The Film Daily (1930)

THE 10 ■%£1 DAILY Sunday, June 1, 1930 Marion Davies "The Florodora Girl" M-G-M Time, 1 hr., 20 mins. MAY PLEASE OLD-TIMERS WITH ATMOSPHERE OF '90's BUT PRETTY SLOW FOR YOUNGER ELEMENT. LACKS STORY PUNCH. This is an original by Gene Markey, based on the old stage play of the same name. The famous Florodora Sextette is featured throughout, of which Marion Davies is a member. The atmosphere of the late '90's is faithfully reproduced. It shows the old-time dressing rooms, the "horseless vehicle" when it was a novelty, an old-time football game, and a Bowery resort with the bar that dad will remember. It's appeal will be to the sentimental memories of ma and dad, and it is doubtful if it will mean a lot to the modern generation. In a picnic scene all the old songs are featured in a chorus with Marion Davies clowning. The star seems a little out of her element and some of her clowning seems rather forced. Story lacks suspense and punch, and in the finale they have one of those Hollywood studio sap scenes that is liable to get laughs the wrong way. Cast: Marion Davies, Lawrence Gray, Walter Catlett, Louis John Bartels, Ilka Chase, Vivian Oakland, Jed Prouty, Claud Alhster, Sam Hardy, Nance O'Neil. Robert Bolder, Jane Keithly, Maude T. Gordon, G. Chandler. Director, Harry Beaumont ; Author, Gene Markey ; Dialoguers, Gene Markey, Ralph Spence, Al Boasberg, Robert Hopkins; Editor, Carl L. Pierson; Cameraman, Oliver T. Marsh. Direction, fair. Photography, very good. Jack Perrin in "Ridin' Law" Big 4 Time, 54 mins. RATES FAIR AS INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION FOR SMALLER HOUSES WITH GOOD MEXICAN BORDER ATMOSPHERE AND FAST ACTION. This is a Biltmore Production and is a good entertaining number that compares favorably in many respects with similar product of the larger producers. The exterior sound effects have been well handled, and the Mexican atmosphere is good. The story follows the usual formula of this type, with the hero in search of the contraband runner who has murdered his father. The pretty dance hall senorita turns out to be a secret Government agent, and helps him land his man. The action is relieved with some fair comedy bits that are good for laughs, with the dumb side-kick of the hero mixing in at the wrong moments. The finale is livened up with a long chase sequence, involving several different groups of people, which keeps the suspense going for considerable footage. A good number for the small houses, with Jack Perrin doing his bit with a lot of heavy fighting and fast riding. Cast: Jack Perrin, Yakima Canutt, Rene Bordon, Jack Mower, Ben Corbett, Robert Walker, Fern E'mmett, Pete Morrison, Olive Young. Director, Harry Webb ; Author, Carl Krusada ; Adaptor, the same ; Dialoguer, the same; Editor, Fred Bain; Monitor Man. William Garrity ; Cameraman, William Nobles. Direction, satisfactory. Photography, clear. "Call of the West" with Dorothy Revier, Matt Moore Columbia Time, 1 hr., 8 mins. COMMONPLACE ENTERTAINMENT COMBINING BROADWAY AND WESTERN THEMES. MAY GO WITH UNSOPHISTICATED AUDIENCES. PHOTOGRAPHY GOOD. "Call of the West" is a cross between the backstage picture and the western. This fact may find it an audience with western fans and with persons who fail to tire of the show business theme. The film picks a familiar course from Broadway to Texas in telling the story of a night club gal who, while recovering on a ranch from a physical breakdown, falls in love with one of those western he-men and bids the Broadway life good-bye. When her husband-tobe is forced to go after a pack of cattle rustlers just as the couple is at the altar, she becomes highly insulted and beats it back to Broadway. He follows her to New York. The rest you know. It is a most naive story, weak and far from convincing, but the unsophisticated probably will not mind this. The picture has pictorial beauty and possesses some exciting action. Cast: Dorothy Revier, Matt Moore, Kathrin Claire Ward, Tom O'Brien, Alan Roscoe, Vic Totel, Nick De Ruiz, Joe De La Cruze, Blanche Rose, Ford West, Gertrude Bennett, Connie West, Buff Jones. Director, Albert Ray ; Authors, Florence Ryerson, Colin Clements ; Adaptor, Colin Clements ; Dialoguer, Colin Clements ; Editor, Ray Snyder; Cameraman, Ben Kline; Monitor Man, John Livadary. Direction, satisfactory. Photography, good. Corinne Griffith in "Back Pay" First National Time, 1 hr. JUST FAIR ENTERTAINMENT. BASED ON FANNIE HURST STORY. CORINNE GRIFFITH CHARMING AND PHOTOGRAPHY FINE. Fannie Hurst's "Back Pay" comes to the talking screen as a rather colorless and ineffectual drama with good photography and a measure of human interest as its chief attributes. Listless in pace and weak in plot development, the picture is never more than fair entertainment. The jerky continuity and the sketchiness of the story make the production somewhat incoherent, while director and adaptor have failed to develop the dramatic situations to the full. Corinne Griffith has the role of • a store clerk who sacrifices a youthful romance for life in the big city, where she becomes attached to a wealthy man-about-town. She realizes her mistake when the boy she loved back home returns from the war blind and gassed. Giving up her rich lover, she marries the youth so that they may find a little happiness together before death claims him. Much of the acting is lifeless. Cast: Corinne Griffith, Grant Withers. Montagu Love. Hallam Cooley, Vivian Oakland, Geneva Mitchell, William Bailey, Virginia