The Film Daily (1935)

Saturday, Feb. 9, « « REVIEWS of the NEW FEATURE FILMS « Claudette Colbert in "THE GILDED LILY" with Fred MacMurray, Ray Milland, C. Aubrey Smith, Edward Craven Paramount 80 mins. MILD ROMANCE ATTRACTIVELY PRODUCED BUT LUKEWARM IN STORY AND CAST OPPORTUNITIES. With a story that embraces no events of much consequence, this yarn just ambles along leisurely, providing entertainment that is approximately fair. Claudette Colbert, a steno with ideals, is pals with Fred MacMurray, an easy-going reporter, with whom she eats popcorn and dreams in front of the Public Library on Fifth Ave. Bumping into a young English nobleman, Ray Miltand, who pretends to be nobody and broke, she experiences real love. Ray is engaged to a girl back in England, so he returns there after telling Claudette that he has found a job and must go out of town for a while. Meanwhile Fred makes a sensational story out of the situation, putting Claudette in the headlines as having turned down a nobleman, and as a result she becomes a famous entertainer. Going to England, she again meets Ray, whose interest in her now has turned to the playboy type. So she gives him the air and rushes back to Fred. Cast: Claudette Colbert, Fred MacMurray, Ray Milland, C. Aubrey Smith, Edward Craven, Luis Alberni, Donald Meek, Michelette Burani, Edward Gargan, Charles Wilson, Warren Hymer, Tom Dugan. Director, Wesley Ruggles; Authors, Melville Baker, Jack Kirkland; Screenplay, Claude Binycn; Cameraman, Victor Milner; Editor, Otho Lovering. Direction, Good Photography, A-l. "MAYBE IT'S LOVE" with Gloria Stuart, Ross Alexander, Frank McHugh, Helen Lowell First National 62 mins. MODERATELY SATISFYING DOMESTIC COMEDY DRAMA SUITABLE FOR THE POP-PRICED FAMILY HOUSES. Adapted from the stage play, '"Saturday's Children,'' this story comes out on the screen as more or less familiar hokum of the type that usually goes well among the neighborhood trade. Ross Alexander and Gloria Stuart, who work in the same place, get married on small means and then are saddled with tribulations from interfering relatives who move in on them and try to run their lives. After standing so much, Ross walks out, and later loses his job. whereupon he returns home and finds the wife has gone back to work and her employe's son, Phillip Reed, is making a play for her. Gloria is still in love with her husband, however, and finally Phillip steers them into a reconciliation, after which the young couple assert themselves against further meddling from relatives. There is a fair amount of comedy in the picture. particularly the conversational spasm by Joseph Cawthorn. Cast: Gloria Stuart, Ross Alexander, F-ank McHugh, Helen Lowell, Phillip Reed, Jcseph Cawthorn, Ruth Donnelly, Dorothy Dare, Henry Travers, J. Farrell MacDonald, Maude Eburne. Director, William McGann; Author, Maxwell Andersen; Screenplay, Jerry Wald, Harry Sauber, Lawrence Hazard; Cameraman, Arthur Edeson; Editor, James Gibbon. Direction, Fair. Photography, Gccd. Jack Hulbert in "JACK AHOY!" GB Productions 74 mins. COMEDY EXTRAVAGANZA GETS LAUGHS WITH JACK HULBERTS FUNNY ANTICS AND NONSENSE. This production from the Shepherd's Bush studios is a melange that runs the gamut of farce, melodrama, extravaganza and musical comedy. It is built solely to allow Jack Hulbert to display his eccentric comedy antics, and the British comedian manages to string the laughs with frequency throughout the far-fetched proceedings. Hulbert plays the role of a descendant of a famous English admiral who enlists in the navy as a gob. He falls in love with the admiral's daughter, and they soon meet in China where it seems a British submarine has been captured by Chinese pirates and is being held for ransom. Then into a lot of very meller situations which are treated lightly with the comic doing his looney antics while performing the role of hero, saving the admiral, his daughter, and re-capturing the submarine from the pirates. The escape of Jack, his pal, the girl and the admiral in the submarine is the climax in a series of sequences too long and repetitious. It could have been snapped up considerably here, and generally throughout the entire length. Cast: Jack Hulbert, Nancy O'Neil, Alfred Drayton, Tamara Desni, Henry Peterson, Sam Wilkinson. Director, Walter Forde; Authors, Sidney Gilliat, John Orton; Screenplay, same; Editor, Herbert Kemplen; Cameraman, Bernard Knowles. Direction, Fair. Photography, Okay "THE WINNING TICKET" with Leo Carrillo, Ted Healy, Louise Fazenda M-G-M 70 mins. FAIR FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT IN MAKESHIFT STORY HOLDING GENEROUS LAUGHS BUT NO REAL PUNCH. This is one of those rush jobs turned out to capitalize on a topical theme, and consequently it has neither strength of story nor sufficient in cast or otherwise to put it in the higher brackets, although it's fairly funny and the popular interest in sweepstakes will help it to get a response among the neighborhood trade. Leo Carrillo, an Italian barber, buys an Irish sweepstakes ticket against the advice of his wife, Louise Fazenda, who is opposed to gambling. Informed that Carrillo has won a prize, the family goes on a spree, only to discover that the ticket has been lost by the baby. Then comes the fran:ic runaround, with a side romance, a barbers' picnic and a jail scene included among the gamut of hokum. Carrillo, Miss Fazenda, and Ted Healy, as the latter's lazy brotherin-law, turn in good performances, while Irene Hervey and James Ellison do well as the