The Film Daily (1932)

Sunday, April 17, 1932 —J&^ DAILV 11 Dorothy Mackaill in "LOVE AFFAIR" with Humphrey Bogart Columbia 68 mins. SATISFACTORY ROMANTIC AFFAIR WITH DOROTHY MACKAILL DELIVERING IN HER TYPICAL STYLE. While it is largely Dorothy Mackaill's picture, the star is pretty well supported with a likeable leading man, in the person of Humphrey Bogart, as well as the able work of Hale Hamilton. Halliwell Hobbes, Astrid Allwyn and others. The story has plenty of plot matter, revolving around an aviator and inventor, played by Bogart, who works as a flying instructor while he tries to promote his new idea. Miss Mackaill, supposed to be in the dough, is one of his flying pupils. They go for each other, but the honest lad balks at marrying a girl above his class. When she learns she was left penniless by her father, Dorothy plans to marry her rich financial agent, Hale Hamilton, with a view to making him finance the young aviator's invention. Bogart's wayward sister and her boy friend also are after Hamilton's money. So the complicated dramatics continue to a climax where Bogart saves Dorothy from suicide via airplane, and love has its way. Cast: Dorothy Mackaill. Humphrey Bogart, Jack Kennedy, Barbara Leonard. Astrid Allwyn, Bradley Page, Halliwell Hobhes, Hale Hamilton, Harold Miniir. Director, Thornton Freeland; Author, Ursula Parrott: Adaptors, Jo Swerline, Dorothy Howell; Dialoguer, Jo Swerliner; Editor, Jack Dennis; Cameraman, Teddy Tetzlaff; Recordin? Engineer, Charles Noyes. Direction, good. Photography, good. "RONNY" (In German) with Kathe von Nagy, Willy Fritsch Leo Brecher 72 mins. SPARKLING PERFORMANCE BY KATHE VON NAGY IS HIGHLIGHT IN OUT-MODED GERMAN OPERETTA WITH ENGLISH TITLES. If it were not for two tuneful musical numbers and clever performances by Kathe von Nagy and Willy Fritsch, this old-fashioned operetta would have nothing of entertainment value remaining. The story is commonplace and concerns Willy, the modern Prince of Perusa, a mythical kingdom, who falls in love with Kathe, a modiste, whom Willy believes to be a musical comedy star. Willy prevails on her to play the leading part in an operetta he has written, and she does so with great success. Some love scenes, a bit of suspense and two or three moderately interesting situations complete the story. Other musical numbers and the ensemble are satisfactory but not outstanding. Dialogue is entirely in German with super-imposed English titles. Cast: Kathe von Nagy, Willy Fritsch, Otto Wallburg, Willi Grill. Director, Reinhold Schunzel ; Authors, Emmerich Pressburger, Reinhold Schunzel: Adaptors, same; Dialoguers, same; Camera man, Fritz Arno Wagner; Recording Engineer, Hermann Fritzsching. Direction, good. Photography, fine. "GOLDEN MOUNTAINS" (In Russian) Amkino 9.5 mins. STRAIGHT PROPAGANDA PRODUCTION TELLS DISMAL, DRAGGY STORY OF WORKERS AND IS OUT FOR REGULAR FILM PATRONS. A very pretentious effort to again sell the American market a load of Soviet propaganda. Produced by Soyuzkino, it has an excellent cast, and the camera technique is admirable and its chief asset. The story itself is boresome to the last degree. Misery is piled on misery in slowmotion agony, emphasizing the plight of the Russian workers before the Revolution. An ignorant peasant is the center of interest, who comes to the big factory in the city, and is used as a tool by the factory management to offset the growing discontent of the workers about to strike. Finally he sees his error, realizes he has been duped, and turns to lead a battle at the factory finishing with a walkout as he blows the factory whistle. It should have been blown when they started this one. The central figure is so dumb that he is almost an idiot in most of his actions. Outside of that there is practically no action — just a lot of psychological studies. Cast: Boris Poslavsky, J. V. Korvin-Kru kovsky, B. Fedosiev, I. Shtraukh. E. Tenin, IV. Razumova, F. Slavsky, M. Michurin, F. .Sholkevsky, B. Chirkov, S. Kruitov. Director, Sergei Yutkevitch; Authors, A. .Mikhailovsky, V. Nedobrovo, S. Yutkevitch, T.. Arnshtem; Adaptors, same; Dialoguers, >ame; Cameraman, I. Martov. Direction, slow. Photography, good. "RESERVE HAT RUH" ("Reserve on Furlough") (In German) Tobis 100 mins. AMUSING FARCE COMEDY WITH A MILITARY BACKGROUND EMBRACING GERMANY BEFORE THE WORLD WAR. A very entertaining farcical comedy has been turned out by the Aafa studios of Berlin in this story dealing chiefly with German military life before the big war. Background of the picture includes a mass of the one-year volunteers, largely students, who flourished in the Fatherland before the great outburst of 1914, and the maneuvers of these soldiers constitute an interesting part of the picture's action. In the center of the plot are the adventures of a couple of lads, one a student of astronomy and the other trailing along as his pal. A couple of lively frauleins are spotted to act as feminine interest opposite these lads, and between them they work up a pleasant line of romantic interest as well as a considerable amount of enjoyable comedy. Casting of the picture as a whole is excellent and good work