The Film Daily (1938)

3ft DAILY Friday, November 4, 1938 A. ZUKOR TO EUROPE; LEBARON STUDIO HEAD (Continued from Page 1) terday by President Barney Balaban. Balaban stated he would not name the successor to Freeman till after his return to New York next week. Zukor, it was stated, would shortly sail for London "to co-ordinate and develop Para.'s production, distribution and theater activities in Great Britain and the Continent." Zukor originally organized the British production, distrib. and theater companies. Exact effect of the Zukor assignment on the Para. British setup was not immediately ascertainable. John W. Hicks, Para.'s vice-prexy in charge of the foreign department, recently has been doubling in brass in London as the company's U. K. managing director. Balaban, who with Stanton Griffis, chairman of the executive committee, and Russell Holman, Para.'s New York production head, plans to return to New York Tuesday, termed Zukor's desire to take over in Europe "fortunate" for the company. Balaban said that the studio was farther along in its annual feature program than in years and has piled up a substantial backlog of completed pix. Of the 48 to be produced by the studio as its part of this year's 55-pix program, 27 are completed or shooting and 11 more will go before the cameras between now and the first of the year, leaving only 10 more to go to complete the program. These 10 are in preparation. ^j**^*^!^. ^^\^^ P^^T^t*^ Best wishes from THE FILM DAILY to the following on their birthday: NOVEMBER 4 Dixie Lee Don Alvarado J. S. Hummel William Hedwig NOVEMBER 5 Will H. Hays Ceorge J. Schaefer Joel McCrea Theodore von Eltz Helen E. Hughes Eddie Edelson REVIEWS OF neuj 'The Young in Heart" | "The Great Waltz' with Janet Gaynor, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Paulette Goddard UA-Selznick 90 mins. REFRESHING ENTERTAINMENT SHOULD PLEASE ALL TYPES OF FILM PATRONS. Here is refreshing entertainment which should please all types of individuals. It has been well handled in all departments and introduces two newcomers to the screen, Minnie Dupree and Richard Carlson, who do splendid work. Janet Gaynor, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Paulette Goddard. Roland Young, Billie Burke, Henry Stephenson and Lawrence Grant are ideally cast and give excellent performances. Richard Wallace's direction results in a heavy total of laughs, injects several clever touches and keeps the interest sustained to the end. David O. Selznick rates much credit as the producer. Bows are due Paul Oiborn for the screenplay and Charles Bennett for the adaptation. Leon Shamroy's photography is especially good, while the music by Franz Waxman is highly effective. Havng played an officer of the Bengal Lancers while an actor, Roland Young poses as a retired British officer and operates at wealthy resorts as a card sharp. His son, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., seeks to marry a wealthy heiress, while his daughter, Janet Gavnor, is made love to by Richard Carlson, a Scotsman. Young's wife, Billie Burke, mpletes the penniless family, which lives by its wits and is ordered to leave the Riviera. En route to London, they meet Minnie Dupree, a lonely old lady, who has fallen heir to an estate left by an old sweetheart. The train is wrecked and young Fairbanks and Janet come to her rescue. The young quartette learn that Miss Dupree has a large estate and set their plans to take it from her. They accept her invitation to live with her. Slowly and quietly, she exerts a good influence on them, with Janet the first to be influenced and show her genuine affection. Young and Fairbanks, Jr., get jobs, the former selling automobiles and the latter doing office work. Although Miss Dupree learns of their checkered past, her faith is rewarded when her estate dwindles and she goes to the country to live at the home they have established. CAST: Janet Gaynor, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Paulette Goddard, Roland Young, Billie Burke, Richard Carlson, Minnie Dupree, Henry Stephenson, Lawrence Grant, Walter Kingsford, Eily Malyon, Tom Ricketts, Irvin S. Cobb, Lucile Watson, Margaret Early. CREDITS: Producer, David 0. Selznick; Director, Richard Wallace; Assistant to the Producer, William H. Wright; From the novel "The Gay Banditti" by I. A R. Wylie; Screenplay, Paul Osborn; Adaptation, Charles Bennett; Cameraman, Leon Shamroy, ASC; Art Director, Lyle Wheeler; Special Effects, Jack Cosgrove; Editor, Hal C. Kern; Sound, Frank Maher; Music, Franz Waxman; Production Designed by William Cameron Menzies. DIRECTION, Adept. PHOTOGRAPHY, Especially Good. "U" Re-signs Sackheim West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Jerry Sackheim, exec, assistant to Cliff Work, has been signed to a new Universal pact. with Luise Rainer, Fernand Gravet, Miliza Korjus M-G-M 102 mins. ROMANTIC DRAMA COMBINES STRAUSS MUSIC WITH TOUCHING LOVE STORY TO GIVE TREMENDOUS WIDE BOX-OFFICE APPEAL. A very skillful showman blending of great classic music with the popular entertainment values as expressed in romance and drama. It was not an easy task to take the musical compositions of Johann Strauss and build them into a pleasing story with the