incidental love team. Cast: Lee Carrillo, Louise Fazenda, Ted Healy, Irene Hervey, James Ellison, Luis Alberni, Purnell Pratt, Akim Tamiroff, Betty Jane Graham, Billy Watson, Johnny Indrisano, Roland Fitzpatrick. Director, Charles F. Riesner; Authors, Robert Pirosh, George Seatcn; Screenplay, Ralph Spence, Richard Schayer; Cameraman, Charles Clarke; Editor, Hugh Wynn. Direction, Good Photography, Good. SHORTS "Doin' The Town" (Mentone Production) Universal 18 mins. Entertaining Strung together on a slender thread of story, this short makes a tour of cabarets including a French Cafe, where Rachel Carlez sings with zip and tunefulness; a Russian spot where Adia Kuzneezova and his band of Russians hold forth entertainingly; the Club Alabam, where the Five Rhythm Racketeers, colored boys, put on a first-rate instrumental exhibition, and another spot where the Holman Sisters offer an interesting specialty with two pianos. Gracie Worth and Billy Taylor, the couple making the tour, wind up with a good song and dance specialty by themselves. "Meet The Professor" (Mentone Production) Universal 19 mins. Fair This subject would have been much improved if somebody had worked out some sort of narrative to carry it, instead of the makeshift device used here. It introduces such performers as Joe Browning, monologist; Bernice Claire and Clarence Nordstrom, Helen and Earl Tucker, singers, the Columbia University Band and Glee Club, a first rate aggregation; the Four Brachards, acrobats, and the 12 Mentonettes, all offering specialties. "Sporting Sounds" (Grantland Rice Sportlight) Paramount 10 mins. Fair After a few introductory words by Grantland Rice, this subject introduces Ted Husing, who acts as commentator in presenting a series of sounds related to various forms of sports, with the audience given a few moments to guess the sport, which is then flashed on the screen. The noise of horses' hoofbeats are heard for the racing, splashes for diving, swishes for golfing, etc. The gag holds fair interest. "Jungle Antics" (Paramount Varieties) Paramount 10 mins. Amusing Produced by an expedition unit in the South American jungles, this one-reeler shows an interesting collection of unusual animals engaged in amusing antics, while some additional humor is injected through the medium of offstage comments. The animals are all of the small variety, including armadillos, ant-eaters, monkeys, and various other strange creatures with equally strange names, and some of their activities are highly comical. "LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE" with Ben Lyon, Thelma Todd, Skeets Gallagher, Laura Hope Crews, Walter Catlett, Pert Kelton RKO Radio 64 mins. WEAK COMEDY WITH RATHER TRITE PLOT MIXTURE THAT FAILS TO DEVELOP FOR MUCH COUNT. Belonging to the "Charley's Aunt" school and therefore pretty much dulled by usage, this yarn suffers chiefly in the story end. Ben Lyon, about to be visited by his rich aunt who is interested in meeting his fiancee, finds himself with a couple of uncouth friends on his hands, Walter Catlett and Pert Kelton. Before he can get rid of them, the aunt appears on the scene and assumes that Pert is Ben's intended wife and that Catlett is her father. At this point the story veers off in a murder mystery channel, with a disappearing butler as the supposed victim, and various other melodramatic developments taking place, until Ben finally manages to make matters clear to the aunt, while the butler is found alive, and all works out happily for the romantic pair. The cast is strong in comedy talent, but the story doesn't give their talents much of a chance. Cast: Ben Lyon, Thelma Tcdd, Skeets Gallagher, Laura Hope Crews, Walter Catlett, Pert Keltcn, Chick Chandler, Jchn Hale, Margaret Armstrong, Jchn Davidson, Fred Kelsey, Edgar Kearing, Roger Gray. Director, Ben Hclmes; Authors, Marion Dix, Ben Hclmes; Screenplay, Joseph A. Fields, John Gray; Cameraman, Edward Crcnjager; Recording Engineer, Jchn L. Cass; Editor, Arthur Roberts. Direction, Fair. Photography, Good. »DATE BOOK Feb. 10-11: Fox district sales meeting, Congress Hotel, Chicago. Feb. 13-15: Annual meeting of Allied States Ass'n board of directors, Hotel Carlton, Washington. Feb. 14-15: Iowa-Nebraska Allied Theater convention and movie frolic, Des Moines, la. Feb. 16: Warner Club's sixth annual dinner and ball, Hotel Waldorf-Astoria, New York. Feb. 20-26: Soviet Russia's first World Cinemt Festival, Moscow. Feb. 21 : Allied Theater Owners of New Jersey meeting, Trenton. N. J. Feb. 21-22: Independent Theater Owners of Ohio convention, Columbus, O. Feb. 23: Detroit Variety Club Ball. Crystal Room, Book Cadillac Hotel, Detroit. Friars' Frolic, Majestic Theater, New Feb. 24: York. Feb. 25-28: National Film Carriers meeting, Hotel Roosevelt, New Orleans. Feb. 25-28: M. '". T. O. A. annual conven tion, Hotel Roosevelt, New Orleans. Feb. 27: Awards Banquet of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Hollywood March 1 : Actors' Equity Ass'n quarterly meeting, Hotel Asfor, New York. March 2: Columbians' fifth annual dinnerdance, Grand ballroom of Waldorf-Astoria, New York. March 4: Extraordinary meeting of stockholders of Pathe Exchange, Inc., to act o» reorganization plan 2:30 P. M., New Y March 7-9: Eleventh Annual Conferenc National Board of Review, Hotel Pcnn vania. New York. April 27: A.M. P. A. annual get-together dinner, Hotel Astor, New York. May 20-24: Annual Spring Meeting of th« Society of Motion Picture Engineers, Hotel Roosevelt, Hollywood. cr oi inflpf ■ •: