The Film Daily (1930)

THE Sunday, August 3, 1930 -gem _ : DAlLV Sound Shorts "Russian Around" Vitaphone 4150 Time, 8 mins. Amusing Burlesque As a take-off on Russian dancers, singers, long beards and Volga atmosphere, this is pretty sure to get some deep laughs, especially from folks who have seen any of the straight stuff against which these antics are directed. A slight attempt is made to kid the "master of ceremonies" style of the "Chauve Souris", but aside from this the stunts are sufficiently mirth provoking and clever in themselves to give satisfaction. The idea behind the production is unusual and it has been worked out very effectively. "Snow Time" Pathe Time, 8 mins. Fair Cartoon One of the Aesop Sound Fables, with the dogs, cats, birds and hippos having a big lark skating and singing till a little pup is overcome by the cold and falls exhausted in the snow. The St. Bernard is brought up with his barrel filled with Scotch, which the frozen pup empties. Then they all want to horn in on the liquor, but it is too late. Just a lot of clever foolishness done in the typical Aesop manner that will get the snickers. The sound effects are ludicrous and add to the merriment. "Two Plus Fours" Pathe Time, 26 mins. Good Laughs Nat Carr is featured as the Jewish tailor Ginsburg who makes the sporty suits for the Tait college boys. His creditors are about to close up his shop, so he waits for the boys to return from vacation to help him out. They come back broke, and Ginsburg is in a fix till the girl arranges with the boys to kick in from thenspending money, and Ginsburg is happy. Carr is a real comic, and keeps the laughs bubbling with I) is funny antics and Yiddish lingo. It is fast and peppy, and should please generally. Raymond McCarey directed from a story by Fred Guiol and Charles Callahan. Thelma Hill is the girl. "New Rhythm" Paramount Time, 12 mins. Novelty This one features a Cuban band with native instruments playing evidently in a Havana night club. First a trio appears in native garb playing their peculiar instruments, and then the same instruments are seen being played in the modern orchestra with the ritzy guests taking part in the dancing to the harmony, which is good. Plenty of class in settings and music, which has a jazz style of rhythm all its own — giving the reel its name. A specialty singing number is offered by one of the players as a peanut vendor singing in Spanish as he moves among the night club guests. "Barnacle Bill" Max Fleischer Time, 12 mins. Good Cartoon One of those silly but funny animal animateds, with Barnacle Bill, the tough sailor, calling on his girl and making violent love to her. All the neighborhood tries to horn in, and meanwhile the musical accompaniments and funny cartoon effects make this one extremely laughable. Winds up with the girl's old man coming back and bouncing Bill out on his e^r. It will please the grown ups as well as the kids, for it is very cleverly handled. Smith & Dale in "Accidents Will Happen" Paramount Time, 21 mins. Good Laughs The vaude team of Smith & Dale furnish plenty of laughs in this one. Smith is the Jewish proprietor of a hosiery store, who is trying to frame an accident case for a supposed collision he had with a Rolls Royce. He is faking it in bed with bandages and a nurse, when Dale enters as the shyster lawyer. The comedy business is very good as the lawyer builds the phoney case out of nothing and rehearses his client for the court testimony. The finish has the lawyer back for an argument when he discovers li is client wasn't in any accident, and the ceiling falls down and crashes on the lawyer and gives the"sick" patient something to get really sick about. A "The Stein Song" A musical cartoon that can be chalked up as a bracer for any program. It is snappy as well as tuneful. It moves fast with every bit of footage an asset. Rudy Vallee tells about the song and later comes in for a vocal interlude. His Connecticut Yankees furnish peppy music. Max Fleisher did an excellent job with the cartoon work and the bouncing ball windup. good laugh number witli the Hebrew comedy slant. "01' Man Whoopee" with Art Frank Paramount Time, 12 mins. Swell Comedy Great little comedy, interspersed with musical novelties of the better grade. Art Frank, a popular vaudevillian, plays the part of a country chap whose niece beats it to the city to become a night club entertainer. He follows her to town and goes through all the rigmarole of a hick coming in contact with the wise city slickers, especially dames. Instead of taking his niece back home, however, Art jumps into the entertaining line himself, offering a snappy line of chatter in addition to a lot of hoofing and other amusing business, and he is still going strong when the night club has been deserted and is about to be closed for the day. A very entertaining production that ought to on over well. ERNST LUBITSCH WISHES TO THANK THE MOTION PICTURE CRITICS OF THE COUNTRY WHO VOTED HIM ONE OF THE TEN BEST DIRECTORS, FOR THE FIFTH TIME IN FIVE YEARS