The Film Daily (1929)

THE 12 -^2 DAILY Sunday, September 22, 1929 "Flight" with Jack Holt, Ralph Graves, Lila Lee (All-Talker) Columbia Length: 12,500 ft. SURE FIRE BOX OFFICE. FILLED WITH SPECTACULAR AIRPLANE MANOEUVERS AND MARINE FIGHTING THAT WILL WOW 'EM. CAN'T MISS. Drama of the Marines. The story is by Ralph Graves, who put into it a lot of audience angles, in addition to being one of the three principals who sends this in for the good old box office values that always click with the popular crowds. The story opens with Graves on the college football team making a borlehead play by running in the opposite direction. Disgraced, he lands in the Marines to take up flying. Here he also flops, for he gets squeamish in his first solo flight, and cracks up. The tough sergeant, played by Jack Holt, befriends him and takes him to the fighting in Nicaragua as his mechanic. Good love triangle, with Ralph the favorite in the Marine nurse's affections. Plot very similar to "Submarine," with Holt going out in a plane to find Graves, who has cracked up in a valley where the bandits are located. Airplane squadron manoeuvers magnificent. Nothing better ever done. Surefire from all angles. Cast: Jack Holt, Lila Lee, Ralph Graves, Allan Roscoe, Harold Goodwin, Jimmy de la Cruze. Director, Frank R. Capra; Author, Ralph Graves ; Dialoguer, Frank Capra ; Editors, Maurice Wright, Gene Milford; Cameramen, Elmer Dyer, Joe Novak. Direction, showmanship. Photography, fine. "The Drake Case" with Gladys Brockwell (All-Talker Version) Universal Length: 6648 ft. MURDER MYSTERY FALLS FLAT THROUGH TEDIOUS COURT ROOM SCENE WHERE MYSTERY IS DEVELOPED WITH TALK AND NO ACTION. Murder mystery. Coming on the heels of such films of this type as "Mary Dugan," this offering falls far below the high standard. In the first place, the story construction is all wet, for there is little sympathy created for the woman defendant, and the author provides her with no compelling love interest to excite the audience's interest. The court room scene is dragged out in dreary detail, and you listen to long harangues from the prosecuting and defense attorneys. This kills effectually whatever interest has been created. You listen for many minutes to a recital of the defendant's past life, and with no action in flashbacks to make it stand out, the audience wriggles uncomfortably in their seats. It is a fine example of a talking picture without screen technique. If any film needs action shots, it is a play of this type. Just a filler. Cast: Gladys Brockwell, Forrest Stanley, Robert Frazer, James Crane, Doris Lloyd, Barbara Leonard, Bill Thome, Eddie Hearn, Tom Dugan, Byron Douglas. Director, Edward Laemmle ; Author, Charles Logue ; Dialoguers, Charles Logue, J. G. Hawks ; Scenarists, J. G. Hawks, Edward Laemmle ; Editor, Charles Logue ; Cameraman, Jerry Ash. Direction, ordinary. Photography, fair. "Why Leave Home?" with Sue Carol, Nick Stuart (All-Talker) Fox Length: 6,388 ft. ADAPTATION OF "CRADLE SNATCHERS" MAKES LIGHT AND JAZZY ENTERTAINMENT THAT PASSES AS FAIR PROGRAMMER. Comedy. Adapted from "Cradle Snatchers," by Robert S. Carr. There is a flimsy thread of a plot running through it, but with snappy direction and acting it builds up sufficient merriment to rate this as light and pleasing entertainment. The story tells of three middle-aged couples who dash off separately on innocent little parties to associate with younger blood than their partners. So the three married dames hire three college boys to take them to a road house party. The three hubbies are flirting around with three girlies in the chorus. They all arrive at the roadhouse shindig, which is a masked affair. The mixups that ensue are humorous, and well handled to bring out all the merriment. As the girlies are the sweeties of the college boys, this adds to the complications. The cast is uniformly good, and the action has a lot of pep. Cast: Sue Carol, Dixie Lee, Jean Barry, Nick Stuart, Richard Keene, David Rollins, Jed Prouty, Walter Catlett, Gordon DeMain, Ilka Chase, Dot Farley, Laura Hamilton. Director, Raymond Cannon ; Author, Robert S. Carr; Dialoguer, Robert Catlett; Editor, Jack Murray; Cameraman, Dan Clark. Direction, snappy. Photography, good. "Chasing Through Europe" with Sue Carol, Nick Stuart, Gustav von Seyffertitz (Synch ronized) Fox Length: 5,581 ft. Silent, 5,622 ft. FAIR PROGRAMMER BUILT AROUND NEWSREEL SHOTS OF EUROPEAN CELEBRITIES AND SCENICS. SLIM STORY HOLDS IT TOGETHER. This is a tale of a newsreel cameraman with a roving commission to cover special assignments all over Europe. It starts in London where the American cameraman meets the young heiress trying to get away from her rascally guardian, who is endeavoring to force her to marry his nephew. The cameraman and the gal escape to Paris, and then to Rome, pursued by the rascally pair. The guardian is trying to throw the gal into an insane asylum, to force her to comply with his, wishes. Double exposes of the Prince of Wales and Mussolini give the camera hound the honor of photographing them. But the big kick is in dizzy shots of the Eiffel Tower, and some remarkable closeups of Vesuvius in action, with the cameraman apparently right at the mouth of the volcano. This carries a big kick. The story is slight, and the sentimental interest pleasing. Cast: Sue Carol, Nick Stuart, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Gavin Gordon, E. Alyn Warren. Directors, David Butler, Alfred L. Werker; Author, Not credited ; Scenarist, Not Credited; Editor, Not credited; Titler, Not credited ; Cameramen, Sidney Wagner, Lucien Andriot, O. W. O'Connell. Direction, fair. Photography, very