The Film Daily (1939)

■r" W*A DAILY Wednesday, August 2, 193$ .v REVIEWS OF THE DEW f ILfllS -Ct "Fugitive at Large" with Jack Holt, Patricia Ellis and Stanley Fields Columbia-Darmour 63 Mins. (HOLLYWOOD PREVIEW) DIFFERENT SORT OF HOLT VEHICLE SHOULD PLEASE MASS AUDIENCES. Differing somewhat from most of the former Jack Holt stories in plot and locale, this production is nicely geared and will please mass audiences. Larry Darmour, the producer, has given the piece nice mounting, and the direction by Lewis Collins is capable. Eric Taylor and Harvey Gates have fashioned a splendid screenplay from Taylor's original story. Jack Holt plays the dual role of Storm, a construction engineer, and Farrow a scar-faced leader of a bank robbery gang. Arthur Hohl and Stanley Fields are struck with Storm's resemblance to Farrow. They hatch a frameup by which they will hold up a payroll truck, Farrow will get away with the money, and the blame will fall on Storm. Storm is arrested, and through the decisive testimony of Farrow's wife, Patricia Ellis, that Storm is her husband, he is sentenced to 20 years. Storm becomes friendly with Guinn Williams, another prisoner, and in the break engineered by Williams, escapes. In a fight between Storm and Ben Welden, Storm is captured. Storm insists he is not Farrow. Hohl and Fields are brought in for questioning and inadvertently Fields admits that Storm is not Farrow. Meantime Farrow, not knowing Storm has been captured, takes part in another bank robbery. Fields' admission and the report of Farrow's participation in the new robbery clears Storm. In the end Farrow is killed and his confederates are captured, and Storm returns to the construction camp as an engineer. CAST: Jack Holt, Patricia Ellis, Stanley Fields, Guinn (Big Boy) Williams, Arthur Hohl, Cy Kendall, Jonathan Hale, Leon Ames, Don Douglas, Weldon Heyburn, Ben Welden, Leon Beaumon. CREDITS: Producer, Larry Darmour; Associate producer, Rudolph Flothow; Director, Lewis D. Collins; Author, Eric Taylor; Screenplay Eric Taylor and Harvey Gates; Cameraman, James S. Brown, Jr.; Editor, Dwight Caldwell; Song "Swing Dat Hammer," by Hall Johnson. DIRECTION, Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. Reliable Sending Crew to Shoot War In Orient West. Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — B. B. Ray, of Reliable Pictures, is leaving Friday for China with a crew of technicians to shoot authentic pictures of the China-Japan-Russo conflict. J. C. 'Doc' Cooke, who has made 26 trips, is assuming full charge of all the details. Cooke has received permission to picturize portions of the war zone which will be available to him through his personal friendship with Gen. Chiang KaiShek, and officials of the Japanese government. This material will be made into a feature production. Ray will also go into the interior of Siam to shoot some special footage which will be made into another feature film. The outfit will be away for four to six months. "Mr. Wong in Chinatown" with Boris Karloff, Grant Withers, Marjorie Reynolds Monogram 61 Mins. FINE MURDER MYSTERY HOLDS TAUNT SUSPENSE AND KARLOFF'S ACTING SCORES. A very sane and intelligent murder mystery plot, distinguished by fine acting of the suave Boris Karloff as the oriental sleuth helping out the police department of San Francisco represented by Grant Withers as the inspector investigating the Chinatown murders. The excitement starts when a Chinese princess is murdered while awaiting an interview with the oriental sleuth in his study. The lethal weapon is a poison dart from a wrist-gun, a Chinese weapon. The devious path of the murderer winds in and out of a complex skein of events. Then there occurs the murder of the princess' maid by the same method. There are two opposing forces at work, involved in the attempt to secure control of a milliondollar fund set aside for purchase of airplanes for shipment to China, and hence the murders. Finally a Chinese dwarf disappears, and he proves to be the third victim of the criminal. The latter turns out to be a private banker. But before Karloff dramatically uncovers him, there are some exciting events with all the evidence pointing to a sea captain and his companion as the guilty parties. The newspaper girl is present in the person of Marjorie Reynolds, and she and her work are as unnecessary as in most murder mysteries where they pump the femme interest in by this method. Forgetting her silly antics, the story is above average, and builds fine suspense for the whodunit fans. Selling angles: Karloff in a strong role; the Chinese tong atmosphere; the unusual murders. CAST: Boris Karloff, Grant Withers, Marjorie Reynolds, Peter George Lynn, William Royle, Huntly Gordon, James Flavin, Lotus Long, Richard Loo, Guy Usher. CREDITS: Director, William Nigh; Screenplay, Scott Darling; Author, Hugh Wiley; Cameraman, Harry Neumann. DIRECTION, Very Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. Mono. Exchange Head Wars on Bingo In Milwaukee Milwaukee, Wis. — Second move in the small merchants' drive against Bingo has been instituted here with court