The Film Daily (1934)

—&&* DAILY Saturday, Feb. 3, 1934 Janet Gaynor and Lionel Barrymore in "CAROLINA" Fox 85 mins. BOX-OFFICE DRAMA OF AN IMPOVERISHED POST-CIVIL WAR FAMILY. ENHANCED BY CAPABLE PERFORMANCES. Paul Green's stage success, "The House of Connelly," has been transferred to the screen with charming and satisfying results. Its background is an old Southern family, impoverished by the Civil War and struggling to maintain its dignity 40 years after the conflict. The son falls in love with a poor girl who has become a tobacco-raising tenant on the plantation. His aristocratic mother, clinging to the last remnants of family pride, tries to break up the romance, and her failure is related in a carefully-handled dramatic sequence. A new prosperity comes to the family as the story ends. The atmosphere of the locale has been caught with a large degree of authenticity. Although slow in getting under way, the story, always wholesome and colorful, develops into interestgripping entertainment. There seems to be nothing in the picture which will impair Southern audience appreciation. Cast: Janet Gaynor, Lionel Barrymore, Robert Young, Richard Cromwell, Henrietta Crosman, Mona Barrie, Stepin Fetchit, Russell Simpson, Ronnie Cosbey, Jackie Cosbey, Alemda Fowler and Alden Chase. Director, Henry King; Author, Paul Green; Adaptor, Reginald Berkeley; Cameraman, Hal Mohr; Recording Engineer, Joseph Aiken; Musical Direction, Louis De Francesco. Direction, Splendid. Photography, Aces. Joan Blondell in "I'VE GOT YOUR NUMBER" with Pat O'Brien, Allen Jenkins, Glenda Farrell, Eugene Pallette Warner Bros. 68 mins. BRIGHT AND SNAPPY COMEDY FULL OF GOOD LAUGHS PLUS SOME ROMANCE AND DRAMATIC SUSPENSE. Here is a nice little package of breezy amusement that will click merrily with any audience. Besides its lively story, a yarn about the telephone business, it gives Pat O'Brien the opportunity to play one of the snappiest roles he has had on the screen, and he mops up with it. Pat is a telephone trouble repair man, with Allen Jenkins as his stooge. Pat has a weakness for women, while Allen shies from them. Meeting Joan Blondell, a hotel telephone operator, just after a crook has put over a fast one by causing her to switch a telephone message, thereby costing Joan her job, Pat high-pressures his way into her favor, gets her a new position in an investment house, only to have the same crook pull another trick on her, and making it look as though Joan is one of the racketeer gang. But through Pat's ingenuity the plot is unravelled, the crooks cornered, and the wedding ring slipped around Joan's finger. Cast: Joan Blondell, Pat O'Brien, Glenda Farrell, Allen Jenkins, Eugene. Pallette, Gordon Westcott, Henry O'Neill', Hobart Cavanaugh, Renee Whitney, Wall'is Clark, Robert Ellis, Douglas Cosgrove, Selmer Jackson, Louise Beavers, Tom Costello, Charles Wilson, Clay Clement. Director, Ray Knight; Author, William Rankin; Adaptors, Warren Duff, Sidney Sutherland; Cameraman, Arthur Todd; Editor, Clarence Kolster. Direction, Nifty. Photography, Fine. A LITTLE from "LOTS ►// By RALPH WILK HOLLYWOOD UERBERT ALLER has acquired rights to "Don't Be That Way," which he will produce. * * * Our Passing Show: Charles R. Rogers, Harry Rapf, Henry Herzbrun at the Wampas dinner tendered in honor of Sol A. Rosenblatt; Archie Josephson motoring to Universal. * * X Glen Allvine, who supervised "Midshipman Jack," will also supervise "Let Who Will Be Clever," for RKO. Ray Harris is writing the screen play and dialogue. Charles Lamont has completed the direction of "Managed Money," a "Frolics of Youth" comedy for Educational. * * * Garrett Fort has been added to Paramount's writing staff, his first assignment being the screen play of "The Pursuit of Happiness." Julius J. Epstein and Paul Moss have also' been added. Henry King has gone to New Orleans, Florida and Havana to get at mosphere shots for "Marie Galante,' his next Fox production. Columbia has exercised its option on the services of Ethel Hill and has signed the scenarist to a new term contract. * * * Ted Healy has been signed to a new contract by M-G-M. His next role will be in "Louisiana." The title of M-G-M's golf short, formerly known as "Goofy Golf," is now "Trick Golf." The football short with Red Grange and the Chicago Bears has been titled "Pro Football." * * * Upon completion of "Sawdust," his next starring feature for First National, Joe E. Brown will star in "Earthworm Tractor," by William Hazlitt Upson. Edward G. Robinson will make "Dark Tower" before "Napoleon," First National announces. The latter film is to follow next. Verree Teasdale may play opposite Robinson in "Napoleon." May Robson in "YOU CANT BUY EVERYTHING" with Jean Parker, Lewis Stone, William Bakewell M-G-M 80 mins. VERY GOOD HUMAN INTEREST STORY THAT