The Film Daily (1936)

DAILV Wednesday, Dec. 16, 1936 * * Reviews af> the Hew FUms tv d Shirley Temple in STOWAWAY" with Robert Young 3nd Alice Faye 20th Century-Fox 86 mins. SURE FIRE COMEDY DRAMA SHOULD DO SMASH BUSINESS AT ANY BOX-OFFICE ENTERTAINMENT FOR ALL THE FAMILY. This is one of the best Shirley Temples by virtue of a story which has adult as well as juvenile appeal. It contains every element which built the personable and clever Shirley into one of the industry's biggest box-office drjws. The star is shown as an orphan living with a missionary couple in China. When an outbreak occurs she is sent to a nearby city in charge of a Chines escort who loses her and eventually she meets Robert Young, a wastrel young American, who takes a liking to her. Falling asleep in his car, she inadvertently becomes a stowaway on a boat bound for Bankok when the machine is loaded aboard. This ties her into the life of Alice Faye, en route to marry her fiance, an objectionable young fellow, and of Young, who proceeds to fall in love with Alice Faye. When the authorities plan to place Shirley in an orphan asylum, Young persuades Faye to marry him solely on the grounds that then they can adopt the child they both love. This plan effectuated, the wife goes to Reno to get her divorce, as per the arrangement, and Shirley, with the aide of a kindly judge, "double-crosses" her parents, thus blocking the divorce and Alice Faye's plan for wedding her ex-fiance. Shirley troupes adorably and expertly, as usual. The song numbers, especially "That's What I Want for Christmas," are all the kind you remember. The dialogue is swell and modern. Cast: Shirley Temple, Robert Young, Alice Faye, Helen Westley, J. Edward Bromberg, Arthur Treacher, Astrid Allwyn, Allan Lane and Eugene Pallette Associate Producers, Earl Carroll and Harold Wilson; Director, William A Seiter; Author, Sam Engel; Screenplay, William Conselman, Arthur Sheekman and Nat Perrin; Music, Mack Gordon, Harry Revel and Irving Caesar; Art Direction, William Dariing; Photography, Arthur Miller. Direction, Swell. Photography, Fine. "HATS OFF" with Mae Clarke. John Payne, Skeets Gallagher Grand National 67 mins. RAMBLING STORY OF RIVAL EXPOSITIONS AND PRESS AGENTS RAILS TO CLICK. This one is too rambling and incoherent to register with any intelligent audience. It will only rate as a second on a double bill in the unimportant spots. Mae Clarke and John Payne are the rival press agents who are handling the expositions for two Texas cities that are putting on the shows, a la the current Texas Centennial exposition. So Mae is forced to do some fancy double crossing of the rival, who thinks the girl is his pal and sweetheart. He has all the honorable intentions in the world, but she feels forced to pull a fast one on him and get the big attraction from New York for herself when it was all set for "TUGBOAT PRINCESS" with Walter C. Kelly, Valerie Hobson, Edith Fellows Columbia 69 mins. ENGAGING, WELL-PLAYED HUMAN INTEREST DRAMA, BUT WITH LIMITED AUDIENCE APPEAL. Walter C. Kelly and youthful Edith Fellows provide the highlights of this feature through excellently interpreted roles. But it is difficult to visualize this tender, human-interest story having more than a limited appeal to picture patrons, accustomed as they are to brighter and more sensational themes. Exhibitors, however, who feel that family trade contributes most to the box-office, can book this picture safely. There is nothing glamorous about the settings; there is only a subordinated love story; and the scene designed to provide a climax thrill (the heroic little crew of an outmoded tugboat saving a passenger liner from running aground in the fog) is lacted without much drama; nevertheless, to sympathetic souls in theater chairs, the events will seem worth seeing. Edith Fellows is an orphan, adopted by a portly and adoring tug captain. While playing ball on a dock, she accidentally falls into the water and injures her leg. The financially depleted captain sees her through at a hospital, but she is taken from him by welfare workers who send her to an orphanage. She escapes and hurries to the tug's usual berth. But it has gone on a desperate towing mission to raise the balance essential to the captain's paying back a mortgage on the craft. The boat is sunk by a passenger liner which it heads off from grounding in the mist and darkness. The mortgage-holding shipping magnate in gratitude (for it was his liner that was saved) rewards the tug captain who, as a result of the money obtained, wins back the custody of the little girl. Character roles throughout are interesting and played with fidelity. David Selman directed the piece dynamically. Cast: Walter C. Kelly, Valerie Hobson, Edith Fellows, Clyde Cook, Lester Mathews, Reginald Hincks. Director, David Selman Authors, Dalton Trumbo, Isador Bernstein; Screenplay, Robert Watson; Cameramen, William Thompson, William Beckway; Editor, William Austin. Direction, Good Photography, Good. her rival. And so on from one mixed up situation to another, with a local Texas millionaire being dragged in by the girl on a contract that she gets him to sign while he is drunk, so that he is committed to finance the big attraction. It all adds up pretty sour, and does not put