The Film Daily (1935)

Friday, May 10, 1935 DAILY 11 • DATE BOOK« I Today: M-G-M sales convention, Muehlebach Hotel, Kansas City. May 11: Cincinnati Variety Club spring dinnerdance, Plaza Hotel, Cincinnati. May 12: Testimonial midnight party to Thad Barrows, president of Local 182, M. P. 0., and S. M. P. E. convention delegate, Cocoanut Grove, Boston. May 14: Allied Theaters of New Jersey meeting, Hotel Douglas, Newark, N. J. 12:30 P. M. May 17: Annual benefit show and ball of Local 52, Motion Picture Studio Mechanics, May 18-19: Erpi Club seventh annual spring golf outing, Briarcliff Lodge, New York. Hotel Delano, New York. May 20-23: Allied States Ass'n annual convention, Piedmont Hotel, Atlanta. May 20-24: Annual Spring Meeting of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, Hotel Roosevelt, Hollywood. May 23-25: GB sales convention, New York May 27-29: GB sales convention, Chicago. May 30-June 2: Fox annual sales convention, Congress Hotel, Chicago. May 31: Chicago Film Relief Ball, Chicago. Junel : Universal Club's springs supper-dance Astor Roof, New York. June 1-3: Universal annual sales convention, Hotel Stevens, Chicago. June 9-13: Warner-First National sales convention, Hotel Ambassador, Los Angeles. June 12: Twenty-third Film Daily Golf Tourna ment, Progress Country Club, Purchase, N Y. June 16-17: M.P.T.O. of Virginia convention, Patrick Henry Hotel, Roanoke, Va. June 19: Warner Gift's annual outing to Bear Mountain. Dowling Plans Tent Show Eddie Dowling is planning to operate a summer theater at the Westchester-Biltmore Country Club, beginning early in July. A huge tent will serve as the theater. A combination offer, allowing patrons to participate in various of the Club's activities, will be tied up with the operation. Duncan Sisters for Vita. Short The Duncan Sisters start work tomorrow at the Brooklyn Vitaphone studio in a two-reel musical. Supporting cast will include Jay Sieler, Wen Talbert Singers, Clarence Nordstrom, Gerald Oliver Smith, George McGuire, and Dot, Day and Em. Roy Mack will direct. FACTS ABOUT FILMS ) Out of 203 features shown in Ecuador last year, 97 per cent were of American origin. « REVIEWS of the NEW FILMS Hoot Gibson in "SUNSET RANGE" First Division 60 mins. BREEZY WESTERN PACKS THRILLS WITH LAUGHS IN TYPICAL HOOT GIBSON STYLE. A nice mixture of action and excitement with the real comedy touch that few westerns carry. Hoot Gibson is about the only cowboy who can get over the comedy, and in this film he has the advantage of direction by Ray McCarey, who has directed plenty of comedy shorts and knows how to plant the laughs. Hoot is also backed up with a yarn that gets away from the routine cattle rustling pain-in-the-neck. He is helping to run a ranch that is taken over by a city girl and the comedy comes in his natural distaste for femmes being gradually broken down by the girl kidding him into liking her. The grimmer side of the opus provides plenty of fast action and excitement when a Chicago gang of mobsters arrive to claim some "hot" money that the girl unsuspectingly brought out west in her trunk. Nicely balanced story, with unusually good direction for the western class, because a regular director has injected material that usually is never employed by the old school of horse opera supervisors. Cast: Hoot Gibson, Mary Doran, James Eagles, Walter McGrail, John Elliott, Eddie Lee, Ralph Lewis, Kitty McHugh. Director, Ray McCarey; Author, Paul Schofield; Screenplay, same; Editor, Ralph Dietrich; Cameraman, Gilbert Warrenton. Direction, Very Gccd. Photography, First Class. Henry Hull and Warner Oland in "WEREWOLF OF LONDON" with Valerie Hobson, Lester Matthews, Spring Byington, J. M. Kerrigan Universal 75 mins. ANOTHER HORROR FILM, WELL ACTED AND CALCULATED TO SATISFY FANS WHO LIKE THIS SORT OF HOKE. Through the good work of an excellent cast, this latest of the shiver melodramas is made better than it actually is from a story standpoint. On the whole, however, its appeal is pretty well confined to the horror fans. Henry Hull, as the central character, is afflicted with werewolf spells whenever the moon is full. He is experimenting in his botanical laboratory to produce a flower that will cure him, but is intercepted by the arrival of Warner Oland, also a werewolf and the man who caused Hull's condition by biting him when they met one night in the Far East. Oland grabs the antidote flower from Hull's lab, while the latter, after having killed three women and being about to do the same to his wife, Valerie Hobson, is shot down by Scotland Yard men. Valerie then is left free for her romance