The Film Daily (1931)

mm 10 THE DAILV Sunday, October 18, 1931 Greta Garbo in "SUSAN LENOX, HER FALL AND RISE" with Clark Gable M-G-M 75 mins. A BOX-OFFICE SMASH. THE GARBO-GABLE COMBINATION WOWS 'EM IN CLEVERLY HANDLED DRAMA. Here's one to bring in the real dough. With Garbo and Gable teamed in a story which, although somewhat hokey, is sure-fire, the picture can't miss in any house. Briefly, it's a yarn about a scarlet Evangeline. At the start Garbo, an illegimate child, is driven from home when her uncle tries to force her into marriage. She meets an engineer and falls in love with him. He is called to the city on business and in his absence ner uncle comes after her and she takes refuge with a theatrical troupe. Circumstances compel her to become the mistress of the company's manager and when the engineer learns the situation he walks out on her. Embittered she goes from man to man, making 'em pay. Eventually she realizes her love for the engineer and finally finds him in a New Orleans dive. Both Garbo and Gable are splendid. Cast: Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, Jean llersholt, John Miljan, Alan Hale, Hale Hamilton, Hilda Vaughn, Russell Simpson, Cecl Cunningham, Marjorie King, Helene Millard, Ian Keith. Director, Robert Z. Leonard, Author, IJavid Graham Phillips; Adaptor, Wanda Tuckock ; Dialoguers, Zelda Sears, Edith Fitzgerald ; Editor, Margaret Booth ; Cameraman, William Daniels. Direction, great ; Photography, artistic. "THE BELOVED BACHELOR" 2vith Paid Lukas Paramount 68 mins. VERY ENTERTAINING DRAMA CARRYING SUSPENSE, ROMANCE, HUMOR AND SOME HEART TUGS. STRONG CAST AND DIRECTION. This story carries plenty of punch and some new angles that will be welcomed by audiences. Paul Lukas plays the part of a sculptor who fathers the daughter of his former model. In order to prevent the child from being taken to an orphanage, Lukas tells a court officer that he is the father of the child. The remark is overheard by the girl with whom Lukas is in love. Believing him to be the child's real father, his fiancee marries another suitor. "Then follow many intensely interesting situations, culminating with a sweet romance between Lukas and his ward who has grown to womanhood. Charlie Ruggles gives one of his typical impersonations of a chronic inebriate and is responsible for the many laughs. It is a good box-office feature. Cast: Paul Lukas, Dorothy Jordan, Belty van Allen, Charhe Ruggles. Vivienne Osborne, Leni Stengel, John Breeden, Harold Minjir, Marjorie Gateson, Alma Chester, Guy Oliver. Director. Lloyd Corrigan ; Author, Edward H. Peple; Adaptors, Raymond Griffith, Agnes Brand Leahy; Dialoguer, Sidney Huchman ; Editor, not credited; Cameraman, Charles Rosher. Direction, Fine. Photography, Excellent. "HONOR OF THE FAMILY" with Bebe Daniels, Warren William First National 63 m,ins. POOR ENTERTAINMENT WITH CONTINENTAL STORY OF MIXED LOVES TOO BROAD AND SOPHISTICATED FOR AMERICAN FAMILIES. This one is based on a French play founded on one of Balzac's stories, and the relations of the heroine with several gentlemen is far too broad to admit of acceptance in nice family circles in this country. They tried to camouflage the idea that the girl is a mistress to two men, but didn't make a very good job of it. Bebe Daniels takes the part of an adventuress who is trying with her lover to get control of an old man's fortune. But along comes a nephew in the form of a roistering soldier of the foreign legion who upsets theii plans. Warren William takes this part, and he is the life of the picture. He has a good roistering swashbuckling part, and eventually tames the lady, and appropriates her for himself, taking her away from his old uncle. The only kick in the story is a duel, which is well handled. It is out for family trade. Cast: Bebe Daniels, Warren William, Alan Mowbray, Blanche Friderici. Frederick Kerr, Dita Parlo, Allan Lane, Harry Cording, Murray Kinnell, Henry Gordon, Alphonzo Ethler. Carl Miller. Director, Lloyd . Bacon, Author, Honorc Balzac ; Adaptor, James Ashmore Creelman ; Dialoguers, James A. Creelman, Roland Pertwee ; Editor, not listed ; Cameraman, Ernest Haller. Direction, poor; Photography, oka^■. Charles Farrdl and Madge Evans in "HEARTBREAK" Fox 60 mins. AGREEABLY SENTIMENTAL ROMANCE WITH WAR BACKGROUND. SHOULD SATISFY THE FARRELL FANS. A tragic war situation is handled with fair eff'ectiveness and not too much emotional calisthenics in this vehicle. Charles Farrell, as an American embassy attache in Vienna just before the U. S. entered the war, is in love with a young countess, delightfully played by Madge Evans, whose brother is an aviator in the Austrian ranks. After the Yanks get in it, Charlie eventually is transferred to the Italian border, where he brings down the brother in an air fight. Then he abandons his ranks to fly to Vienna and try to square things with the girl, but she is horrified and sends him away. Time softens her, however, and after the war he returns again for the happy ending. Hardie Albright is fine as her brother, and the rest of the cast is first-rate. Some nicee Viennese waltz melodies have been interspersed in appropriate spots. Cast: Charles Farrell. Madge Evans, Paul Cavanagh, Hardie Albright, John Arledge, Theodore von Eltz, Albert Conti, Claude King, John St. Polls. Director, Alfred Werker ; Author, Llewellyn