The Film Daily (1938)

DAILY Monday, November 14, 1938 .v .v Reviews of me neuj fi litis k :< "Swing That Cheer" with Tom Brown, Robert Wilcox, Andy Devine, Constance Moore Universal 63 mins. BREEZY FOOTBALL FILM IS TIMELY PROGRAMMER FOR EXHIBS; NABES SHOULD GO FOR IT. With the football season in full blast, this new Universal release is timely. Wellpaced, with a capable cast and a fastmoving story the film is good program material. Tom Brown, Robert Wilcox and Constance Moore are youthfully refreshing in the lead roles, and Andy Devine provides the comedy as coach Samuel S. Hinds' assistant. Despite the fact that Brown and Wilcox do not look very convincing as football players, there is good action injected in the film with numerous newsreel clips of football games. How a shot of what appeared to be the Army rooting section got into the picture is a mystery, but it makes no difference as football fans like football pictures, regardless. Brown and Wilcox are roommates at Carlton College. Ineligibility of several backfield stars give them an opportunity. Wilcox gets a swelled head and it is not until he is shown the light through lack of interference that he returns to normal. The climax is the usual "crooshul" game of the season, with dear old Carlton nosing out the hated enemy in the last three-fifths of a second. CAST: Tom Brown, Robert Wilcox, Andy Devine, Samuel S. Hinds, Constance Moore, Ernest Truex, Margaret Early, Raymond Parker, Stanley Hughes, David Oliver. CREDITS: Associate Producer, Max Golden; Director, Harold Schuster; Screenplay, Charles Grayson and Lee Loeb; Original Story, Thomas Ahearn and F. M. Grossman; Cameraman, Elwood Bredell. DIRECTION, Fast. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. Films Angle of Television Worries British Exhibitors (Continued from Page 1) land's motion picture industry via the refusal to allow any film house to show publicly any portion of televised programs. That under some future circumstances such a prerogative might be exercised by BBC is causing local Film Row a degree of uneasiness greater than that which appears on the surface, and despite the fact that building of television relay stations all over the country has been indefinitely postponed. Astute film execs, are not being deceived by the relatively slow progress made to date in putting mass-produced receiving sets into British homes. They are convinced that the government, when the time comes, will not try to preserve the present status of the motion picture at the expense of television's advancement. Were such a "reactionary" policy adopted, it is pointed out, rival nations of Europe would "Vacation From Love" with Dennis O'Keefe, Florence Rice M-G-M 66 mins. PLEASING LITTLE FILM OF MARRIAGE SQUABBLE OFFERS NUT SCHOOL TYPE OF COMEDY. It is nothing pretentious, but it will serve to amuse with its light and nonsensical story that verges on the nut school type. The action is very spotty in starting off with some clever situations and dialogue, then starting to weaken along about the middle, and in the final stanzas the director decided to open all the valves and throw the piece into a mixture of slapstick and wild hoorah. The production therefore when surveyed in its entirety is rather confusing. But it was produced for laughs and excitement, built around the narriage question, and as such gets by as a light and unimportant offering. Dennis O'Keefe practically snatches Florence Rice from the altar as she is about to marry a blue blood. Dennis is only a sax player, and Florence's old man is head of a big ad agency with radio programs plugging his clients' products. This is where Dennis fits in with his knowledge of showmanship. The father-in-law makes him his partner, just like that, in his million-dollar concern. Daughter is happy, because in their marriage agreement they decided to "have fun." So when hubby gets all tied up in big business deals, wifie gets sore, and also starts suspecting him of having outside femme interests. Result, she rushes to Paris and gets a divorce to forestall hubby who gets sore at her accusations and decides to give her freedom. Here the story goes haywire with a lot of slapstick action and chase scenes such as they have in westerns. Up to that point it is clever and original. Of course the young couple decide to stay married, with wifie having a change of heart right in the French court room. An excellent cast puts this across in spite of a very uneven story. The two princioals are in tip-top form. CAST: Dennis O'Keefe, Florence Rice, Reginald Owen, June Knight, Edward S. Brophy, Truman Bradley, Tom Rutherford, Andrew Tombes, Herman Bing, George Zucco, Paul Porcasi, J. M. Kerrigan, Armand Kaliz. CREDITS: Director, George Fitzmaurice; Authors, Patterson McNutt, Harlan Ware; Screenplay, same; Cameraman, Ray June. DIRECTION, Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, Fine. soon outstrip the United Kingdom in the science as a public and political utility. Germany, for instance, is paying increasing attention to television. Optimists in filmdom argue that if they supply BBC with productions, in exchange for permission to exhibit