The Film Daily (1930)

DAILY Sunday, July 6, 1930 ■■I ■—■!■ Mary Nolan in "Young Desire" Universal Time, 1 hr., 8 mins. GOOD HUMAN INTEREST STORY WITH CARNIVAL BACKGROUND, BUT UNHAPPY ENDING HURTS IT FOR GENERAL AUDIENCES. WELL ACTED. Drama based on the play, "Carnival." Up to the last few minutes the audience is led to anticipate that some happy solution will be found for the predicament of the carnival dancer and the rich young lad who are in love with each other. But, upon being convinced by the lad's aristocratic parents that it would be an injustice for her to marry him, the heroine commits suicide from a balloon on the carnival lot, an abrupt and unsatisfactory climax as far as the masses are concerned. Mary Nolan, as the girl who wants to give up the carnival life, plays her part excellently in every respect except her style of speech, which, is more Parkavenooish than midway. William Janney, the youth who is madly taken with the girl, does a likable and thoroughly creditable characterization. Fine support is provided by the other principals, with the direction, photography, recording okay. Cast: Mary Nolan, William Janney, Ralf Harolde, Mae Busch, George Irving, Claire McDowell, Alice Lake, Gretchen Tomas. Director, Lew Collins; Author, William R. Doyle; Adaptor, Winnifred Reeve, Matty Taylor; Editor, Earl Meville ; Dialoguer, Winnifred Reeve, Matty Taylor; Cameraman, Roy Overbaugh; Monitor Man, Not Given. Direction, Good. Photography, Good. Bob Steele in "Near the Rainbow's End" Tiffany Time, 56 mins. NICE WESTERN DIRECTED BY J. P. McGOWAN WITH HIS OLD LINEUP. MAKES GOOD ENTERTAINMENT. J. P. McGowan, who has been turning them out on a schedule for Syndicate Pictures, now makes one for Tiffany that carries a good entertainment punch. He has a lineup of his old cast, and Sally Winters as usual writes the story. It's interesting material of the cow country and introduces Bob Steele as a singing cowboy. A quartet of his pals also warble a couple of numbers. The gang on a sheep ranch have been rustling the cattle from Bob's father's ranch, and the murder of the girl's father is planted on the hero. Then the old stuff of escaping from the sheriff so the hero can work out a plan to show up the real murderer. But in spite of the fact that it follows well worn plot trails, the story is interesting, filled with action and enough fighting to make the kids yell with delight. And that's the principal thing in these westerns. Cast: Bob Steele, Lafe McKee, Al Ferguson, Al Hewston, Louis Lorraine. Director, J. P. McGowan; Author, Sally Winters ; Adaptor, the same ; Dialoguer, the same; Cameraman, not credited. Direction, satisfactory. Photography, very good. "Hot Curves" Tiffany Time, 1 hr., 11 mins. GOOD LAUGH NUMBER. BENNY RUBIN AND PERT KELTON, AN ACE COMEDY TEAM, SEND THIS BASEBALL STORY OVER WITH PLENTY OF POPULAR STUFF. Baseball story with Benny Rubin also supplying the principal laughs here. Here he is teamed with Pert Kelton, and they have the laughs rippling right through the footage. Benny furnished his own dialogue, and it is done in his original Hebrew manner. Pert lends great support with her original goofy line. The baseball atmosphere has been well handled, and the sequence in the training camp is modern and filled with snappy gags. The climax is the usual ninth inning battle for the world's championship series, with Rex Lease the hero pitcher and Benny acting as catcher. The baseball stuff will please the fans and the heart interest is liberally injected by Alice Day in love with the pitcher hero. Paul Hurst does a nice bit as the heavy slugger with a swell head. A real laugh summer number. Cast: Benny Rubin, Rex Lease, Alice Day, Pert Kelton, John Ince, Mary Carr, Mike Donlin, Natalie Moorehead, Paul Hurst. Director, Norman Taurog ; Author, Frank Mortimer ; Adaptor, Earle Snell ; Editor, Clarence Kolster ; Dialoguers, Frank Mortimer, Benny Rubin ; Cameraman, Max Dupont. Direction, snappy. Photography, first class. "Drifters" (Silent) Capt. Auten Time, 37 mins. FAIRLY ENGROSSING STORY OF FISHERMEN, PICTURED FROM A POETIC AND PICTORIAL VIEWPOINT RATHER THAN FOR STAGED DRAMATIC EFFECT. Considered in the light of the probable purpose back of it, which seems to have been to produce a saga of the fisherman by depicting the poetry and pictorial impressiveness of the sea, this picture belongs to the realm of classics. It was made by John Grierson, widely known as a film critic, and what the picture lacks in dramatic suspense it almost makes up in a succession of beautiful shots. The action follows a band of British seafarers out into the open sea, where they cast anchor, throw out their nets for the night, and awake next morning to haul in a catch that would jolt the heart of any fisherman. On the return trip the schooners run into some rough weather, and finally there are scenes of the fish being hauled to the market place and packed for shipment to all parts of the country. Because of its short length, it may be utilized for part of a double bill in certain localities. Grierson handled the entire production himself, without any prepared scenario and with only the regular members of the fishing crew serving as actors. Direction, Incidental. Photography, Excellent. Lon Chaney in "The Unholy Three" M-G-M Time, 1 hr., 