The Film Daily (1929)

12 "Twin Beds" with Jack Mulhall, Patsy Ruth Miller (All-Talker Version) 1st Nat'l Length: Sound 7,300 ft. LIGHT FROTH THAT WILL GET BY IN THE AVERAGE HOUSE. MULHALL SEEMS LOST WITHOUT MACKAILL. Comedy-drama. This time Mulhall is the successful song writer who bumps into the little daughter of the poor and immediately falls in love with her as his long-sought inspiration. There is as much novelty in the "plot" as in last week's ham sandwich. The first half is sentimental, then with the marriage of the happy pair it goes into the old reliable twin-bed farce comedy situations. Just a hodge podge, with everything thrown in regardless, including the old folks and the sisters and brothers living the life of the common people. They will probably cheer for this in the factory districts, but it sure will get no wild cheers from intelligent audiences. And Jack Mulhall suffers without the flashing personality of Dorothy Mackaill to carry his weak bits over the hurdles. Cast: Jack Mulhall, Patsy Ruth Miller, Armand Kaliz, Gertrude Astor, Knute Erickson, Edythe Chapman, Jocelyn Lee; Nita Marfan, Zasu Pitts, Eddie Gribbon, Ben Hendricks, Jr., Carl Levinnes, Alice Lake, Bert Roach. Director, Al Santell; Authors, from stage play by Salisbury Fields and Margaret Mayo; Adaptor, Not listed; Scenarist, F. McGrew Willis; Dialoguer, the same; Editor, Le Roy Stone; Cameraman, Sol Polito. Direction, weak. Photography, good. THE Phyllis Haver in "The Office Scandal" (Part-Talker Version) Pathe Length: Sound 6291 ft. GOOD NEWSPAPER STORY VERY CLEVERLY DIRECTED AND COMPETENTLY ACTED, TELLS A HUMAN INTEREST STORY WITHOUT ANY BUNK. Drama of newspaper life. Paul L. Stein tried his hand at directing an American newspaper yarn, and made a very good job of it. The story is sincere, the characters realistic and the entire action moves along surely and cleverly to a strong dramatic punch. There is a murder mystery wrapped up in the footage, which uncoils with a load of suspense. Phyllis Haver as the sob sister on the daily gets a fat part, and does very well with it. She befriends a down and out reporter, and gets a job for him on the newspaper. Meanwhile the murder mystery breaks, and is dropped after all clues wind up against a blank wall. Then events start hopping as the widow of the murdered man drops a hint that implicates the reporter the girl loves. This builds in the elements of tenseness and human interest, and finally the girl forces the murder confession. Cast: Phyllis Haver, Leslie Fenton, Raymond Hatton, Margaret Livingston, Jimmy Adams. Jimmy Aldine. Director, Paul L. Stein ; Authors, Paul Gangelin, Jack Jungmeyer; Scenarists, the same; Editor, Doane Harrison; Dialoguer, Not listed; Titler, John Krafft ; Cameraman, Jacob Badaracco. Direction, very good. Photography, fair. "Pleasure Crazed" with Marguerite Churchill, Kenneth MacKenna, Dorothy Burgess (All-Talker) Fox Length: 5,460 ft. WEAK OFFERING FALLS PRETTY FLAT WITH INDIFFERENT DIRECTION AND ACTING. STORY VALUES ARE NOT THERE. Society drama. Adapted from a stage play by Monckton Hoff. It was also directed by a stage player and director, who evidences little knowledge of screen technique. The plot is outdated, concerning an ingenue placed in the home of the young millionaire by the crooks who are out to rob him. Of course, she falls in love with the hero and gums up the little plan. Meanwhile the hero's wife is philandering around with a clever and unscrupulous gent, so this puts the hero and gal in the clear for a romance. Now if there is anything in that plot to get excited about, we fail to palpitate. And the women in the cast are colorless, and McKenna is just fair. One performance is so good that it makes all the others look worse than