOR WINNING SOCIETY GIRL IN VERY HUMAN SITUATIONS. Chester Morris has the role of a tough U. S. gob on shore leave who rescues a society girl (Mae Clarke) when he thinks she is drowning. In his flip way he assumes she likes him a lot when she is merely amused with him after being bored to death with her society set. The plot is rather unconvincing in the first two reels, but gets going with some very good human interest situations as the girl awakes to the realization that she loves this big hearted gob. She gets him a job with her uncle in his investment house, and he starts to make good and win the respect cf the uncle (Frank Craven). The payoff comes when a jealous girl in the society set tips Chester off to the fact that his idol only took him on to win a bet with her society boy friend that she could polish up this crude gob person. Burning up, he breaks in on her party, and tells her what he thinks of her before her friends. Good climax as the girl rises to the occasion and atones for her unkind practical joke — with the happy ending. Cast: Chester Morris, Mae Clarke, Frank Gaven, John Warburton, Irene Ware, Russ Brown, Andy Devine, Tom Dugan. Director, Kurt Neumann; Authors, Dcre Schary, Lewis Foster; Screen Play, John Meehan, Jr.; Cameraman, Charles Stumar. Direction, Good Photography, Good. Cicely Courtneidge in "ALONG CAME SALLY" with Sam Hardy Gaumcnt-British 72 mins. JUST FAIR BRITISH MUSICAL COMEDY WITH CABARET-RACKETEER PLOT. PLEASING ENSEMBLES AND ONE TUNEFUL NUMBER. Miss Courtneidge, known as "Cicely" in England, may be a riot over there but her style of comedy will not cause much hilarity in this country. She plays the part of a girl who insists upon being engaged in a cabaret floor show. Sam Hardy, an American, turns her down. She then manages to secure a job as maid in Hardy's heme. There she discovers that he is in search of a foreign star for his show. She disguises herself as Mademoiselle Zaza, a French music hall performer. In the meantime, some American gangsters who have followed Hardy to England, demand a cut in Hardy's profits. When he refuses they kidnap Zaza. She escapes in time to appear in the show. In the interim, her Apache partner has been kidnaped and one cf the gangsters dons the dancer's costume. The best laughs in the film come when Zaza dances with the disguised gangster. There is one good ensemble number and the two songs, "We'll All Go Riding on a Rainbow" and "You Ought to See Sally on Sunday," should catch on. Cast: Cicely Courtneidge, Sam Hardy, Phyllis Clare, Billy Milton, Ben Weldon, Enrico Naldi, Ann Hope, Ivor McLaren Rex Evans, Tubby Cipen, Hartley Power. Director, Tim Whalen; Author, same; Adaptors, Austin Milford, A. R. Rawlinson; Screen Play, Guy Bolton; Editor, D. Twist; Cameraman, C Van Enger; Recording Engineer, H. Hand. Direction, Fair Photography, Excellent A LITTLE from "LOTS ►// By RALPH WILK HOLLYWOOD THIRST results of the cross-country talent hunt for Universal by Casting Director David C. Werner are the signing of Lee Crowe, 21, of Ann Arbor, Mich., and Philip Thomas Dakin, 26, of Elgin, 111. Crowe has been playing with eastern stock companies the past two years. Dakin is without screen experience but has been playing in stock and with road companies for several years. T T T Harry Whorf, author of "The Milky Way," Broadway stage hit, has been signed by Universal and will report to the coast probably in August. T T T Esther Ralston has replaced June Knight, who is sick, in the cast of Universal's "Romance in the Rain." Another replacement in the san.e film is that of Philip Reed by Paul Kaye. T T T Production on "Marie Galante," Fox picture featuring Ketti Gallian, has started. Adapted by Reginald Berkeley from the popular novel by Jacques Deval, it casts Spencer Tracy, Siegfried Rumann, Leslie Fenton, Ned Sparks and Stepin Fetchit. Henry King is directing. This will be Miss Gallian's initial screen appearance. Clarence Wilson, comedian, has been added to the cast of Fox's "Servants' Entrance," now in production as the next starring vehicle for Janet Gaynor. Frank Dawson, Ed Cecil, Lucille Ward and Ann Doran have also been added to the cast which, besides Janet Gaynor and Lew Ayres, includes Louise Dresser, Walter Connolly, Siegfried Rumann, Astrid Allwyn, Ned Sparks, G. P. Huntley, Jr., Catherine Doucet and Harold Minjir. ▼ t ▼ CAST ASSIGNMENTS COLUMBIA: Tyler Brooke for "Blind Date"; Douglas Cosgrove, Harry C. Brailey. Harry Strang, Mert La Verre for "Special Agent"; Rita La Roy, Bradley Page and Crane W.lbur for "The Criminal Within." PARAMOUNT: Charles B. Middleton for "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch." Edmund Cobb in "RACKETEER ROUND-UP" with Edna Aselin Fred Thomson 50 mins. FAIR WESTERN SOMEWHAT AWAY FROM ROUTINE FAILS TO DEVELOP MUCH ACTION. A fair sample of the action drama, this one is smoothly performed but fails to develop much excitement. Edna Aselin comes back to her father's dude ranch and to Edmund Cobb, her sweetheart and the ranch foreman, just as a trio of newly-released crooks arrive to await a jailbreak by other members of their gang and a flight over the border. Edna's pa, a former member cf the gang unknown to her but who has gene straight, is requested to turn over $50,000 loot he has cached. One of the crooks, attracted by Edna, forces her father to get rid of the foreman on threat of revealing his past. But Edna and Cobb meet at a trysting place and plot an elopement on the night the jailbreakers are due to arrive. Cobb arrives on the scene of a melee in which Edna's father is slain, and she is kidnaped by one of the gang who flees with the loot. Cobb flees when he is suspected of murder. In a pitched battle the crooks are rounded up. Cast: Edmund Cobb, Edna Aselin, Edward Allen Bilby, Eddie Davis, Ned Norton, Lois Glaze, Felix Valee, Jack Cheatham, Ruth Runell. Director, Robert Hoyt; Author, Eddie Davis; Screen Play, Ruth Runell; Cameraman, Leonard Pcole; Recording Engineer, Earl Crain; Film Editor, Henry Adams. Direction, Okay. Photography, Okay. gi HOLLYWOOD ,« PLAZA MOST CONVENIENT Hotel in Hollywood $2.50 up, Single ' $3.00 up. Double Special weekly and monthly rates The Plaz? is near everythingto see and do in Hollywood. Ideal for business or pleasure. Every room has private dressing room, bath and shower. Beds "built for rest." Every modern convenience. Fine foods at reasonable prices. Convenient parking for your car. Chas. Danziger, Mgr. Eugene Stern, Pre*. The "Doorwav of Hospitality" Vine at Hollywood Blvo. HOLLY WOOD Jk