15 mins. LON CHANEY BACK IN TALKING VERSION OF FILM CLASSIC MAKES FEATURE A GREAT DRAW. SOUND ADDS TO PICTURE'S VALUE. Jack Conway has done a good job in directing the all-talkie version of this old standby. Now the public will get a chance to hear not only Chaney's voice for the first time, but also several other voices he impersonates, and he is impressive in all of them. He handles the voices of the old bird shop lady, the ventriloquist's dummy and the parrot in fine style. The supporting cast is strong, and Lila Lee as the girl member of the gang does exceptionally well. The story is practically identical with the original silent film, with the ventriloquist, the midget and the strong man perpetrating their robberies through the bird shop run as a blind. It is a bigger draw in sound, for so many of the dramatic incidents depend on audible effects, such as the ventriloquist's dummy. A big thrill in the killing of the giant by the gorilla. Chaney and his varied speaking voices is the big draw in the billing. Cast: Lon Chaney, Lila Lee, Elliott Nugent, Harry Earles, John Miljan, Ivan Linow, Clarence Burton, Crauford Kent. Director, Jack Conway ; Author, Clarence Aaron Robbins; Dialoguers, J. C. Nugent, Elliott Nugent; Adaptation, the same; Editor, Krank Sullivan ; Cameraman, Percy Hilburn. Direction, excellent. Photography, the best. Betty Balfour in "Bright Eyes" British New Era Time, 1 hr., 25 mins. JUST FAIR BRITISH PRODUCTION WITH A PARIS SETTING. RATHER LOOSE STORY HAS SOME BRIGHT MOMENTS BUT IS NOT LIKELY TO APPEAL GENERALLY TO U. S. AUDIENCES. The direction on this follows the typical British technique, and with a loose and long-drawn-out continuity it rambles too much for the American fans, but it has its bright moments. Betty Balfour assumes a comedienne role, and is not so hot. She is better when playing straight, and manages to get over some good human touches. The story is all about a kitchen helper in a Parisian restaurant who falls in love with a very ritzy waiter who ignores her. Through circumstances Betty finds herself a performer in the restaurant where everybody had snubbed her. A Cinderella tale that is too improbable to hold the interest, and the story could have been told with half the footage. It will get by in the small stands, but lacks the modern snappy Hollywood touch to appeal to the sophisticated audiences. Cast: Betty Balfour, Jack Prevor, Vivian Gibson, S. Greiner, M. Vibert. Director, Teva Bolvary ; Author, Katherine Reeves. Adaptor, F. Churz ; Editor, Daisy Saunders ; Cameraman, not listed. Direction, heavy. Photography, good. "They Learned About Women" M-G-M Time, 1 hr., 12 mins. SNAPPY STORY COMBINES BASEBALL WITH THE WORK OF VAN AND SCHENCK WHOSE NAMES SHOULD PUT IT OVER. A timely baseball story with a strictly modern slant, and it looks as if the dialoguer, "Bugs" Baer, had contributed a lot of the baseball atmosphere, for he is an authority on the sport. In any event, the baseball stuff is good, and will certainly please the fans, especially in the climax, where the final World's Series is played with Van and Schenck as the battery winning the game in one of those tense ninthinning rallies. The rest of the material gives a lot of inside dope about the ball players in training quarters, and offers opportunity for the famous vaudeville team to put over a lot of their songs in typical manner. A love story is thrown in for good measure, with Bessie Love helping a lot in this department. Benny Rubin and Tom Dugan are also on the team, and furnish the comedy highlights. A peppy number that should please. Cast: Gus Van, Joseph T. Schenck, Bessie Love, Mary Doran, J. C. Nugent, Benny Rubin, Tom Dugan, Eddie Gribbon, Francis X. Bushman, Jr. Directors, Jack Conway, Sam Wood ; Author, A. P. Younger ; Adaptor, Sarah Y. Mason; Dialoguer, Arthur "Bugs" Baer; Editors, James McKay, Tom Held ; Cameraman, Leonard Smith. Direction, very good. Photography, ditto. "Children of the New Day" (Silent) Amkino Time, 1 hr., 5 mins. RUSSIAN INSTRUCTIONAL DRAMA SHOWING WELFARE WORK AMONG CHILDREN. HOLDS SOME INTEREST FOR SPECIAL ADULT AUDIENCES. A contrast between the ragamuffins of the old Russian regime and the bright-eyed youngsters of the Soviet rule is drawn in this Sovkino production, which apparently is intended as educational propaganda to inspire the practice of the Soviet principles by the children of that country. A group of urchins known as "The Pioneers" is shown engaged in trying to improve the condition of their less fortunate brothers and sisters by doing welfare work among them, building playgrounds, conducting games, caring for the sick, showing the brats how to keep themselves clean, etc. Among the central characters, and serving in a sense as the "heroine," is a tiny girl called Fatima whose pathetic condition and tribulations evoke considerable sympathy without any effort at acting. For instructional work in Russia, the picture undoubtedly would fill its purpose very handsomely, but as entertainment for the U. S. audiences its value is extremely low. Cast : Fatima Giliadova, Boris Litkin, E. P. Korchagima-Alexandrovskaya. Director, Vladimir Petrov ; Author, Boris Brodyadnsky ; Adaptor, Boris Brodyadnsky; Cameraman, V. Gordanov; Titler, Shelly Hamilton. Direction, Fair. Photography, Okay. I i