BUILDS UP TO A TEARJERKER ON MAY ROBSON'S FINE WORK. Nicely handled all around, this tale of an old feminine Wall Street wizard, whose greed for money cloaks a shattered romance, should prove thoroughly satisfying entertainment. Despite its miser angle, Miss Robson's skillful portrayal of the central role grips the sympathy and develops much strong human interest that comes to a climax in some good old honest-to-goodness tear-pulling. Jilted on her wedding day by Lewis Stone because of a financial agreement demanded by her father, without her knowledge, May Robson marries another man, who eventually dies and leaves her with a son and a mania for hoarding money and securities. When the son, William Bakewell, grows up and shows a dislike for his mother's greed, her stubbornness causes a breach that is widened on his falling in love with Jean Parker, daughter of Stone. The youngsters marry and go away, and in a subsequent financial crash May puts over a coup that gives her control of Stone's fortune. Finally she learns the reason why Stone walked out on her, and an all-around reconciliation is effected as May is on a sick bed — but not through yet by any means. Cast: May Robson, Jean Parker, Lewis Stone, Mary Forbes, Reginald Mason; William Bakewell, Tad Alexander, Walter Walker, Reginald Barlow, Claude Gillingwater. Director, Charles F. Riesner; Authors, Dudley Nichols, Lamar Trotti; Adaptors, Zelda Sears, Eve Green; Cameraman, Len Smith; Editor, Ben Lewis. Direction, Effective. Photography, Fine. Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins and George Raft in "ALL OF ME" with Helen Mack Paramount 75 mjns SLOW MOVING SOPHISTICATED ROMANCE-DRAMA WITH GANGSTER ANGLE. CAST IS EXCELLENT. This story has suffered considerably in its transition from the stage play "Chrysalis" to the screen. The first half is very talkative sans action but sequences leading up to the climax finally gives the film the essential momentum. The story concerns March, who as a college professor, is having a real love affair with Miriam Hopkins, a student and daughter of wealthy parents. March wishes to marry but Miriam fears that wedlock will be the end of romance. While in a night club, Miriam's purse is stolen by Raft, a former criminal, whose girl, Helen Mack, is about to have a baby. After a fight, Raft is returned to prison and Helen sent to a girls' home. Miriam engineers their escape but the law closes in around them, and the film, with the exception of the final clinch, ends tragically. The leading parts are handled in expert fashion but lack of action in the first three or four reels holds the pix to an average rating. Cast: Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, George Raft, Helen Mack, Nella Walker, William Collier, Sr., Gilbert Emery, Blanche Frederici, Kitty Kelly, Guy Usher, John Marston, Jill Dennett, Laura LaMarr, Astrid Alwyn, Patricia Farley, Edgar Kennedy, Al Hill, Leslie Palmer, Lillian West, Jason Rcbards. Director, James Flood; Author, Rose Albert Porter; Adaptors, Sidney Buchman, Thomas Mitchell; Dialoguer, Thomas Mitchell; Editor, Otho Lovering; Cameraman, Victor Milner; Recording Engineer, Martin Paggi. Direction, Good. Photography, Excellent. NEWS OF THE DAY Boston— The Apollo at 1050 Washington St. was greatly damaged by fire this week. Front of the house and the upper balcony were destroyed. The Apollo is run by John Henes. Minneapolis— With Theo. L. Hays as chairman of the Ball and Entertainment Committee, and Mayor A. G. Bainbridge as honorary chairman, the local President's Birthday Ball was a big success. Sarasota, Fla.— Vancilla W. Sutherland, Punta Gorda, has petitioned for a receiver for the Venice theater here. Moosup, Conn.— The Best theater here was destroyed by fire this week. Buffalo — David Miller, Universal manager and president of the Buffalo Film Board, has returned from a short vacation, while A. Charles Hayman, manager of the Lafayette, is getting ready for his annual rest. Buffalo — Eugene K. Milton, property man at Shea's Hippodrome, has just been elected president of I. A. T. S. E. Local No. 10. . Denver — R. E. Griffith Theaters, Inc., has moved its accounting department back to Oklahoma City. The booking office has been kept here, and Henry Lockhart of Oklahoma City has moved here to take over the job. St. Petersburg, Fla. — La Plaze theater announces a new policy, according to Manager Harry Griffin. Frequent showings of big first-run productions are to be offered with the more important second-run pictures. Denver— Westland Theaters, Inc., has doubled its capital stock to 6,000 shares. Louis L. Dent of Dallas also was reelected president at the annual meeting. Colorado Springs, Colo. — A. D. Eichenlaub, manager of the Rialto, has returned to his home in Kansas City, for an appendicitis operation. =