they really are. That is the work of Douglas Gilmore. Cast: Marguerite Churchill, Kenneth MacKenna, Dorothy Burgess, Campbell Gullan, Douglas Gilmore, Henry Kolker, Frederick Graham, Rex Bell, Charlotte Merriam. Directors, Donald Gallaher, stage, Charles Klein, screen ; Author, Monckton Hoff ; Adaptor, Douglas Doty ; Dialoguer, Clare Kummer ; Editor, J. Edwin Robbins; Cameramen; Ernest Palmer and Glen McWilliams. Direction, weak. Photography, good. Clara Bow in "Dangerous Curves" (All-Talker Version) Paramount Length: Sound 7,278 ft. CLARA BOW FORSAKES HER FLAMING SEX AND TRIES TO BE COY. RESULT NOT SO HOT. Drama of the circus. For some reason they decided that Clara should graduate from her hotsy-totsy roles and go into the light sentimental stuff with coy sidelights. And if there is one thing Clara can't do it is trying to be coy. She's just a red hot flaming little baby with a sex appeal all her own, and why they can't be satisfied to let her ride that way is more than we can understand. It's a safe bet that there'll be such a fan holler on his one, that they'll be glad to turn Clara back to the hotsy totsy and let her stay there for good. She's not enough of an actress to ever be anything else. Just a flaming personality— that's all. But that's enough. In this one she goes sentimental over the high wire guy in the circus, and sacrifices everything for him. The circus stuff is fair, photographically, but very artificial and light in plot. The dramatic kick at end is a lot of boloney that circus people will haw-haw. Cast: Clara Bow, Richard Arlen, Kay Francis, David Newell, Andres Randolph, May Boley, T. Roy Barnes, Joyce Compton, Charles D. Brown, Stuart Erwin, Jack Luden. Director, Lothar Mendes; Author. Lester Cohen ; Adaptors, Donald Davis, Florence Ryerson; Dialoguer, Viola Brothers Shore; Editor, Eda Warren ; Cameraman, Harry Fischbeck. Direction, satisfactory. Photography, okay. Blanche Sweet in "The Woman in White" (Silent) World Wide Length: 6201 ft. MYSTERY STORY FOUNDED ON FAMOUS CLASSIC DRAGS HEAVILY AND UNCOVERS LITTLE IN THE WAY OF REAL ENTERTAINMENT. Mystery drama. Adapted from the famous story by Wilkie Collins. A Herbert Wilcox production. Blanche Sweet plays the part of the heroine, but here at least seems to have lost much of her charm. The rest of the cast is English. The principal trouble seems to be that this old material is outdated, for the. direction moves quite smoothly and builds naturally to some stiong suspense. On a deathbed promise to her father she goes with a Sir Percival to his mysterious mansion in Scotland to be married. Arrived in the mansion all sorts of strange and disturbing things happen, till finally she gets an insight into what is going on through meeting a girl who has been a victim of Sir Percival's scheming in order to get her fortune. The girl dies, and then the villain plans to bury her as the heroine, put the latter in a madhouse, and take over her fortune. Not very alluring, but that's the idea. Cast: Blanche Sweet, Haddon Mason. Louise Prussing, Jerrold Robert Shaw, Cecil Humphries, Frank Pefitt, Mina Grey, Irene Rooke. Director, Herbert Wilcox ; Author, Wilkie Collins ; Scenarist, Herbert Wilcox, Robert Cul'en; Editor, Harry Chandlee ; Titler, Wilkie Collins ; Cameraman, David Kesson. Direction, fair. Photography, satisfactory. "The Bachelor Girl" ivith William, Collier, Jr., Jacqueline Logan (Part-Talker Version) Columbia Length: Sound 5,927 ft. GOOD HUMAN INTEREST STORY WITH BUSINESS SLANT MIXED WITH NICE LOVE THEME. SLOPPED UP AT END WITH ANTI-CLIMAX. Drama of modern business life. Director Richard Thorpe did a nice directorial job on a story that could have easily been made very sappy and unconvincing. But he steered a nice middle course, and kept the human elements always in the foreground, with the result that it built up to some very nice suspense and hclds the interest easily. William Collier, Jr., is the wise salesman who thinks he knows it all and does not realize that his sweetheart, the stenographer is pulling wires to help him. Finally through her efforts he lands a big job as sales manager of a rival concern. She goes with him as the new boss' secretary. She again pulls wires and helps him to make good, and he takes all the credit. He neglects her for the sister of the boss, who is just a flirt. Finally the boss finds out that the girl has been doing it all, fires the boy, and later proposes marriage to her and is accepted. Then an anti-climax kills it. Cast: William Collier, Jr., Jacqueline Logan, Edward Hearn, Thelma Todd. Director, Richard Thorpe; Author, Jack Town'ey ; Scenarist, the same; Editor Not listed ; Titler, Not listed ; Cameraman, Joe Walker. Direction, good. Photography, okay. Champion in "Silent Sentinel" with Gareth Hughes (Silent) Chesterfield Length: 4,800 ft. ENTERTAINING NUMBER WITH DOG FEATURED, GETS OVER A LOT OF FAST ACTION AND HAS THE STUFF TO PLEASE THE THRILL FANS. Melodrama. All about a crooked piesident of a trust company who frames his cashiers for the looting of the funds so_that he can collect from the bonding companies. Hero is the assistant cashier who is engaged to the sister of the cashier who has just been framed by the crooked president. In the home of the crook they get the lowdown, and then the action starts with a rush and keeps going right through the footage. The dog Champion does some very intelligent work and his tricks are well handled by his trainer. After a series of chases the gang is finally captured. As dog pictures go, it will ride nicely ir. the average house. The action moves at a good steady pace and builds to a real suspense. And after all. that is what is expected of this tvpe of picture Cast: Champion, the dog; Gareth Hughes, Josephine Hill, Eddie Brownell, Alice Covert, Alfred Hewston, John Tanzie, Edward Cecil, Aline Goodwin, Walter Maley, Jack Knight, George Morrell, Lew Meehan. Director, Alvin J. Neitz; Author, the same; Scenarist. Alvin J. Neitz; Editor, Not listed; Titler, Hans Tiesler ; Cameraman, M. A. Anderson. Direction, satisfactory. Photography, fair. "The Paul Street Boys" (Silent) 55th St. Playhouse Length: 5,000 ft. HUNGARIAN PRODUCTION OF NO CONSEQUENCE AND CARRIES NO APPEAL TO AMERICAN AUDIENCES. JUST FOR ART HOUSES. Drama of boy life in Budapest. There seems to have been no good reason for producing this film all about two boy gangs who fight each other and go through a lot of antics just about as kids do all over the world. There is a thread of a theme running through it, concerning a highly sensitive youth who tries to be1 a "regular" guy and who is more or less taunted and humiliated by the other boys who are his superiors, in the Paul Street Boys army. While in line of duty before a "battle" with the rival gang, he gets himself wet in a pond, and dies the next day as the result of his experience. The other boys were just about to confer upon him recognition for his bravery, since he had proved that he was not yellow. A tragedy in boy life, if you want to look at it that way, but the whole ^ffair is so poorly directed, overacted and unevenly photographed, that it falls pretty flat and proves rather tedious. The kids were picked from Budapest schools, but were not very well coached in their acting. Cast: Laszlo Gyarfas ; Geza Berczy, Erno Verebes, I. Mattyasovsky, Imre Kis. Director, Bela Balogh ; Author, Ferenc Molnar ; Scenarist, the same ; Editor, Joseph Fliesler ; Titler, Same; Cameraman, Not listed. Direction, poor. Photography, ragged.