good. Tom Tyler in "The Man From Nevada" (Silent) Syndicate Pict. Length: 4758 ft. NICE LITTLE WESTERN PEPPED UP WITH INTERESTING PLOT THAT GETS AWAY FROM THE BEATEN TRACK. Western. J. P. McGowan directed this one with his veteran skill in handling the western material and made a good job of it. Sally Winters, the author, has written a series of these films, and seems to know the real west and how those people really conduct their lives. At least, she gives you an interesting insight into homesteaders, their trials and tribulations in the old days, and makes you feel that it is real. And that's more than we can say for a lot of westerns. The Watkins family pick out a homestead site and dad starts to raise his motherless kids with the help of the grown daughter. Along comes the heavy, an influential and respected citizen, who is trying to corral their land, so he sets his gang to work to terrorize them. The hero, Tom Tyler, comes to their rescue, incurs the enmity of the heavy, who frames him for branding cattle. Cast: Tom Tyler, Natalie Joyce, Al Ferguson, Al Heuston, Kip Cooper, Godfrey Craig, Frank Crane, Bill Nolte. Director, J. P. McGowan; Author, Sally Winters ; Scenarist, Not listed ; Editor, Not listed; Titler, Not listed; Cameraman, Hap Depew. Direction, snappy. Photography, okay. 'The Girl in the Glass Cage' with Loretta Young, Carroll Nye (Silent) First National Length: 7,204 ft. Silent, 7,056 ft. RATES POOR WITH WEAK STORY OF SMALL TOWN LIFE AND UNDERWORLD ANGLE THAT HAS NOTHING NEW. JUST A FILLER. Small town romance. The title is derived from the fact that the heroine works behind the glass of a film house box-office. She is annoyed by an underworld gang, whose chief tries to force his unwelcome attentions on her. Her uncle takes all her dou^h, and refuses to allow her to have anything to do with the young son of the richest family in the town, who has befriended her from the advances of the gang leader. The uncle is used as a tool by the gang, and they frame the hero to visit the gal's home one night. Then they send the uncle to shoot him, but he kills the gang leader by mistake. The gal takes the rap as the murderess. At the trial she forces the disclosures through hocus pocus, and the two young lovers are happy and reunited. Just a small town story for small town theaters where this hokum may appeal. Lacks class in direction and story. Cast: Loretta Young, Carroll Nye, Matthew Betz, Lucien Littlefield, Ralph Lewis, George Stone, Julia Swayne Gordon, Majel Coleman, Charles Sellon, Robert Haines. Director, Ralph Dawson ; Author, George Kibbe Turner ; Scenarist, James Gruen ; Editor, Terry Morse ; Titler, Paul Perez ; Cameraman, Ernest Haller. Direction, poor. Photography, okay. "Wonder of Women" with Lewis Stone, Peggy Wood, Leila Hyams (Silent Version) M-G-M Length: 6,835 ft. WEAK OFFERING FAILS TO CLICK WITH INDIFFERENT STORY THAT GOES MORBID AND HEAVY. PEGGY WOODS FINE. Drama. Adapted from the old German stage play by Herman Suderman, "The Wife of Stephen Tremholt." Director Clarence Brown worked hard against a tough handicap of an outdated story that was written originally before there were motion pictures. The trouble with the yarn is that the audience gets no opportunities to place their sympathies definitely with any one character. The great composer marries a widow with children, and later in life the singer who was his first flame comes back into his life and vamps him away from his wife. It is the eve of his big triumph with his new composition that his wife dies, and then he realizes that she was his big inspiration. But your sympathies are first led to the wife, and then back to the composer, and so it see-saws all the way through the footage. Cast: Lewis Stone, Peggy Wood, Leila Hyams, Harry Meyers, Sarah Padden, George Fawcett, Wally Albright, Jr., Carmencita Johnson, Anita Fremault, Dietrich Haupt, Ullrich Haupt, Jr. Director, Clarence Brown ; Author, Herman Suderman ; Adaptor, Bess Meredyth ; Editor, William LeVanway ; Titler, Marion Ainslee ; Cameraman, Merritt B. Gerstad. Direction, very good. Photography, fine. (Saund Version Review, July 28) Monte Blue in "From Headquarters" (Silent Version) Warners Length: 4,895 ft. SLOPPY STORY OF SOUTH AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY ACTIVITIES WITH THE MARINES IS TOO POORLY HANDLED TO AMOUNT TO MUCH. Drama. Monte Blue is the big American hero who meets up with the Marines in Central America, and leads a detachment of them in an effort to rescue a party of sightseers from the States who have been lost in the jungle. So Monty, who is the only one who knows the trail to the abandoned mine, takes them there, amid all kinds of privations. They discover all the party have been killed except a woman with a baby. The insurr«ctos have overlooked her for some unaccountable reason, so after many more hardships and encounters with the guerilla bands, they arrive back at the Marine base all exhausted. It is a sad tale, mates, and very sadly told and directed. It is too artificial to carry the slightest conviction, and rates away down low on the list from any possible angle that you want to figure it. Some good names in the cast. Cast: Monte Blue, Guinn Williams, Gladys Brockwell, Lionel Belmore, Henry B. Walthall, Eddie Gribbon, Ethlyne Claire, Pat Hartigan, John Kelly, Otto Lederer, William Irving, Pat Somerset, Joseph Girard. Director, Howard Bretherton ; Author, Samuel Hartridge ; Scenarist, Harvey Gates ; Editor, Harold McLernon ; Titters, Harvey Gates, Francis Powers; Cameraman, BiH Rees. Direction, ragged. Photography, the same.