action against the Bahn Frei hall to restain it from operating the game. Plaintiff is Charles W. Trampe, head of the MonogramMidwest Film exchange. His attorney is Benjamin J. Miller, who was counsel for Herman J. Eggert, proprietor of a stationery and sporting goods store here, in the suit against Bingo and similar games at the Midsummer festival. Cooney Forms New Firm Chicago — Ben Cooney, formerly of the Cooney Brothers Theater circuit, has organized the Ogden Theater Co. * SHORTS * "Metropolis— 1939" (March of Time^ RKO Radio 18 Mins. Splendid A very fine presentation of the various phases of New York City, treating it from many aspects such as sociologically, politically, economically and just plain human. It is easily one of the most entertaining of all the M of T series. The spirit of the great metropolis has been caught perfectly, with its rush and bustle, fast tempo, and the myriad activities of city life engaged in by over seven million inhabitants. The film has a fast tempo itself that reflects the spirit of the city. The foreign quarters are especially interesting. A big proportion of the second half of the film is devoted to a detailed exposition of the city's efficient police department of 19,000 men. Practically every phase of the work of Commissioner Valentine's department is covered. It looks like a gratuitous plug for LaGuardia's administration, and his photograph is shown in several close-ups. Be this as it may, whatever the political propaganda may be inherent in the subject, it has been concealed so cleverly and the film is so worthy that this can be overlooked. Here is a film that will meet with great interest wherever shown, for with the World's Fair now a subject of national interest, the nation's attention is centered on New York. Fine editorial judgment was displayed in making no reference to the Fair itself. It has been ignored. The subject is the glamorous city itself, and that is as it should be. Republic Closes FWC Deal; Grainger at Schine Meet For the fifth consecutive year, Fox West Coast has closed a deal with Republic to play the latter's complete 1939-40 line-up of features and serials in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Salt Lake City, Seattle and Portland, it was disclosed yesterday. James R. Grainger, Republic's president, arrived in Gloversville from New York yesterday to attend and address the Schine convention. Grover C. Parsons, Republic's West Coast manager, also left the home office yesterday for the Coast. New House for Tyler Tyler, Tex. — Texas Consolidated starts work here shortly on a new $200,000 pix house to seat 1,000. Town, with 30,000 population, has five other theaters, four controlled by the Interstate affiliate. JAP PIX TAKE AT $1,640,000 IN 1934 ( Continued from Page 1 ) ican-made features were well on the way to grabbing an all-time record annual revenue from the Japanese market, it was disclose^; yesterday. Survey by The Film Daily revealed that a 6,000,000 yen year is currently expected, which means that the "take" of Hollywood product during 1939 would be slightly in excess of $1,640,000, compared with the 1938 figure of some 4,200,000 yen, or about $1,150,000. Revenue Steadily Rising Secondly, survey showed, that, except for a slight recession in 1938, the Japanese market has offered to U. S. pictures a steadily increasing annual revenue. In terms of Japan's currency, the year 1935 brought 3,800,000 yen to American producer-distributors; 1936 brought 4,600,000 yen; 1937 about 5,000,000; and 1938 about 4,200,000, all figures being close approximations. Thirdly, the checkup disclosed that during the first six months of 1939, a total of 304 pictures were released for exhibition in Japan, including 226' Japanese films and 78 foreign films. Latter represented about 25 per cent of all released pix. U. S. product, figured in percentage of the 304-picture total, represented 21 per cent. Equally, if not more impressive is the fact that of all foreign pictures released for exhibition in Japan during the first six months of 1939, the U. S. furnished 82 per cent, demonstrating the overwhelming dominance of Hollywood features among all nations supplying Japan. Para., Metro In Lead Fourthly, it was disclosed that of the 64 features of American origin during the first half of 1939, 61 were sent into Japan and distributed by the U. S. majors. Now, of these 61 U. S. major features. Paramount is said to have sunplied 12; M-G-M, 11; 20th-Fox, Columbia and Universal, 8 each; Warners, 6; UA, 5; and RKO Radio, 3. 71,304,484 Admissions In '38 In Tokyo's 296 Film Houses Tokyo (By Cable)— Total attendance at all amusement houses locally in 1938 amounted to 86,598.627, an increase of 3,107,944 over 1937. Included in this figure are the 71,304.484 persons who attended Tokyo's 296 film theaters, according to a report issued by the city's Metropolitan Police Board. Renorts indicate that attendance at film houses fell off about 15 per cent in May here, as compared with the previous month, but receipts still continued to be well above those for the corresponding period of 1938.