The Film Daily (1933)

DAIB.V %s * i "STORM AT DAYBREAK" 1 with Kay Francis, Nils Asther, Walter Huston 4 i-M 68 mins. '5MANTIC DRAMA WITH HUNGARISETTING HAS A LOVE STORY THAT FEMMES WILL LIKE. Japted from the stage play "Black med Cherries." The love romance is ally continental and finely handled, ing up to some very dramatic situa The film has an historical back nd, opening with the assassination of duke Ferdinand of Austria at Sarajevo, .started the World War. Nils Asther the role of a Hungarian officer who his friend, Walter Huston, playing part of a Serb nobleman, from the y mob. Later visiting Huston's estate arch of deserters, he meets his friend's and they fall in love. They both against it, and the development of irresistible passion is beautifully and ately handled in some finely restrained ;s that both Kay Francis and Asther «e well. It culminates in a tense scene Huston finally realizes his best friend won his wife's affections. He sacrihimself to save the life of Huston is threatened with a firing squad jealous Serb officer, driving himself the other over an embankment. jst: Kay Francis, Nils Asther, Walter on, Phillips Holmes, Eugene Pallette, ifenry Gordon, Louise Closser Hale, Jean ;r. ■ector, Richard Boleslavsky; Author, rpr Hunyadi; Adaptor, Bertram Mil;;r; Editor, Margaret Booth; Camera •j George Folsey. •ection, Very Good. Photography, Exht. Charlie Ruggles and Mary Boland in "MAMA LOVES PAPA" Paramount 70 mins. ENJOYABLE DOMESTIC COMEDY HANDING OUT PLENTY OF LAUGHS PLUS A LITTLE DRAMATIC AND HUMAN INTEREST. This picture demonstrates how much good fun can be extracted from a simple domestic situation without having to depend upon illicit relations, violence, sex or other sensationalism. Therefore, it comes as a refreshing touch. Charlie Ruggles, as a simple office worker, and Mary Boland, his wife, are still turtle doves after 20 years of marriage. Then an idealistic lecturer puts elevating social ideas in the wife's head and she proceeds to practice them on her husband, accidentally resulting in his being fired and immediately falling into a political appointment engineered by a racketeer who intends to use him. Charlie and Mary soon find they are misfits in society, and their happiness is nearly wrecked by Lilyan Tashman, flirtatious wife of the racketeer, but it all ends happily with Charlie returning to his old job at a raise in pay. Ruggles and Miss Boland, past masters in comedy, do a fine job, with good teamwork by the entire cast. Cast: Mary Boland, Charlie Ruggles, Lilyan Tashman, George Barbier, Morgan Wallace, Walter Catlett, Ruth Warren, Andre Beranger, Tom Ricketts, Warner Richmond, Frank Sheridan, Tom McGuire. Director, Norman McLeod; Authors, Keene Thompson, Douglas MacLean; Adaptors, Nunnally Johnson, Arthur Kober; Cameraman, Gilbert Warrenton; Editor, Richard Currier; Recording Engineer, John A. Goodrich. Direction, A-l. Photography, Fine. "ARIZONA TO BROADWAY" with James Dunn and Joan Bennett Fox 67 mins. GENERALLY AMUSING COMEDY DRAMA OF THE CROOK CATEGORY MAKES OKAY ENTERTAINMENT FOR THE POP HOUSES. Constructed along the "cheating cheaters" lines, this yarn depicts the efforts of a troupe of medicine show grifters, led by James Dunn, in recovering $20,000 swindled from a small-towner by a couple of other con men. Jimmy is impelled to go straight after he meets Joan Bennett, sister of the bank clerk from whom the money was taken. Their trail takes them first to New Orleans, where one crook has half of the dough, and then to New York for the other half. Among those in Jimmy's gang are Herbert Mundin, playing a med. show doctor, a southern colonel and a British merchant, as the occasion requires, and Sammy Cohen, who cuts up comedy capers to regale the audience with plenty of laugh punches. Though the plot is neither very original nor is the mixture of ingredients likely to show up well under a critical microscope, the production as a whole nevertheless is entertaining in its way. Cast: James Dunn, Joan Bennett, Herbert Mundin, Sammy Cohen, Theodore Von Eltz, Merna Kennedy, Earle Foxe, David Wengren, J. Carrol Naish, Max Wagner, Walter Catlett, Jerry Lester. Director, James Tinling; Authors, William Conselman, Henry Johnson; Adaptors, same; Dialoguers, same; Cameraman, George Schneiderman; Recording Engineer, E. Clayton Ward. Direction, Good. Photography, Good Marlene Dietrich in "SONG OF SONGS" with Brian Aherne and Lionel Atwill Paramount 90 mins. MARLENE DIETRICH'S APPEALING PERFORMANCE PLUS CLASSY PRODUCTION SHOULD PUT THIS OVER. Although Hermann Sudermann's novel, also dramatized for the stage by Edward Sheldon, seems a bit out of date as a vehicle for Marlene Dietrich, the star plays the role of the heroine in a fashion that should provide ample satisfaction for her fans. She is at her best in point of glamour, and what the plot doesn't provide her in the way of emotional opportunities it supplies in pictorial directions. The picture is strong on sex, and in the role of a model Miss Dietrich has a chance to reveal more than just her legs, so the production is for adult rather than for juvenile audiences. Story is about a simple country lass who goes to Berlin after her father's death, falls in love with a young sculptor, who later allows a rich baron to take her away frpm him on the plea that it is for her own advantage, with eventual shattering of her illusions, followed by degradation and finally a happy reunion. Brian Aherne as the sculptor and Lionel Atwill as the baron give expert performances. Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Brian Aherne, Lionel Atwill, Alison Skipworth, Hardie Albright, Helen Freeman. Director, Rouben Mamoulian; Author, Hermann Sudermann; Scenarists, Leo Birinski, Samuel Hoffenstein; Art Director, Hans Drier; Cameraman, Victor Milner. Direction, Artistic Photography, Excellent. 1 bsi hel 0 Uli Richard Barthelmess in "HEROES FOR SALE" h Loretta Young, Aline MacMahon National 73 mins. THER HEAVY DRAMA WITH TOO :H SEAMY STUFF TO MAKE IT .SING FOR GENERAL AUDIENCES. is is in some respects a post-war study le effects of the war upon the youth took part in it. It deals chiefly with ird Barthelmess, who becomes a drug t as a result of narcotics taken while ided. Believed dead, a buddy takes credit and medals for Dick's heroism te front, and when they meet again later Dick gives in to the phoney's , not to expose him. Dick makes ef to re-establish himself as a citizen, he dope habit proves his scourge. He to work, marries, gets involved with als, goes to jail, loses his wife and y lands on the bum again. As a hobo nee more meets his army pal and they things over, coming to the conclusion perhaps the "new deal" will straighten thing out. st: Richard Barthelmess, Loretta Young, ■ MacMahon, Gordon Westcott, Berton chill, Robert Barratt, Grant Mitchell, |es Grapewin, Robert McWade, George Collins, James Murray, Edwin Maxwell, ?aret Seddon, Arthur Vinton, Robert lt, John Marston, Willard Robertson, ^las Dumbrille, Ward Bond, Tammany |g, Hans Furberg. J-ector, William A. Wellman; Authors, "rt Lord, Wilsom Mizner; Adaptors, ; Editor, Howard Bretherton; Camera| James Van Trees. fection, Good. Photography, Fine. Charles (Buck) Jones in "CALIFORNIA TRAIL" Columbia 67 mins. ACTION STORY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA IN EARLY DAYS GETS AWAY FROM THE USUAL WESTERN FORMULAS. This is an unusual western as the locale is Southern California in the 1832s. Plenty of action is included and it should please the folks. Buck Jones is a caravan rider in charge of a supply of food to be delivered to a Spanish settlement where the crops have failed. En route the wagons are attacked by Indians and the owner is shot, but before he dies he commissions Buck to deliver the supplies. Meanwhile the mayor of the town and his brother, who commands the