The Film Daily (1930)

Sunday. June 1, 1930 DAILY 11 "Screen Snapshots No. 18 Columbia Time, 8 mins. Dry Numbers Nothing hot or exceptional in this number. About the only good feature is the footage given to the arrival of Eddie Cantor and family on the Coast to begin "Whoopee." Samuel Goldwyn. who meets them at the station, comes in for a word or two. The "master of ceremonies" introducing the characters tries to formulate some sort of continuity for assembling the material, but it is jerky and doesn't quite hit the bull's eye. Nick and Tony in "Who's Got the Body?" RKO Time, 12 mins. Comedy with a Plot A treat in the line of Italian comedy. As the title infers, a body is being sought. And with those two Italians, a series of complications sets in when they buy a garage and one of the stews sleeps it off in the car that is left by his friend. The fact that a murder has been committed and the body is missing provides a background for the owners to become suspicious, and when a cop comes in to kill some time, he adds to the fun. The drunk's wife finally comes to his rescue. "Tommy Burns vs. Bill Squires" Herman Axelbank Time, 15 mins. Interesting Fight Record A corking short of the days when sportsmen with flat felts and wide brims had to travel hundreds of miles in wagons to witness a championship fight. The international heavyweight fight of July 4, 1907, held at Colma, Cal., with Jim Jeffries as the third man in the ring is sure-fire for fistic fans. To watch the fracas between Tommy Burns and Bill Squires provides a bit of true history of the ring. The print is rather old, but it has the kick of a mule on a rampage. The knockout is shown clearly and is really a photographic feat for those days. Events leading up to the big fight also are interesting. "He Auto Know Better" Audio Cinema Time, 5 mins. Amusing Industrial This cartoon comedy, another of the series prepared for Aetna Insurance Co., shows the adventures of a family who set out for an automobile jaunt. Everything goes along great until the car meets up with another jitney with the result that both are wrecked. There is an amusing courtroom scene in which the head of the family is ordered to pay heavy damages. Hi6 friends rush up to sympathize with him until he pulls out an insurance card showing that he is fully covered and has nothing to worry about. "Trying Them Out" Pathe Time, 17 mins. Corking Comedy In "Trying Them Out," produced in England by Gordon Bostock at the British International studios, Pathe lias a sure-fire comedy on its hands. It is one of those robust affairs with a loud healthy laugh in every second of it. Not only is the comedy hilarious to the extreme, but the atmosphere necessary to the thorough enjoyment of the picture has been faithfully reproduced. The scene represents a theater during a try-out, with an audience typical of such occasions. The razzing of the various performers is done so well that it sounds like the real thing. Some of the credit should go to Monty Banks, who directed. The cast is good. "Hawaiian Pineapple" Educational Time, 7 mins. Animated Music "Hawaiian Pineapple," a TerryToon, is another of those animated cartoons in which music preponderates. This time it's a Hawaiian melody in an appropriate setting. The music works such an enchantment that even the palm trees sway this way and that. Some of the animation is extremelv clever. O. K. "The Enchanted Forest" Tiffany Time, 10 mins. Charming Fantasy This Tiffany Color Symphony ought to prove a delight to children. It tells about a rich litle girl who is forbidden to take part in childish pleasures. Her mother neglects her for the sake of social activities. One day the child steals away to the woods. There she falls asleep and dreams of dwarfs and fairies. It is like a page out of a fairybook. Bad color is the film's one glaring fault. "The Glacier's Secret" Pathe Time, 10 mins. Absorbing Travelogue In "The Glacier's Secret," one of the Vagabond Series being made for Van Beuren. Tom Terriss scores again. He has filmed an arctic adventure in gripping fashion. From beginning to end he holds the audience tense and expectant not only through his dramatic description but also through the intense quality of the photography. The film conveys a feeling that is rarely identified with travel films, and contains a tender, tragic note that is genuinely touching. "Holland" Vitaphone 3897 Time, 9 mins. Good Kid Revue Youngsters compose the personnel of this Technicolor musical revue with a Dutch background. The singing and dancing is of good quality there is attractiveness in the costumes and settings. "Deep South" Pathe Time, 10 mins. Southern Melody A satisfactory musical short redolent of the old South is "Deep South," one of the Van Beuren Song Sketches. Apart from its musical content the film contains an intriguing charm and visual beauty that alone make it worth seeing. "Deep South" offers a collection of some of the better known and more tender of the folk tunes for which the South is famous, among them "Carry Me Back to Old Virginia," "My Old Kentucky Home" and " 'Way Down Upon the Swanee River." The singing of James Stanley and Lois Bennett is in keeping with the spirit of the music. Pathe Audio Review No. 23 Time, 10 mins. In only one of its three subjects is this Audio Review better than commonplace, and that is when the camera catches, in scenes that possesses a certain illusion of depth, the beauty of white billowing sails gliding over a smooth sea along a shore lined with stucco houses tinted a faint rose by the sun. Nicholas Cavaliere has done some effective camera work here. The other two numbers offer glimpses of what was once Columbus's tomb in the Cathedral of Santo Domingo and present the Audio Review Quartette singing "Mandy Lee," an old barber shop favorite. The latter is done in color that is very bad, while the recording leaves much to be desired. "Love's Memories" Pathe Time, 10 mins. Fair Song Feature "Love's Memories" is not up to the standard of the earlier Van Beuren Song Sketches. This one is burdened with some poor attempts at comedy and with some pretty bad dialogue, much of it with no point to it. The singing of Frank Luther chiefly redeems this film, which is in the nature of a compilation of memory-stirring tunes. Lois Bennett's singing is not quite as effective. Evalyn Knapp has a speaking part in the picture. "Oom Pah Pah" Pathe Time, 6 mins. Aesop Fable This Aesop Fable is practically all ago T xiOliywoo'tl ■Johnny Arthur in "Paper Hanging" Vitaphone 3972 Time, 9 mins. Comedy Pip Johnny Arthur makes a neat bit of entertainment of this comedy about a husband who, is trying to wall paper his apartment himself, makes a mess of things. The exorbitant price asked by a wallpapering firm is what impelled him to undertake the job himself. In his cocksureness he tells his wife he can do as good a job as any expert at the trade. When it is all over he is forced to cover up the walls with pictures to hide the defects. This is a sure laugh-getter. "Office~Steps" Vitaphone Time, 10 mins. Same Old Stuff A routine musical short. It follows along the same old pattern of stereotyped dance steps interspersed with shoddy tunes. All this is perpetrated in a sort of business office where everything must be done in constant dance rhythm. Among those in the cast are Harry McNaughton, the Phelps Twins, Billy Reed, Lou Duthers, Jack Thompson and Gertrude McDonald. a, o Krazy Kat in "Snookeasv" .....ai i )nc<_e oi wort . "The Nagger" Vitaphone 1014 Time, 9 mins. Domestic Riot A bedtime scene between a suspicious wife, who is obsessed with curiosity about "that other woman," and a fibbing husband who is trying to grab off some sleep. The Norworths, past masters of the variety stage in this sort of comedy, put it over with a wallop. Laughs follow each other with practically no letup. "The Palooka Flying School" RKO Time, 7 mins. Weak Comedy A kidding number, with Russ rown acting as the instructor of a ying school In the classroom he Itands at the blackboard and points -out on a map all the important fl> ■ ing centers, and his talks deye into a lot of punning and kidding in the best manner of AI Boasberg, who wrote the -kit. Jusl a filler for the small stands.