The Film Daily (1939)

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W*V DAILY Thursday, September 28, 1939 v v Reviews or th€ new nuns .v v "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" with Bette Davis and Errol Flynn Warners ' 106 Mins. ENTERTAINMENT DE LUXE FOR ALL AUDIENCES WILL ROLL UP A GOLDEN "TAKE" FOR SHOWMEN. Like Grant took Richmond, this brilliant Technicolor feature will take audiences everywhere. And what a resulting golden "take" for showmen! For here is a picture telling a highly dramatic and essentially human story against the magnificent pageantry of the Elizabethan age, and telling it, if you please, with sustained action and tempo. Call it entertainment de luxe, and you'll be telling the truth. Say that it is a setting for one of Bette Davis' finest charactreizations (many will say it is her greatest achievement), and that's as truthful. And forecast, if you will, that it will be well to the fore when Academy and other honors are bestowed, and you'll be on safe ground. Analytically, "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" is another corking example of what stems from Warner studio teamwork. There is a certain precision, a certain smoothness that attests the co-ordinated efforts of Jack L Warner, Hal B. Wallis and Robert Lord on the production side, of Director Michael Curtiz and his two aides, Stanley Logan and Sherry Shourds; of Norman Reilly Raine and Aeneas Mackenzie who prepared the tightly knit screen play from Maxwell Anderson's Theater Guild play, and of all the others concerned with the production, whether players or technical staff members. Directorially, the picture is Curtiz at his ablest. He carries the story forward swiftly; its 106 minutes might be 60, so fast does it seem to move. To point up what Curtiz has accomplished, it might be added that there is no resort to sword play, to the swashbuckling heroics of costume drama; the conflict is essentially that of clashing dominant personalities and of wills. Stripped of its picturesque dress, this is the story of two people who loved and hated and loved again, but who could not forget that one alone stood for England. For England, Elizabeth sent Essex to the block; for Elizabeth and England, Essex refused to say the words that would have stayed the headsman's axe. The rest, their quarrels and reconciliations, the intrigue of the court, the ill-fated expedition to Ireland and Essex's revolt, is secondary, however it mav serve to deck out the framework. Miss Davis moulds an emotional Elizabeth vibrantly alive, wholly comprehendible, and uncannily magnetic. The role, of course, is a rich one, and the star never misses, whatever the mood. And the transition from one to the other comes quickly. Errol Flynn's Essex is a handsomely romantic figure, certain to add to his matinee following. Of the supporting cast, the most impressive performance comes from Donald Crisp as Francis Bacon, the opportunist. Olivia de Havilland is a well chosen Lady Penelope Gray, the Queen's lady-in-waiting who vainly loves Essex. Effective also are Henry Stephenson, Henry Daniell, Leo G. Carroll and Vincent Price as Essex's court enemies and Alan Hale as the Irish Earl of Tyrone who defeats Essex's expeditionary force. The value of Two Bright Boys" j "$1,000 a Touchdown" i "The Man Who Dared' with Jackie Cooper, Freddie Bartholomew, Alan Dinehart Universal 701/4 Mins. WELL-PACED MELODRAMA WITH TWO JUVE FAVORITES HOLDS POP APPEAL. An earnest little melodrama with a plausible story and capable cast, this one holds popular appeal. Casting is commendable, performances ditto. Cooper, Bartholomew and Alan Dinehart headline the cast, which includes such seasoned troupers as Dorothy Petersen, Melville Cooper, J. M. Kerrigan, Eddie Acuff and Willard Robertson. There is plenty of punch and sentiment in the film. Cooper is trying desperately to complete the drilling of a wildcat oil well on his rundown farm in Texas with the help of his mother, Dorothy Petersen. Dinehart, ruthless oil baron, attempts to get the property away from them as it shows promise of being rich oil land. Melville Cooper, father of Freddie Bartholomew, is caught cheating in a card game by Dinehart and forced to work for him. Freddie and his father try to pawn themselves off as Londoners with banking affiliations in order to get the oil well. Freddie saves the well when an accident occurs and they win the good will of Jackie Cooper and his mother. Complications ensue and Jackie finds himself in trouble when after accepting a mortgage loan his well is wrecked. Freddie and his father are run off the place when their friendship with Dinehart is discovered, but they later return to help bring in the well in time to stave off foreclosure. CAST: Jackie Cooper, Freddie Bartholomew, Alan Dinehart, Dorothy Petersen, Eddie Acuff, Melville Cooper, Willard Robertson, Hal Dawson, Eddy Waller, J. M. Kerrigan. CREDITS: Associate Producer, Burt Kelly; Director, Joseph Santley; Screenplay, V. Burton and E. Hartmann; Cameramen, Elwood Bredell; Editor, Phil Cahn. DIRECTION, Able. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. Technicolor to costume drama was never better demonstrated, no, not even in "The Adventures of Robin Hood." The camera work by Sol Polito rates aces. So, too, the highly sympathetic musical setting by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. CAST: Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Donald Crisp, Alan Hale, Vincent Price, Henry Stephenson, Henry Daniell, James Stephenson, Nanette Forbes, Ralph Forbes, Robert Warwick, Leo G. Carroll. CREDITS: In Charge of Production, Jack L. Warner; Executive Producer, Hal B. Wallis; Associate Producer, Robert Lord; Screenplay by Norman Reilly Raine and Aeneas Mackenzie ; From the Play "Elizabeth the Queen" by Maxwell Anderson; Directed by Michael Curtiz; Dialogue Director, Stanley Logan; Assistant Director, Sherry Shourds; Photographed in Technicolor by Sol Polito; Associate Photographer, W. Howard Greene; Technicolor Color Director, Natalie Kalmus; Art Director, Anton Grot; Film Editor, Owen Marks; Sound by C. A. Riggs; Technical Advisor, Ali Hubert; Music by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. DIRECTION, Brilliant. PHOTOGRAPHY, Aces. with Joe E. Brown, Martha Raye, Eric Blore Paramount 71 Mins. (HOLLYWOOD PREVIEW) LIVELY COLLEGE FOOTBALL COMEDY PILES UP HEAVY QUOTA OF LAUGHS. Teamed for the first time, Joe E. Brown and Martha Raye pile up a heavy total of laughs with their campus caperings. Another important fun-maker is Don Wilson, of radio fame, who is the announcer of the football game that gives the picture its title. Eric Blore is another laugh-maker, as are George McKay and Syd Saylor. Susan Hayward is decorative and capable, while John Hartley, Tom Dugan and Matt McHugh complete the cast. Director James Hogan provided a lively pace and kept the laughs coming fast. To William C. Thomas goes credit as associate producer. Delmer Daves concocted a very amusing screenplay and story. Lovesick Martha inherits a rundown college and makes Brown, son of a famous actor, president of the school and coach of the football team. Although Brown has never seen a football game, he tries to coach and insists on only eleven candidates trying for the team. When things look darkest for the players in their game with a professional aggregation, Martha gives the professionals $1,000 a touchdown for each touchdown they allow her players to score. After she had paid $4,000, she reduces her offer to $100 a touchdown, but it is refused. It is then that Brown replaces one of his injured players and literally flies over the goalposts with the winning touchdown. CAST: Joe E. Brown, Martha Raye, Eric Blore, Susan Hayward, John Hartley, Syd Saylor, Joyce Mathews, George McKay, Tom Dugan, Matt McHugh. CREDITS: Associate Producer, William C. Thomas; Director, James Hogan; Original Screenplay by Delmer Daves; Cameraman, William Mellor, A.S.C., Film Editor, Chandler House; Art Directors, Hans Dreier and William Flannery; Sound Recording, George Dutton and Glenn Rominger. DIRECTION, Lively. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. "Sponsored" Musical Review Will be Telecast by NBC Musical review will be "sponsored" by the Ronson Lighter Co. on NBC's television stations, W2XBS, starting tomorrow, at 8:30 p.m. Program is tagged "You're the Light of My Life," was produced by Hal A. Salzman and includes Lee Sullivan, Lillian Beverly, Jane Cavett, Ruth Guinan, Mac Murray, Ronsonia and others. Special emphasis will be placed on working commercial plugs into the continuity by utilizing a combination of radio and picture technique, it was said with Henry O'Neil, Charles Grapewin Jane Bryan Warners 60 Mins. GANGSTER MELLER WITH GOOD ACTION AND STORY TWISTS O.K. FOR PROGRAM FARE. Designed for the program spo(?|!?this picture will fit in neatly. It has plenty of action, a personable American family beset by gangster trouble for audience interest, and a fast-moving climax to wind it up. The cast is capable with expert troupers handling the principal roles. Charles Grapewin, Henry O'Neil, Jane Bryan, Dickie Jones and Elizabeth Risdon headline the cast. Grapewin, on leave from the old soldier's home, is having dinner with his grandchildren. They hear an explosion and see a neighbor murdered. They are threatened with death by a gangster band unless they keep still and, being frightened, they withhold all the evidence they have. However, the gangsters kidnap young Dickie Jones just to be sure the family doesn't talk, and grandpa (Grapewin) goes into action. He finally locates the building where Dickie is being held and a police raid rescues him. Gangster John Gallaudet is just about to be freed because of a lack of evidence when Grapewin and Dickie arrive in court and nail him to the mast with their testimony. Cast: Charles Grapewin, Henry O'Neil, Dickie Jones, Jane Bryan, Elizabeth Risdon, James McCallion, John Russell, Fred Tozere, John Gallaudet, Grace Stafford, Emmet Vogan. CREDITS: Warner Bros. Production; Director, Crane Wilbur; Screenplay, Lee Katz; Original Story, Lucien Hubbard; Cameraman, Arthur L. Todd; Editor, H. McLernon. DIRECTION, Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. Tommy Walker Recovered Tommy Walker, salesman for the Liberman Flag and Valance Co., having recovered from an automobile accident, is expected to return to his job within the next few days. "Treachery on the High Seas" with Bebe Daniels, Ben Lyon Film Alliance of the U. S. 68 Mins. CROOK COMEDY PROGRAMMER BRINGS BEBE DANIELS AND BEN LYON BACK TO SCREEN HERE. Made in England, this serves as an American "comeback" for Bebe Daniels and Ben Lyon. Film is a neat little crook comedy and it will serve nicely as a program offering. Supporting the principals is Charles Farrell and a capable cast of English players. Action of film is laid on a boat going from New York to Southampton. Bebe, in addition to proving that she has lost none of her charm and acting ability, sings several songs in an intriguingly husky voice. Bebe, a jewel thief, is on board to get a ruby necklace being taken to England by a wealthy jewel collector. Ben, a detective for an insurance agency, plays along with her as she doesn't know his identity. There is some fast double-crossing and swift movement of the real necklace and some paste counterparts before everything is ironed out by detective Lyon. CAST: Bebe Daniels, Ben Lyon, Tom Helmore, Charles Farrell, Hay Petrie, Gordon McLeod, James Carew, CREDITS: Produced by British Films; Director, Emil Reinert. DIRECTION, Adequate. PHOTOGRAPHY, O.K.