material to be furnished by the life of the composer in a period of history so different from our modern swing age. For here is the waltz era brought to life again to compete with the swing era which is occupying the attention of the younger generation. It was a bold thing to do, but it looks as if it will get by successfully, for the musical score, the dance ensembles, the gayety of old Vienna, and a swiftly moving dramatic-romance all fit in to form a great piece of bubbling, sparkling entertainment that is irresistible. Besides, there is Metro's continuing great exploitation campaign to "Bring Back the Waltz" which should give this production a tremendous boost everywhere. Luise Rainer plays the role of the wife of Johann Strauss the 2nd. Fernand Gravet is the younger Strauss. Miliza Korjus, the operatic singer new to the screen, is Carla Donner, the prima donna of the Vienna Opera who exerts her charms to win Strauss away from his wife. Julien Duvivier, the French director, has contrived a skillful melding of the compositions of the great Strauss into the story structure so that they seem to "belong," and never impress you as being dragged in. So the first important element is the great music so impressively backgrounded with appropriate settings and story interest for each number. The second element is the really touching and poignant love story of Luise Rainer for her temperamental genius of a husband being led astray by her rival. The third important element is the personality of a new screen attraction in Miliza Korjus, who is sparkling, filled with intoxicating vitality, and gifted with a gorgeous coloratura soprano which she employs effectively throughout the picture. The atmosphere of early Vienna has been magically recreated. You feel that you are actually there in the gay, glittering capital with its pleasure-loving people. Luise Rainer is superb. In a dozen emotional scenes she holds you in her magic histrionic spell. There is one really great scene where she meets Lionel Atwill in the role of Count Hohenfried, in love with the opera singer. He has come to advise her what all Vienna knows — that her husband is infatuated with the singer. This scene has been beautifully handled, both directorially and pictorially. The camera shows the two in close-ups with their faces in turn occupying practically the full screen, and shooting from one to the other as they register their emotional reactions. Comedy, too, has been cunningly injected throughout, especially with Hugh Herbert as Hofbauer, the publisher of the Strauss music that has swept Vienna off its feet. Nothing but the highest praise for the original story and G. W. SMITH ERPI COAST GENT MGR. (Continued from Page 1) manager, becomes company's general manager, West Coast, a newly created post in which he will have jurisdiction over all the organization's Hollywood activities. E. S. Gregg replaces Smiti fas general foreign manager, and F. B. Foster, Jr., succeeds Gregg as comptroller, continuing in charge of the treasury department. Smith has been associated with Ei-pi since 1929, then as commercial manager at the Paris office, and later Continental manager in London where he was closely identified with British production and studios and handled Erpi's relationship with its licensees. In 1936 he returned to New York as assistant foreign manager, and became general foreign manager, the position he has just relinquished for his new duties. He leaves New York for the Coast later this month to headquarter there. screenplay, the gorgeous music adapted and arranged by Dmitri Tiomkin, and the musical direction of Arthur Gutmann is superb. The camera technique of Joseph Ruttenberg places him in line for the Academy award. It is camera art at its zenith. Lastly, a competent cast, even in the minor roles, with characterizations of the Viennese types that are a treat to behold. Director Duvivier has wrought a masterly contribution in providing classical music with such an emotionally appealing drama that tells a powerful romance of a man torn between two great loves. This combination gives the production a tremendous wide appeal to the pop elements as well as the lovers of classical music. CAST: Luise Rainer, Fernand Gravet, Miliza Korjus, Hugh Herbert, Lionel Atwill, Curt Bois, Leonid Kinsky, Al Shean, Minna Gombell, George Houston, Bert Roach, Greta Meyer, Herman Bing, Alma Kruger, Henry Hull, Sig Rumann, Christian Rub. CREDITS: Producer, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; Director, Julien Duvivier; Original story, Gottfried Reinhart; Screenplay, Samuel Hoffenstein and Walter Reisch; Music of Johann Strauss II adapted and arranged by Dimitri Tiomkin; Lyrics, Oscar Hammerstein II; Music Director, Arthur Guttman; Dances and Ensembles, Albertina Rasch; Recording Director, Douglas Shearer; Art Director, Cedric Gibbons; Associates, Paul Groesse, Edwin B. Willis; Cameraman, Joseph Ruttenberg, ASC; Editor, Tom Held. DIRECTION, Splendid. PHOTOGRAPHY, The Best. STORKS! Wet Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Culver City — It's a boy for the Robert M. Saunderses. Makes Edward M. Saunders, Metro's Western sales head, a grandpa for the first time. Dad is employed at Metro's studio.