The Film Daily (1936)

HERE'S ONE AD T NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE. NEW YORK POST By Howard Barnes * "Poppy" — Paramount "POPPY," a tcreen comedy by Waldemar Toung and Virginia Van Upp. adapted Irom the plav bv Dorolhv Donnelly, music and lyrics bv Ralph Ramaer and Leo Room, directed'bv .V. Edward Sutherland, produced bv Paramount and presented at the Paramount Theater with a cast as follows. Prof. Eustace McGargle W. C Field podov ■.•.:::: :o<Zxm< "Hudson B?l??>arnswoVih' .'Richard Cromf.ell Attorney Whirien L>llnc Overman Countess Magg, Tubbs Ce £»/»•;,„, Doucct Prances Parker . . Mayor Farnsworth Constable Bowman. Carnival Manager Calliope Driver Joe .... Egmont Rosalind Ker.li Granville Bates . .Adrian Morris Ralph Remley Dewey Robinson Tammany Young Bill Wolfe The great W. C. Fields Is to be seen at the Paramount In one of. his most fabulous roles, that of Professor Eustace P. McGargle, F. A. S. N. It goes almost without saying that •Poppy" Is the funniest and most completely diverting comedy>hat has come to local screens for a long time In spite of the serious illness that has made acting for Mr. Fleltrv a brave challenge to adversity, the new photoplay finds him magnificently comic. The master of what Alva Johnston has termed "untaxed or legitimate nonchalance," he is once more the supreme clown, mixing pantomime with racy wit and making t'ne carnival trouper whose advice to his fostsr daughter was "never give a sucker aa even break" enormously appealing. It is eminently fitting that "Poppy'' ►hould present him to film-goers again after too long an absence. Kc was first raised to stardom In -he Dorothv Donnelly play a dozen years ago and the silent screen version of the tale. "Sally of the Sawdust," marked his debut before the camera. It is a colorful vehicle for his consummate genius, exploiting all his talents with the exception of JugSling. As the elixir-vending concest.onaire who clips yokels with the Bhell r.nd pea game, sells talking dogi, forges legal documents and appropriates various loose objects from a cigar to a horse, he is a completely lovable scoundrel. There Is no hint in his present performance that it was executed und>:r arduous and even painful circumstances. When he is tossed off the carnival wagon he holds his shoulder gingerly, muttering about a dislocated sacro-lllac.wlth erlm good.hurnorjiui. one never might suspect that each in 'Poppy'' scene was shot Just after he had cast aside two canes and walked away from attendants. The photoplay is full of splendid slapstick, ranging from a hilarious piece of business on a croquet grounds to an uproarious suspender-snapping sequence wh;n the brilliant comedian wrestles with Iull-dre6s clothes. The Donnelly work has not entirely escaped the ravages of time. It has a rather Incredible romance of the musical comedy variety and a lost heiress theme that demands yo^r tolerance. Fortunately, the piece has been adroitly adapted and directed to give Mr. Fields a multitude of opportunities to provoke your laughter. This he succeeds in doing superbly, e'-en when he is mumbling quite unintelligibly. The opening passage, in wliich he endows a stray pup with speech and sells him to a bartender for a couple of sawbucks Is sure to become a classic of cinema comedy. As Richard Watts Jr. has written. Mr. Fields "may be less universal than Chaplin, but he stands for what we would like to think was typical American folk comedy at its highest degree." In "Poppy." for all his triumphs over the hicks, he enlists your sympathy profoundly and sets up overtones of pathos that are compelling. Tha't he was able to appear at all Is a testament to his courage. That he has made his current role one of his greatest portrayals is a glowing tribute to his consummate showmanship NEW YORK EVENING JOURNAL W. C. Fields Plays Medicine Spieler, By ROSE PELSWICK. The incomparable "W. C. Fields is back on the screen again, with his twangy voice, his flowery verbiage, his acrobatic silk hat, his cigar and all those tricks of pantomime and dialogue that make him head man among the comics. Recovered from a serious illness that lasted almost a year, he's at the Paramount Theatre this week in a filmization of his old stage success, "Poppy." The Fields enthusiasts — and they packed the theatre at yesterday morning's first performance— *wUl find plenty to delight them. This time he's Professor Eustace licGargle, a patent-medicine spieler who follows carnival shows and extolls the virtues of "Purple Bark Sarsaparilla" while running a quiet shellgame on the side. During the course of th« proceedings he does his famous croquet routine and aLso the hilarious ventriloquism bit wjth the dog that he rose PELswicK sells to the bartender. MOVIE TALK W. C. Fields Returns