The Film Daily (1935)

10 I DAILY Tuesday, May 28, 1935 REVIEWS of the NEW FILMS =4 "HOORAY FOR LOVE" with Ann Sothern, Gene Raymond RKO Radio 72 mins. PLEASING MUSICAL WITH REVUE SPECIALTIES HELPING OUT BACKSTAGE STORY. Though its backstage story foundation is along familiar lines, this production is graced with enough values in the way of cast, music and specialties to make it generally satisfying fare. Ann Sothern and Gene Raymond make a nice team as the musical comedy actress and the college boy who helps to back her show, which goes through the usual tribulation of being about to be stopped on the opening night for lack of funds, but is saved by some last-minute strategy. The colored combination of Bill Robinson, Fats Waller and Jeni LeGon ought to score solidly, while Lionel Stander, Etienne Girardot and Pert Kelton do good work in the comedy line. Thurston Hall, as a Micawber type, also turns in a grand performance. There are several catchy song numbers, an attractive ballet number of "Gamby", production values are attractive without being ornate, and Walter Lang's direction is smooth. Cast: Ann Sothern, Gen Raymond, Bill Rcbinscn, Thurston Hall, Pert Kelton, Georgia Caine, Lionel Stander, Etienne Girardot, Harry Kernell, Sam Hardy, Eddie Kane, Brady Kline, Perry Ivins, Fats Waller, Jeni LeGon, Maria Gambarelli. Producer, Felix Young; Director, Walter Lang; Author, Marc Lachman; Screenplay, Lcwrence Hazard, Ray Harris; Music and Lyrics, Dorothy Fields, Jimmy McHugh; Dances, Sammy Lee; Cameraman, Lucien Andrict; Recording Engineer, Paul F. Wiser; Editor, George Crone. Direction, Good Photography, A-l. "PARIS IN SPRING" with Mary Ellis, Tullio Carminati (HOLLYWOOD PREVIEW) Paramount 80 mins. GOOD ROMANTIC COMEDY SMARTLY HANDLED AND APPEALING CHIEFLY TO CLASS TRADE. This is class entertainment, with Lewis Milestone showing superb skill in handling gay comedy. The picture is rich in laughs, although no attempt has been made to introduce low comedy. Mary Ellis, in her second screen appearance, reveals an excellent voice and a fine sense of comedy. Tullio Carminati is right at home in his role of the Italian lover, who runs into many amusing obstacles before finally winning Mary, a Parisian night club singer. When, at the outset, Mary refuses his marriage proposal, Tullio rushes to the top of the Eifel Tower to commit suicide, but there he meets Ida Lupino, also destruction-bound, who has had a spat with her cousin-sweetheart, James Blakely. Ida takes Tullio to her grandmother's home, against his wishes — and grandmamma, hard of hearing, believes they are married. James, her other grandson, follows with Mary. The lovers are paired off correctly. Cast: Mary Ellis, Tullio Carminati, Ida Lupino, Lynne Overman, Jessie Ralph, James Blakely, Dorothea Wolbert, Harold Entwistle, Arnold Korff, Hugh Enfield, Joseph North, Jack Raymond, Sam Ashe, Akim Tamiroff, Jack Mulhall, Rolfe Sedan, Arthur Houseman. Producer, Benjamin Glazer; Director, Lewis Milestone; Author, Dwight Taylor; Screenplay, Samuel Hoffenstein, Franz Schulz, Keene Thompson; Music, Harry Revel; Lyrics, Mack Gordon; Cameraman, Ted Tetzlaff; Recording Engineer, Harry Mills; Editor, Eda Warren. Direction, Finest Photography, A-l. Jan Kiepura in "MY SONG FOR YOU" GB Productions 70 mins. EXCELLENT VOCAL WORK OF JAN KIEPURA GIVES CHIEF VALUE TO LIGHT MUSICAL ROMANCE. Jan Kiepura's tenor rendition of operatic airs, notably his singing of "Celeste Aida" and "Ave Maria", is almost enough in itself to make this production worth while. The story itself is not of particularly strong proportions, but between Kiepura, the music, the continental backgrounds and the supporting cast