Sale. Director, William A. Seiter ; Author, Fannie Hurst : Adaptor, Francis Edward Faragoh ; Dialoguer, Francis Edward Faragoh ; Cameraman, John Seitz. Direction, fair. Photography, fine. "Women Everywhere" with Fifi Dorsay and J. Harold Murray Fox Time, 1 hr., 25 mins. FAIR MELODRAMA OF GUN RUNNERS WITH MOROCCO BACKGROUND. DORSAY GIVES NICE PERFORMANCE. MURRAY GOOD IN VOCAL NUMBERS. The title of this film is misleading, the story actually revolving around one woman, portrayed by Fifi Dorsay, who incidentally excels the entire cast in acting honors. She also is endowed with a charming voice. J. Harold Murray also has a pleasing and powerful voice, but his acting lacks the finishing touch. Walter McGrail chalks up a neat characterization as the villain. Another character ace is Clyde Cook, who adds some glowing moments to the general run of thirjgs. The desert sequences are well done. The story is laid in Morocco. Through the efforts of a spy on board the gun runner bringing arms to the Arabs, all hands are captured. The captain escapes, hides in the heroine's room, and later manages to leave town with her aid. Instead of taking a ship, he joins the Foreign Legion through a clever ruse, helps fight the Arabs and comes back wounded for the happy fadeout. Cast: J. Harold Murray, Fifi Dorsay, Clyde Cook, Walter McGrail, George Grossman, Rose Dione, Ralph Kellard. Director, Alexandra Korda; Authors, George Grossmith, Zalton Korda ; Dialoguers, Harlan Thompson, Lajos Biro ; Editor. Harold Schuster ; Cameraman, Ernest Palmer ; Monitor Man, Arthur L. Von Kirback. Direction, okay. Photography, good. 'Mystery at the Villa Rose' Harold Auten Time, 1 hr., 40 mins. GOOD MYSTERY MELODRAMA. BRITISH MELODRAMA FULL OF SUSPENSE AND ACTED BY GOOD CAST. Good popular entertainment in this "Mystery at the Villa Rose," a Twickenham production, which stands favorable comparison with not a few of the screen melodramas that have emanated from the Hollywood studios. Though excessively long, the production never runs into dullness, nor does its interest slacken for a moment. The mystery is so well sustained and so ingeniously developed as to make the plot thoroughly baffling. A wealthy woman is strangled in her villa at a French watering-place during a spiritualistic seance. Guilt points to her protege, a medium. A noted French detective, an admirer of the girl, takes over the case. By a clever series of deductions he unmasks the girl's lover as the real murderer. Austin Trevor is fine as the detective, while Nora Baring is appealing as the girl. There are some nice touches of comedy. The recording isn't always clear. Cast : Austin Trevor, Nora Baring, Richard Cooper, Krancis Lister, John Hamilton, Violet Farebrothcr, Amy Brandon-Thomas, Barbara Gotfc Director, Leslie Hiscott ; Author, A. E. W. Mason. Direction, good. Photography, good. Ruth Chatterton in "Lady of Scandal" M-G-M Time, 1 hr., 15 mins. FAIR PROGRAMMER WHICH WILL HAVE TO DEPEND LARGELY ON STAR FOR DRAWING POWER. CAST AND DIRECTOR DID WELL WITH LIGHT MATERIAL. Because the material lacked any special possibilities to begin with, as far as the screen is concerned, the talker version of Frederick Lonsdale's stage play, "The High Road," does not rate more than a passing fair mark as film fare and will have to depend to a great extent on the popularity of Ruth Chatterton. The story, English in background, is about a British actress who becomes romantically involved with a nobleman, is insulted by his family, agrees to wait a reasonable time before going through with the marriage, meanwhile gets mixed up with another gent who is somewhat of a specialist in feminine conquest, and ends up by returning to the stage. Miss Chatterton gives a lively characterization and receives polished support from Basil Rathbone, Ralph Forbes, Frederick Kerr, Nance O'Neill. Sidney Franklin's direction is able. Cast: Ruth Chatterton, Basil Rathbone, Ralph Forbes, Nance O'Neil, Frederick Kerr, Herbert Hrunston, Cyril CJiadwjck, Effie Ellsler, Robert Bolder, Moon Carroll, MacKensie Ward, Edgard Norton. Director, Sidney Franklin; Author, Frederick Lonsdale; Adaptor, Hans Kraly ; Dialoguers, Claudine West, Edwin Mayer; Editor, Margaret Booth ; Cameramen, Oliver Marsh, Arthur Miller; Monitor Man, Douglas Shearer. Direction, routine. Photography, good. "Turksib" Amkino Time, 1 hr., 9 mins. GRAPHIC CAMERA ACCOUNT OF BUILDING RAILWAY ACROSS TURKESTAN-SIBERIA. A GLORIFIED TRAVELOGUE FOR ART HOUSES. Here is a Soviet film at last that is devoid of propaganda. It is a marvelous camera account of the epic struggle of 40,000 men engaged in building a railway from Turkestan to Siberia — through burning sands to icy mountain peaks. Directed by Viktor Turin, he shows himself a master of camera technique, and succeeds in making a commonplace recording of a construction problem into an intense dramatic and human film. The shots are unique, showing the nomadic tribes of Mongolian extraction in their daily tasks suddenly confronted with the miracle of a railroad coming in their midst. Turin has used every angle to build the human interest, and the camera work is splendid. There are gorgeous shots of a sand storm, camel caravans, enormous sheep herds, snowcapped mountains and scorching deserts. But it has not story interest, so is out for the regular film house program. Cast consists of Nomad tribes, engineers and railroad workers. No credits are given, the entire production being credited to Viktor Turin, who is mainly responsible for the fine camera work.