Hughes ; Adaptor, Leon Gordon ; Dialoguer, same; Editor, Margaret Clancy; Cameraman, Joseph August ; Recording Engineer, W. Lindsay. Direction, Good. Photography, Fine. Tom Keene in "SUNDOWN TRAIL" RKO Pathe 56 mins. GOOD WESTERN THRILLER FULL OF PEP AND SHOOT-EMUP ACTION. KEENE IS FINE. Starting out with a breath-taking thrill situation, this melodrama sets a speedy pace and sticks to it all the way to the final fade-out. The story is okay and the acting unusually convincing for a western. Tom Keene will make many new fans with his portrayal of the genial but hard-hitting cowhand who falls in love with Marion Shilling in the part of an eastern girl who arrives as new owner of the ranch. Marion's lawyer-adviser and a bad-man of the west plot to relieve her of the ranch and her fortune. After some interesting situations, hard riding, and a hand-to-hand fight, in which Tom cleans up about six raiders, Tom and Marion clinch for the finish. Miss Shilling handles her part very well and the remainder of the cast is good. Cast: Tom Keene, Marion Shilling, Nick .Stuart, Hooper Atchley, Stanley Blystone, Louise Beavers, Alma Chester, William Welsh, Murdock MacQuarrie. Director, Robert F. Hill ; Author, same ; Adaptor, not credited ; Dialoguer, not credited ; Editor, not credited ; Cameraman, Ted McCord : Recording Engineers, B. Winkler and J. Fields. )irection, good. Photography, good. "LEFT OVER LADIES" Sono-Art World Wide 69 mins. SOPHISTICATED DRAMA WITH FAMILIAR DIVORCE PROBLEM THEME. GOOD CAST AND SNAPPY DIALOGUE, With somewhat of a punchless story upon which to work. Director Erie Kenton has turned out a fair drama that has plenty of clever dialogue, but lacks the action and suspense-holding situations that could pull it out of the program class. The story concerns two couples who become divorced on the same day. Claudia Dell, one of the divorcees, wants a career and is taken up by Roscoe Karns, a loquacious reporter who introduces her to Alan Mowbray, an author of popular sex novels whose wife has just divorced him. Alan helps Claudia in her writings and gradually ingratiates himself in her affections. The plot is leisurely worked out to the end that Alan goes back to his wife and little son and Claudia to her husband. Marjorie Rambeau is cast as a heavydrinking opera singer. Cast: Claudia Dell, Marjorie Rambeau, Walter Byron, Alan Mowbray, Dorothy Revier, Rita La Roy, Roscoe Karns, Selmer Jackson, Franklin Farnum, Buster Phelps. Director, Erie C. Kenton ; Authors, Robert R. Presnell, Ursula Parrott ; Adaptor, Robert R. Presnell; Dialoguer, same; Editor, not credited ; Cameraman, John Stumar ; Recording Engineer, John Stransky. Direction, good. Photography, good. "THE LOVE STORM" British International 61 7nins. HJAVY, SLOW MOVING DRAMA WITH A LIGHTHOUSE ATMOSPHERE THAT WILL HOLD LITTLE APPEAL FOR AMERICAN AUDIENCES. This British International production is done in the typically heavy and slow moving manner of British dramas. The story itself creates little interest, for there is no sympathy created for any of the characters. The girl gives up her life in a resort in Melbourne to marry the man in charge of a lighthouse. Here the loneliness gets her, and she has an affair with her husband's assistant. Then along comes a young stranger, rescued from a wreck in his motor boat near the lighthouse. Then she goes into a love affair with him. From this tangle the matter goes into a further mixup with a fight between the two lovers, with the assistant keeper being shot by the girl to save the young man. He proves to be an absconder, does his stretch, and we see the gal back at the resort waiting patiently for his release. All a lot of muddled action that gets nowhere. Cast: Fay Compton, Frank Harvey, Ian Hunter, Edmund Willard, Donald Calthrop. Director, E. A. Dupont ; Author, Frank Harvey ; Adaptor, Victor Kendall ; Dialoguer, same; Editor, A. C. Hammond; Cameramen, Walter Blakeley, Hal Young; Recording Engineer, Alec Murray. Direction, Weak. Photography, Good. "THE FLYING FOOL" British International 65 nii'irs. NOVEL DETECTIVE MELLER WITH FINE AIRPLANE ATMOSPHERE IN FAST MOVING ACTION STORY. A British International picture that ;, has been well handled in all depart j ments. Henry Kendall plays the i part of a private detective after j an international crook wanted for -. a murder. The plot is very cleverly J woven, and much of the action takes j place on board one of the giant ' airships in the Channel service from j London to Paris. The story shifts • from a London club to a Paris dive, ; where a lot of exciting meller action ; takes place in a dungeon, where the hero is dropped into the Seine for dead, but recovers and escapes. Then the final sequences shift back to the airplane stuff, with some novelty shots of the Croydon air field at night. It finishes with a stirring chase between the detective in an airplane and the murderer in a fast motor. This one moves fast, and carries a big wallop with the air stuff and the suspense. Cast: Henry Kendall, Benita Hume, Ursula Jean, Wallace Geoffrey, Martin Walker, Barbara Gott, Charles Farrell. Director, Walter Summers ; Authors, Arnold Ridley, Bernard Merrivale, Walter Summers ; Adaptors, same ; Dialoguers, same; Editor, J. W. Stockvis ; Cameramen, Stanley Rodwell, J. Wilson, A. L. Fisher, J. Rosenthal. Direction, Good. Photography, Excellent.