work of Sonnie Hale in the comedy line and Aileen Marson as the love interest, the picture manages to hold interest well enough throughout. Aileen is a Viennese society girl who becomes innocently involved with Jan while trying to enlist his interest on behalf of her fiance, who also is in the musical field. When she disappears, Jan sets out to find her, ind after being rebuffed he arrives at the scene of her wedding in time to sing his "Ave Maria" and save her from marrying the man she does not love. After which he does a romantic fadeout with her himself. Cast: Jan Kiepura, Sonnie Hale, Aileen Marson, Emlyn Williams, Gina Male, Muriel George, George Merritt, Reginald Smith, Bruce Winston. Director, Maurice Elvey; Author, Richard Benson; Cameraman, E. Van Enger. Direction, Good. Photography, Good. "WHAT PRICE CRIME?" with Charles Starrett, Noel Madison, Virginia Cherrill Beacon Prod. 63 rnins. DRAMA OF FEDERAL MEN IN WAR ON CRIME HAS PLENTY PUNCH, THRILLS, IN FAST MOVING STORY. This has all the pop appeal that the current vogue for melodramas of the Government secret operatives requires to satisfy the average audience. The story is intelligently handled, with a competent cast and smooth direction. Some fine suspense is built in the fact that the Federal agent hero is fighting to land the head of the gang, who is the brother of the girl he loves. Charles Starrett plays the role of the Federal agent who with his associates is commissioned to capture the gang of clever gangsters who have been rifling a warehouse of firearms. The head of the underworld clique runs a night club, and is interested in fight promotion. So the hero turns professional fighter, and works his way into the confidence and employment of the gangster. Plenty of thrills. Cast: Charles Starrett, Noel Madison. Virginia Cherrill, Charles Delaney, Jack Mulhall, Nina Guilbert, Henry Roquemore, Gordon Griffith, John Elliot, Arthur Loft, Earl Tree, Jack Ccwell, Arthur Roland, Edwin Argus, Al Baffert, Monte Carter, Lafe McKee. Producer, Max Alexander; Director, Albert Herman; Author, Al Martin; Editor, S. Roy Luby; Cameraman, Harry Forbes. Direction, Good. Photography, Okay. ■H "GINGER" with Jane Withers, O. P. Heggie, Jackie Searl, Walter King, Katherine Alexander (HOLLYWOOD PREVIEW) Fox 79 mins. TOPNOTCH COMEDY ENTERTAINMENT WITH JANE WITHERS SKYROCKETING INTO A B. 0. BET. This is one swell comedy, with Jane Withers enough to put one in stitches. Give it everything, and especially let your customers know this Withers gal is a new Fox money-making star. Jane certainly knows how to put over the stuff, but Arthur Kober's writing gave her plenty of good material and Lew Seller's direction moves along briskly, bringing together well knit situations. His timing of the laughs is great. The cast is good, especially 0. P. Heggie as the broken down Shakespearean actor, Walter King as the newly acquired father and Jackie Searl as the stiff society youngster who turns boy again. There is only one sour note and that can be easily remedied. A boy who really is a bully is shown as a pansy. It is completely out of place and unless altered will prevent many parents from allowing their children to see this bang-up comedy of a regular youngster, who falls into a family of society stiff-backs, where with the aid of the husband, Jane unconsciously brings the wife and her son back to the human state. Sol Wurtzel, you've got something here. Cast: Jane Withers, 0. P. Heggie, Jackie Searl, Katherine Alexander, Walter King, Tommy Bupp, Richard Powell, Brendon Fowler, Walter Johnson, Leonard Carey. Producer, Sol M. Wurtzel; Director, Lewis Seiler; Screenplay, Arthur Kober; Cameraman, Bert Glennon; Musical Direction, Samuel Kaylin. Direction, Snappy Photography, Fine. "THE HEALER" with Ralph Bellamy, Karen Morley, Judith Allen Monogram 76 mins. SUREFIRE MONEY PIX WITH SWELL HUMAN INTEREST ROMANCE-DRAMA AND SMASH THRILL CLIMAX. This one is written right down the money groove that leads straight to the box-office tills of the nation. For it hits the mass appeal with a down-to-earth story of a young doctor's struggle between the wiles of a rich girl and his devotion to his work with a cripple camp and the girl who assists him. Then there is the moving story of the crippled lad (Mickey Rooney), who plays a very prominent part and is finally given the use of his limbs in a desperate effort to save the girl assistant and the other cripples in the thrill climax of the forest fire. And the long sequences of the forest fire have never been done as well as in this picture. Not a phoney shot, apparently. The forest fire is the real stuff. You can go the limit on this, with its human appeal and thrills. Cast: Ralph Bellamy, Karen Morley, Mickey Rconey, Judith Allen, Robert McWade, Bruce Warren, J. Farrell MacDcnald, Vessie Farrell. Director, Reginald Barker; Author, Robert Herrick; Screenplay, James Knox Millen, John Goodrich, George Waggner; Editor, Jack Ogilvie; Cameraman, Harry Neumann. Direction, Very Good Photography, First Class. "THE THIUMPH OF SHERLOCK HOLMES" with Arthur Wontner Olympic Pictures 72 mins GOOD DETECTIVE MYSTERY HIGHLIGHTED BY WORK OF WONTNER IN ROLE OF SHERLOCK. Handled with commendable efficiency ir ■ most respects, this Sherlock Holmes mystery will provide plenty of enjoyment foi detective story fans who like their murdei dramas along the more genteel lines. Th< meticulous work of Arthur Wontner in th< role of Sherlock also contributes much tc the picture's entertainment values. Sher. lock has been in retirement out in tht I country, but allows himself to be caller, / into action again by a mysterious messagi | indicating that a man is about to be mur dered. Deducing it as the work oil Moriarty, his old enemy, Sherlock takes u| the case, digs into its ramifications an< eventually solves the affair. Besides thi I always interesting work of Wontner, then I are good performances by Ian Fleming a Dr. Watson, Leslie Perrins as the market victim, Lyn Harding as Prof. Moriarty Charles Mortimer as the inspector, ant others. Cast: Arthur Wontner, Ian Fleming, Lyi, Harding, Leslie Perrins, Jane Carr, Charle Mortimer, Michael Shepley, Roy Emerton Ben Welden, Conway Dixon, Minnie Ray nor, Wilfred Caithmess, Edmund D'Alby Ernest Lynds. Producer, Julius Hagen; Director, Lesl Hiscott. Author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Screenplay, H Fowler Mear, Cyril Tvf) ford; Cameraman, William Luff. Direction, Even. Photography, Good SHORTS "Old Mother Hubbard" (Comi-Color Cartoon) Celebrity 8 m Amusing Cartoon A lively and amusing version o how Old Mother Hubbard, the King' washwoman, was raised to roya favor through the comic antics o her dog that made the King for get his bad liver. Catchy musi and good color help the film. "King's Jester" (Krazy Kat Cartoon) Columbia 7 l Lively Cartoon A fast moving and comical cat | toon in which Krazy Kat enters th contest to make a sour-looking kin. laugh. Two contenders fail and ailed away to be executed but Kraz accidently hits on the formulae an wins the princess. F I i 31 "Scrappy's Ghost Story" (Scrappy Cartoon) Columbia 7 Spooky A good number of laughs evol from this fast moving cartoo Scrappy, who is telling his k: brother a ghost story, falls aslee and dreams of a variety of ghost who chase him all over a fores with their chanting and haunting. JLU,