televised shows in motion picture theaters, they will still be sure of b.o. returns and full film rentals, as there will not be enough home television receivers to create dangerous competition. A temporary ally of the film business is paradoxically the radio re "Titans of the Deep" with William Beebe, Otis Barton Grand National 47 mins. EXCITING AND THRILLING ADVEN TURES ON OCEAN FLOOR WITH NEW DIVING DEVICE. A really remarkable underseas picture showing monsters of the deep at close range, and built up into an exciting and suspenseful piece of entertainment without any hoke. Two scientists of world-wide repute, Dr. William Beebe and Otis Barton, conducted this scientific expedition off the shores of Bermuda. The expedition was equipped with the Bathysphere, a diving caisson invented by Barton which is so powerfully constructed that it is able to descend several thousand feet to the ocean floor, reaching depths that no diver can. There is real danger ss these two intrepid scientists are lowered from the vessel, for the apparatus weighing over a ton might get caught in rocks below, and never come to the surface again. They communicate with the vessel above via telephone, and air is kept pumping. Inside the Bathysphere they have a specially constructed camera. Here is a new thrill for movie audiences, watching the strange sights of the ocean bed through the window of the Bathysphere along with the scientists. Other entertainment features are a girl going down with a diving helmet and a rifle, with which she shoots :n immense barracuda. And she is a darned attractive gal, too. One of the men also goes down in diving suit equipped with a camera, which he loses as a great shark swallows it. He kills the shark with a spear. A fight between a giant lobster and an octopus on the ocean bed is a real thrill. Close-ups of a hammerhead shark swimming toward you and other monster fish such as a death ray and a leopard ray also bring their thrills. This offering has the excitement of undersea novelties that should prove a welcome relief to audiences of all types. Lowell Thomas does a fine narration that heightens the dramatic tcne of the production. CAST: Dr. William Beebe, Otis Barton, Gloria Hollister, Jocelyn Crane, John Tee Van, Joan Igou. CREDITS: Producer, Otis Barton; Director, same; Story and narration, Lowell Thomas. DIRECTION, Excellent. PHOTOGRAPHY, Fine. Film Noise Irks Mayor Richmond, Va. — The local antinoise campaign worked against the local Horlacher driver, Earl Bergener, who was summoned to court on the complaint of Mayor J. Fulmer Bright, that he had been disturbing his sleep for over a year loading and unloading films. A nominal fine and warning was meted out by Judge Folkes in Police Court. ceiver set manufacturers. This group want Britain's 5,000,000 owners of such sets to order replacement of their "obsolete" receivers before going in for television receivers. * fOREIGIl * "The Singing Blacksmith" * with Moishe Oysher, Miriam Riselle, Ann; Appel New Star Films, Inc. 145 mins* COMEDY AND DRAMA ARE NEATLY BLENDED TO MAKE PIX ENTERTAIN MENT. Richly decorated with Yiddish custom!: and a neat blending of comedy and drama j this new Collective Film Producers release will meet with a good reception ir its own sphere. The actors are excellent and the settings and facilities have beer improved since the company's initial production some time ago. Principal fault lil great length of film which makes it slow down in spots. Moishe Oysher is splendid i as the blacksmtih. Miriam Riselle is attractive and capable as the girl who reforms the lusty smith, and Anna Appel Florence Weiss, Michael Goldstein anc Ben-Svi Baratoff contribute fine performances. The singing of Oysher in his rich cantoral voice is unrestrained and exceptionally beautiful. Oysher is married tc Miriam and marital troubles are caused b> the appearance of an old flame of his However, this and other problems arc worked out in an interesting fashion. CAST: Moishe Oysher, Miriam Riselle.1 Florence Weiss, Anna Appel, Ben-Zvi Baratoff, Michael Goldstein, Lea Noemi, MaV Vodnoy, Luba Rymer, Lube Wesoly, Yude Dubinsky, B. Fishbein, R. Wendroff, Ray Schneider, Hershel Bernardi. CREDITS: Produced by Collective Film1 Producers, Inc.; Director, Edgar G. Ulmer Screenplay, Ben-Svi Baratoff and Ossip Dy-j mow; Based on a play by David Pinski Presented at the Continental Theater with Yiddish dialogue and English titles. DIRECTION, Good. PHOTOGRAPHY,: Good. McRae Seeks Ottawa Post Ottawa ■ — Finley McRae, son-inlaw of the late Harry E. Brouse,; pioneer Canadian theater man, has; announced his candidacy for the! Board of Control of the Ottawa municipal government at the elections to take place Dec. 5. McRae, who was formerly engaged in film production in Hollywood, has served as an alderman of the Ottawa Cityj Council for three years. FitzPatrick to Florida James A. FitzPatrick, TravelTalki producer, is en route by automobile; to St. Augustine, Fla., where he will make a subject for Pete Smith. Traveling with a specially-built trailer, FitzPatrick plans to continue on to Texas and the Coast, shooting material for his travel series en route.