troops, are conspiring to starve out the settlers so they can take over their land. When Buck arrives with his wagons he is arrested on a trumped up charge and the food confiscated to be sold at high prices for gold only. Jones escapes, holds up the mayor's messenger and takes his gold to distribute to the starving people. He then sets out to rob the rich of the country so the poor may be fed. One of his victims later proves to be the governor of the territory who makes Jones commander of the troops after arresting the former leader. Cast: Charles (Buck) Jones, Helen Mack, George Humbart, Luis Alberni, Charles Stevens, Emile Chautard, Evelyn Sherman, Chrispin Martin, Carmen La Roux, Carlos Villar, Angil Gomez, John Paul Jones, Alan Garcia, Juan Du Val, Bob Steele. Director, Lambert Hillyer; Author, Jack Natteford; Adaptor, Lambert Hillyer; Dialogues same; Cameraman, Ben Kline; Recording Engineer, Lambert Day. Direction, Okay. Photography, Okay. "SLEEPLESS NIGHTS" with Polly Walker and Stanley Lupino Remington Pictures 66 mins. SPRIGHTLY BRITISH MUSICAL FARCE IS VERY AMUSING, TUNEFUL AND ATTRACTIVELY PRODUCED. Here is another bit of evidence that the British studios are gradually catching up with Hollywood in the matter of turning out entertainment of the pep and action variety. Though essentially a musical, this production unfurls itself at a lively gait, mixing comedy action with an amusing romance, all carried along in a rhythmic sweep against an elegant background. The proceedings are held together by a typical musical comedy plot, which means it was concocted strictly for amusement and need not be taken seriously, and yet it is a farce situation that is basically very funny. Stanley Lupino, an expert song-and-dance comedian, plays a reporter sent to get a story from an American millionaire, whose daughter, Polly Walker, is being annoyed by a crook scheming to steal a valuable statuette from the American's yacht. Stanley and Polly accidentally fall into a compromising situation, the only escape being for them to pretend they are married. Their difficulties in carrying out the bluff, until they finally are married, supply most of the fun. Cast: Polly Walker, Stanley Lupino, Gerald Rawlinson, Frederick Lloyd, Percy Parsons, Charlotte Parry, David Miller, Hal Gordon. Director, Thomas Bentley; Author, Stanley Lupino; Adaptor, Victor Kendall; Composer, Noel Gay; Film Editor, Walter Stokvis; Recording Engineer, A. E. Rudolph; Cameraman, John J. Cox. Direction, Lively Photography, Fine. "A SHRIEK IN THE NIGHT" with Ginger Rogers, Lyle Talbot Allied 63 mins. GOOD MURDER MYSTERY MELLER FOR THE POP CROWDS HAS PLENTY OF THRILLS AND SUSPENSE. Made for the thrill-lovers, this one should go over nicely in the neighborhood houses. It involves a series of mysterious murders in an apartment hotel. Ginger Rogers and Lyle Talbot are sweethearts but rival reporters on two local newspapers. Ginger poses as the secretary of the first murder victim in order to get the inside line on the criminal. The police inspector goes off on a false lead, till the girl sets him straight. Talbot steals her scoop and sends it in to his paper. The various victims are notified of their impending fate by the receipt of a card bearing the drawing of a coiled serpent about to strike. Miss Rogers is getting close to uncovering the criminal, when he is about to make her his next victim. Talbot and the police break in just in time to save her. The murderer proves to be the janitor who is seeking revenge for the electrocution of his kid brother on a frame-up. Has lots of kick in the suspense and thrill action. Cast: Ginger Rogers, Lyle Talbot, Arthur Hoyt, Purnell Pratt, Harvey Clark, Lillian Harmer, Maurice Black, Louise Beaver, Clarence Wilson. Director, Albert Ray; Author, Kurt Kern pler; Adaptor, Frances Hyland; Editor, L. R. Brown; Cameramen, Harry Neuman, Tom Galligan. Direction, Okay. Photography, Good.