The Film Daily (1936)

Saturday, Jan. 4, 1936 THE -<££! DAILY « REVIEWS » Gladys Swarthout and John Boles in "ROSE OF THE RANCHO" Paramount 85 mins. FINE PRODUCTION AND CAST FAIL TO HELP CREAKY OLD BELASCO THEATRICAL MELLER PLOT. Back in 1914 when Paramount made this for the silent screen, David Belasco's melodramatic romance of the Golden West was quite a treat for the cash customers. But to revive it 22 years later as a modern talkie-singie doesn't help much. The original stage play was an out and out meller with theatrical romantic atmosphere, and served its purpose. But trying to change it into a singing vehicle for Swarthout and Boles and still preserve the action and meller stuff produced a hybrid that you cannot classify. It is certainly an unfortunate selection as the screen debut for Gladys Swarthout with her charming personality and beautiful voice. And asking her to play the daughter of an old Spanish Don in the early days of California is simply forcing her to overcome the handicap of miscasting. The fine technical handling and the superior cast only serve to emphasize the incongruities and theatricalism of the old plot, which the two principals could never surmount and could never convey to the audience any sense of sincerity or reality in the theme. The best that can be said for it is that it is a highly colorful, well produced and acted melange of romantic melodrama embroidered with pleasing singing by Swarthout and Boles. Nothing but high praise can be given to Miss Swarthout, who is endowed with a charming personality, a good-looker with natural acting ability and a glorious voice. Cast: Gladys Swarthout, John Boles, Charles Bickford, Willie Howard, Herb Williams, Grace Bradley, H. B. Warner, Charlotte Granville, Don Alvarado, Minor Watson, Benny Baker, Louise Carter, Pedro de Cordoba, Harry Woods, Paul Harvey, Arthur Aylesworth, Russell Powell. Producer, William Le Baron; Director, Marion Gering; Screenplay, Frank Partos, Charles Brackett, Arthur Sheekman, Nat Perrin; Editor, Hugh Bennett; Cameraman, Leo Tcver. Direction, Okay. Photography, Excellent. FOREIGN "DER KLOSTERJAEGER" ("The Monastery's Hunter"), in German; produced by Ufa; directed by Peter Ostermayer; with Paul Richter, Friedrich Ulmer, Charlotte Radspieler, et al. At the 79th St. Theater. Excellent production with good romantichistory story beautifully photographed in Bavarian Alpine setting. Philadelphia Pickups Philadelphia — Oscar Neufeld, formerly in the independent exchange field, has joined James Clark as his assistant in the film delivery business. The Rockland, operated by W. C. Hunt, has adopted Sunday shows. Jim Clark was installed as head of the Variety Club last night. T T T • • • IF ANY of you distributors and theater lads think you have troubles give heed to the sad story of an American in Shanghai as relayed to us from Leon Brit ton of the Peacock M. P. Company who handles film distribution in the Orient T T ▼ • • • IT SEEMS that some disgruntled gent was sore at Leon and offered to make things hot for him Leon smiled sadly, and let out this bleat "You make trouble for me ? Ha. You don't know what trouble is I make arrangements to show the best and newest Hollywood pictures I get soaked for duty I get held up by Nanking while all the generals and admirals and the government bigwigs take a look-see and decide in how many different ways they can cut my picture to pieces" T T T • • • "I CAN'T send my films to Canton because under the new ruling no American picture can be shown there The police in Hongkong tell me that they won't pass a picture that shows a gangster or a full sized, interesting murder About the only thing they will accept without question is Mickey Mouse and even then they think his pal, Donald Duck, is not entirely respectable In Shanghai I have ninety-six newspapers, five hundred magazines and fourteen radio stations to be advertised over or my picture gets knocked" T T T • • • "THOSE HOLLYWOOD guys who make these things" continued Leon bitterly "don't realize or give a damn that I've got seven different nationalities out here all with their toes spread out waiting to be stepped on and if you think they are not supersensitive, you're crazy and so is Hollywood and yet you stand there and tell me you're gonna make trouble for me! Ha mister, you don't know what trouble is." okay, Leon and a Happy New Year to you T ▼ T • • • THE NATIONAL press, according to Neil F. Ag new, vice prexy in charge of sales for Paramount is the most effective medium for bringing the message of pictures into American homes that is why Paramount will spend $500, 000 during the first three months of this year in newspapers alone this is in addition to the money spent by individual theaters throughout the world playing Paramount pix T T T • • • AND THE foregoing is a significant index of the advertising trend in pictures with theater box-office receipts expected to exceed one billion dollars during 1936 and producers all set to up their advertising budgets in newspapers and magazines the U. S. Dep't of Commerce statistics show that the industry will spend f 110,000,000 on advertising throughout the world this year with about $77,000, 000 to be spent in this country of this sum, $60,500,000 will be spent in magazines and newspapers $8,250,000 on billboards and the remainder on incidental advertising features T T T • • • CONSIDER THE case of the publicity manager who hired an agency guy who was touted to burn up the industry and show the regular film publicity lads in the dep't how to get New Slants into the blurbs and after struggling three weeks to learn the Elementary Principles of film publicity that the Oldtimers have taken years to master the agency mug told the gent who hired him "This crazy business is too much for me! I can't make head nor tail out of it." which again points the moral as usual "Hire a film man who knows his Picture Angles." gawd knows there are plenty of them to be had why step out of the field to bring in Outsiders when good and deserving men are sitting on your doorstep? 4* €€ « » » » HERE & THERE Alamo, Tenn. — What may be the first step in securing Sunday shows developed here last week when the Chamber of Commerce sponsored shows for charity. Mulberry, Ark. — Fire destroyed the Electric Theater building recently. Sharon, Pa. — When theater owners protested, claiming that the proposal was to force employment of additional men, city council held up until further investigation an ordinance which would require the licensing by the city of all projectionists and the employment of two men in each booth at all times. Latrobe, Pa. — The old Showalter Theater building was destroyed by fire recently with an estimated loss of $15,000. Springfield, O. — Hal Hoyt, 54, pioneer theatrical producer, died in a hospital here this week following a year's illness. He had been ill since he slipped and fell in Batavia, N. Y., where he formerly managed a theater. San Antonio — Going "over the top" in a drive for new business, T. E. Laird, manager of the Sack Amusement Enterprises Dallas sales office, won an all-expense trip to Pasadena to see the Rose Bowl football game. Brockton, Mass. — Safe crackers who trussed up two night workers at the Colonial Theater, 100 yards from police headquarters, escaped with $50, but missed holiday receipts of $1,900. Five charges of nitroglycerine were used by the three cracksmen to open the safe in Manager W. W. Adams' office. They failed to penetrate an inner compartment. Adams estimated the blasting caused $300 damage to his office. Philadelphia— "First a Girl," GB picture starring Jessie Matthews, is scheduled for its Philadelphia premiere at Warners' Aldine Theater next Wednesday. Lucky Nite Brings $250 Fine Bernard Zimmbaum, owner of the Tremont Theater, the Bronx, was yesterday sentenced by Magistrate Frederick L. Hackenburg to a $250 fine or 20 days in jail for holding "Lucky Nite" in his theater. Zimmbaum protested that he was but one of 250 theater owners who used that method to stimulate business. William Fox's Father Dead Hot Springs, Ark. — Michael Fox, father of William Fox, died here this week at the age of 80 after an illness of several weeks. He had been a resident here for the past 11 years. Body is being sent to Flushing, L. I., for burial.