to the Paramount Screen in Poppy" The Incomparable Comedian at His Best in Film Version of His Erstwhile Stage Vehicle MOVIE METER ' IXCELLEUT By THORNTON DELEHANTY BETRAYING slight traces of the desperate illness he suffered last year, the ineffable W. C. Fields is back on the screen again in the film version of ' ^oppy." the musical comedy by the late Dorothy Donnelly in which he appeared many seasons ago on Broadway. "Poppy" has been changed in the adaptation, but Mr. Fields, being an incomparable comedian, is essentially himself. We wouldn't go so far as to say that he is funnier than ever because we doubt if even he could be that, but "Poppy" offers him a highly suitable role, and its THENll dialogue is rich in characteristically Fieldian humor. It is, moreover, an engaging play in its own right, artfully combining bucolic sentiment with roguery and offering the supporting players several comic and romantic scenes independently of the star. For it is an evidence of the Fields genius that he ca.i afford both competition and help from the other members of his cast. Thus Rochelle Hudson and Richard Cromwell blossom forth in a surprisingly neat love match which is not without its intentionally funny .moments; Catherine Doucet and Lynne Overman are likewise hilariously engaged in amorous maneuvers, and the minor characters, 'the small town and circuj carnival variety, furnish a background that ,1s properly keyed to the story. DAILY NEWS New Fields' Film Truly a Field Day W. C. Fields as he appears in "Poppy," now on view at the Paramount Theatre. Rochelle Hudson and Richard Cromwell supply the romance. By WANDA HALE. "Poppy," a Paramount production, based on a play by Dorothy Donnelly, .screen play by Waldemar Young and Virginia Van Upp, directed by A. Edward Sutherland and presented at the Faramount Theatre. THE CAST Prof. Eustace McGargle_W. C. Fieldi Poppy: Rochelle Hudson Billy Farnaworth Richard Cromwell Attorney Whilfen Lynn Overman Countess Maggi Tubbs de Puizzi Catherine Doucet Frances Parker Rosalind Keith Mayor FarnaworthConstable BowmanCarnival Manager Calliope Driver ,_ Granville Bates Aririan Morns Ralph Remley -Dewey Robinson The S. R. 0. banner swung happily over the Paramount Theatre yesterday morning where one of the biggest crowds of the year gathered to see W. C. Fields' twenty-third full-length picture. "Poppy," the new Fields' starring vehicle, is a belated screen adaptation of Dorothy Donnelly' musical comedy of the same name TH: That Fields Man I Paramount— Til POPPY, an adaptation of u» Dorothy Donnelly; screen play mar Young and Virginia van ( and lyrics by Ralph Ralngar Robin; directed by A. Edward I produced by William LsBaron mount. At the Paramount. Professor Eustace McGargle V, Poppy Rochi Billy Farnsworth Rlchan Attorney Whlffen LyM Countesa De PulzzI Cathai Frances Parker Row Mayor Farnsworth Grat Constable Bowman Ad Carnival Manager. R» Calliope Driver Dewe Egmont By FRANK S. NUtiX On this auspicious occai the opening of any W. picture can be no less, solemn obligation to repori forces of nature and o| stance continue to be solidly against our hero. Claude Fields— Professor MeGargle. F. A. S. N., mount's "Poppy" — once compelled to exert every hla timorous strength, evi cum of his transparent gu particle of his sublime pt withstand the combined o of his human or inanimi nents. But Mr. Fields t. as Mr. Fields always and it is a glorious victorj and for comedy. Gettysburg, Waterloo, Jutland: great battles tl have you ever seen Mr. Fl fight to the finish with) front, a croquet mallet, a . strap or a cigar-box fidd have heard of the Louis] chase, the sale of Cuba aJ quisition of the Junkers] but wait until Mr. F. sellej dog to a credulous barkeej window-shopping for fra or offers for sale several Purple Bark Sarsaparilla man or beast, guarante move warts and grow hai You probably have heai Coward's dialogue andj Jennings Bryan's /oratl neither has had the bend inimitable Fields delive] what suavity of gesture, tone, what grandiloquJ poise does he invest his e* "My little plum," he sayH house rocks), "I am II Hood: I take from the ric to the poor." "What po the skeptical Poppy, replies Mr. F. with ano at his cheroot. These are the matter* ij "Poppy" deals in its b merits, and when the gm loon is tn evidence, all if there are* times when, writer* having been »o l as to worry about their weight of the picture fall hands of the ingenue and F man; and then we tql writhe and roll our eyee i| whose, successful year's rj fifteen years ago on Bl was, I imagine, due large! presence therein of a <| called Prof. Eustace »| played by a man namel Fields. Stars Again. Fields' devotees — and I not, you ought to have yl as well as yjur liver exl New York Paramount report: in a year and a half with W.