with a childhood sweetheart, Lester Matthews. Cast: Henry Hull, Warner Oland, Valerie Hcbscn, Lester Matthews, Spring Byington, Clark Williams, Charlotte Granville, Lawrence Grant, Reginald Barlow, J. M. Kerrigan, Louis Vincent, Zeffie Tilbury, Ethel Griffies. Producer, Stanley Bergerman; Director, Stuart Walker; Author, Robert Harris; Cameraman, Charles Stumar; Editor, Russell Schcengarth. Direction, Good. Photography, A-l. SHORTS Molasses and January in "Is My Face Black?" Paramount 10 mins. Good Skit Featuring the blackface comics of the air, this is a generally good onereeler. It has a bit of story background, about a headache powder manufacturer who can't stand the mountaineer entertainers on his program and fires them in favor of two Pullman porter comedians (Molasses and January), only to find that the comics are putting an end to the people's headaches and therefore ruing the company's sales of powders. So back to the mountain music, with the porters turning blackface hillbillies for a tag. "Manhattan Rhythm" Paramount 10 mins. Interesting Novelty For folks outside of New York, this is an interesting novelty, presenting flashes and composite impressions of the metropolis from the Bowery, through the Lower East Side, up Fifth Avenue, and to the night scenes of Broadway. Photography is very good, except where it runs into confusion by too much superimposing, and a musical background helps matters. The scenes themselves, however, are quite familiar. Baltimore Bits Baltimore — I. H. Rappaport, manager of the Hippodrome, Baltimore, has returned from a conference with RKO Radio Pictures officials in New York. "Bride of Frankenstein" is held over at Keith's for a second week. Robert F. Sisk, assistant to the president of RKO Radio Pictures, visited Baltimore this week. He formerly was in newspaper work here. Chicago Chat Chicago — Max Arno, casting director for Warners, has been in town interviewing prospective screen talent. Bud Silverman of Toledo, who operates the Granada theater in South Bend, was here early in the week. Paul Lazarus, western division manager for United Artists, and Jack Goldhart, district manager, spent some time here on their tour of United Artists exchanges. Warner Club will hold its third annual dance and frolic at the Medinah Club, May 17. Mollison Making U. S. Screen Debut West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood— Henry Mollison, English player, is making his screen debut in "Sing Me a Love Song", which Stuart Walker is directing. _ Mollison's British-made picture includes "McGluskey the Rover", in which Jack Doyle, the fighter, appears; "Drake of England" and "Young ■Nowheres". He also iplayed on Broadway in "Richard of Bordeaux". He is a cousin of Amy Mollison, the noted flyer. »NEWSof DAY« Weymouth, Mass. — When manager John Durker of the Weymouth Theater opened up the house on Tuesday he discovered that thieves had smashed into the office and stolen about $300 in cash. Spokane, Wash. — Legion Amusement Corp., Inc., has been organized here, with Emmett J. Lancaster, Ed C. Nee and Elwing Lang as incorporators. Seattle — Theaters in the state of Washington with admissions of 20 cents or over must start paying the state tax this month. The new levy was imposed simultaneously with the inauguration of the 2 per cent retail tax. Cleveland — Warner's "G Men" set a new high for Sunday attendance at the Hippodrome Theater. The picture beat the previous record high set at this house by "Roberta." Jacksonville, Fla. — Famous is renewing its lease on the Imperial. Philadelphia— Byron A. Slaughter Jr. has been appointed Paramount ad sales manager here, succeeding Tom Moore. Fort Worth — First popular-price stage show at the Worth Theater in a year was the Ted Lewis "Happiness Follies." Jacksonville — E. J. Sparks has purchased an ocean front home at Miami Beach, where he expects to spend the Winter. Stage vs. Screen Exhibit A "stage vs. screen" exhibit, including photographic comparison of various stage musical comedies with musical films, has been placed on display at the 58th St. Branch of the New York Library. Harry Brandt Adds House Harry Brandt is adding the Little Imperial, Brooklyn, to his circuit. Hollywoodites In Tennis Match West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Frankie Shields, Wells Root, Oliver H. P. Garrett, and Solly Baino are among the members of the film colony playing in the fiftieth annual tournament of the Southern California Tennis association. Stanley Briggs, brother of Virginia Bruce, is also a participant. SHOWMAN'S REMINDER Watch for torn and loose carpets. tkk