is done by the principal players. Cast: Claere Rommer, Lucie Englisch, Senta Soeneland, Paul Hoerberger and Fritz Kampers. Director, Max Obal; Authors, B. E. Luthge, Karl Noti; Adaptors, same; Bialoguers, same; Editor, Else Baum; Cameramen, Guido Seeher, Hugo Kaweczynski; Recording Engineer, Emil Specht. Direction, good. Photography, good. "THE MIRACLE OF ST. ANTHONY (Italian and English Titles) Vitullo Films 9.5 mins. VERY COMMENDABLE ITALIAN SILENT WITH FINE MUSICAL THEME AND POWERFUL DRAMA WELL HANDLED. This is a worthy Italian subject that is presented with a strong cast, and is a natural for Italian audiences. Titles are presented in both Italian and English. The musical score is exceptionally good, and has been cleverly adapted to the varying moods of the dramatic plot, presenting some popular and classical Italian compositions along with original scoring of the musical director, Giuseppe Deluca. The theme is that of a young American-Italian in Italy to take a scholarshin, who becomes infatuated with a German singer on the concert stage. He foreets his sweetheart back in New York. Later discovering her infidelity, he has a struggle with the other man on board a train, falls off, and the accident leaves him blind. Later his mother and sweetheart witness his eyesight restored at the shrine of St. Anthony. A sweet, wholesome story with a wide appeal. Ca«t: Ellen Meis. ATaurizo D'Ancoi^. Evelina Paoli, Rossanda D'Alba. Giorgio Bianchi, Tina Ceccacci. Director, Nicola Fausto Neroiii; Author, Floria Vitullo; Adaptor, same; Cameraman, Arturo Galleo; Recording Engineer. Ferrtin:.ndo Martini. Direction, good. Photography, very good. "THE REVOLT IN THE DESERT" (Russian Silent with Sound Effects) Amkino 80 mins. PROPAGANDA FILM CRUDELY ACTED BY A NOMAD TRIBE HAS NO APPEAL FOR REGULAR FILM HOUSES. This one is a Soviet production loaded down with propaganda for the Cause, and hence will have little appeal to regular picture patronage. The photographic treatment is its best feature, together with some unusual shots of sandstorms and Nomadic life of a primitive tribe in the wastelands of Turkmenistan. The story is crudely told, and crudely acted, jumping without any sense of continuity from one incident to another. Only three regular film actors are employed, the natives of the tribe constituting the rest of the cast. Tells of the efforts of a young girl, a disciple of Lenin, to return to her tribe and educate her people into the new and modern ideas, and rid them from the oppressive bondage of the head of the tribe. They tend his sheep herds, and he keeps them in poverty and virtual slavery. Then the Awakening, when the Soviet officials of an experimental farm teach them collective farming. Cast: Zinaida Zanoiii, Evgraf Zhacliovski, I. Kutchenkov. Director, Nicolai Tikhonov; Author, Maria Smirnova; Adaptor, same; Dialoguer, same; Cameraman Nikolai Frantzissin. Direction, weak. Photography, good. Pres entations -By JACK HARROWER-. Capitol Frank Cambria, who recently jomed the Capitol theater staff as associate producer, offers as his first contribution to the Capitol stage this week a novel and delightful presentation, "Three Screens," which Cambria devised and staged under the personal supervision of Louis K. Sidney. Mitchell and Durant, sensational dancing comedians, who have recently closed with Earl Carroll's "Vanities," head an unusually fine array of entertaining artists, includmg Joe Griffin, tenor; Chaney and Fox, in tango and waltz specialties; Stella Powers, soprano, who has been seen in many musical com A edies; Al Norman, late of "Vani \ ties," and a group of the Chester Hale Girls. Yasha Bunchuk conducts the Capitol Orchestra in the "Faust" overture. Roxy Lottice Howell and Fred Waring are the featured artists of "Gay Vienna," the stage production in five scenes now current at the Roxy. Miss Howell, who has starred on Broadway in musicals and on the screen with Ramon Novarro, is soloist with the Roxy Orchestra during the overture of Viennese airs arranged and conducted by Waring. Patricia Bowman, premiere danseuse; Charles Collins, dancer and husband of Dorothy Stone; Ernest McChesney, tenor formerly with Roxy's "Gang"; a Hungarian orchestra, the ballet corps and the Roxyettes are included in the cast. One of the scenes reproduces a typical prater, Austria's counterpart of Coney Island. The production was staged and directed by Clark Robinson, with the assistance of Russell E. Markert, Florence Rogge, Marco Montedoro and James Morcom. Paramount Duke Ellington and his orchestra make their first Broadway appearance in more than a year as headliners of the all-Harlem stage revue at the New York Paramount this week. In addition to the Ellington musicmakers, the cast of the Boris Petroff production, entitled "Harlem on Parade," includes George Dewey Washington, "Snake Hips" Tucker and Bessie Dudley, Ivie Anderson, the Four Step-Brothers, Red and Strugge and the Sepian Strutters. Rubinoff conducts the Paramount Orchestra in a symphonic overture, "Immortal Melodies," and Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Crawford present "Auf Wiedersehn" at the twin stage organs.