the dame in the proper light that a heroine should be in. The players are much better than their material. Director Boris Petroff has to struggle under the handicap, too. Cast: Mae Clarke, John Payne, Helen Lynd, Luis Alberni, Skeets Gallagher', Franklyn Pangborn, Robert Middlemass, George Irving, Clarence Wilson. Director, Boris Petroff Authors, Sam Fuller, Edmund Josephs. D>ection, Okay Photography, Good Boris Karloff in "THE MAN WHO LIVED AGAIN" G-B 61 mins. THRILL SHOCKER HAS THE STUFF TO GIVE THE FANS THE CHILLS THEY WANT. Boris Karloff is at it again, this time working without any weird make-up, but very effectively, as Doctor Laurience, a mad scientist who performs his shivery antics in a laboratory of chills and creepy atmosphere. Finally his mad experiments on animals are turned in the direction of humans. He performs a brain transposition, placing the brain of a crippled man to the healthy body of another. Of course the motive is revenge, and the terrible Karloff as the Doctor is getting even on a powerful newspaper publisher who has allowed other scientists to scoff at him. This is only the start of a series of hair raising incidents, culminating in another brain exchange which is thwarted by another doctor working frantically in the laboratory. The film hits the heights of weirdness and suspense in the closing minutes, and has enough shock stuff to whet the appetite of the most rabid thrill fan. Cast: Boris Karloff, Anna Lee, John Loder, Frank Cellier, Lynn Harding, Cecil Parker, Donald Calthrop. Director, Robert Stevenson; Screenplay, L. du Garde Peach, Sidney Gilliat; Editor, R. E. Dearing; Cameraman, Jack Cox. Direction, Good. Photography, Okay "FLYING HOSTESS" with William Gargan, Judith Barrett William Hall Universal 70 Mins. DRAMA OF THE AIRLINERS WITH GOOD ROMANTIC ANGLES AND PLENTY OF THRILLS. This is done in the popular tradition of what the airliners offer in the way of glamour and thrills, with the addition of love rivalry between the hostess and a couple of the hired help of the transport line. The rivals are Bill Gargan and William Hall for the affection of Judith Barrett, the hostess. Bill is a ground officer, while William is the ace pilot of the line. The picture treats the inside workings of the air service very interestingly, and discloses a lot of tricks of the trade that the public will be avid to learn. The business of training the hostesses will appeal to a lot of femmes. Most of the footage has to do with the love affairs of the heroine and a couple of her sister hostesses. The drama does not get going till the final reel, when the thrills come plenty fast and heavy. Whether a hostess new to the service is capable of bringing in a big piane at night through a dense fog while the two pilots lie unconscious at her feet is a question we can't answer. But the fact remains that the thrills get you, and the long sequence makes excellent entertainment for those who want to gasp and be held in taut suspense. The work of the principals is very good, and that goes for the entire cast. Murray Roth did an excellent job on the direction. Cast: William Gargan, Judith Barrett William Hall, Astrid Allwyn, Ella Logan! Andy Devine, Addison Randall, M.irla Shel Buck Jones in "BOSS RIDER OF GUN CREEK" with Muriel Evans, Harvey Clark, Lee Phelps, Tom Chatterton Universal 65 mins. FIRMLY DIRECTED AND ACTED WESTERN DRAMA WHOSE WELL KNIT PLOT WILL PLEASE JONES' FANS. Screenplay makes up for relative absence of over-hill-and-dale galloping by presenting some thrilling stunt riding plus a good firmly-knit plot with many twists and ramifications. Jones plays dual roles,— his own straight part, and that of a bad hombre who looks just like him. In former characterization, he undergoes trial and is convicted of the alleged murder of a girl. But his pop and a big-hearted sheriff engineer his escape. Of course it was Buck's double who actually committed the killing. Our wrongfully convicted hero, therefore, goes out to clear his own good name by bagging the guilty party. This is accomplished right at the outset of the story, for the double is lured to a cabin and killed by the sheriff. Buck, in the clothes of his dead counterpart rides away to the latter's haunts and is naturally taken by all the dead man's henchmen to be their true boss. Operating against the band, Buck gains legal proof of his innocence and the love of a pretty blonde maid. Direction is commendably executed by Les Selander, as is the photography by Allen Thompson and Herbert Kirkpatrick. Jones is his usual robust self, while Muriel Evans makes a comely leading lady. Story's structure is different from most current westerns and therefore refreshing. Cast: Buck Jones, Harvey Clark, Muriel Evans, Tom Chatterton, Joseph Swickard Lee Phelps, Ernest Hilliard, Mahlon Hamilton, Alphonse Ethier, Alan Sears, Willian Laurence, Ed Hearne. Director, Les Selander; Author, E B Mann; Screenplay, Frances Guihan; Cameramen, Allen Thompson, Herbert Kirkpatrick. Direction, Firm Photography, Good Friar's Club to Frolic Boston — The Friar's Club will hold its annual New Year's Eve Frolic in the main ballroom of the Hotel Statler. The proceeds will be used to send a group of youngsters to a camp next Summer according to the president of the Friar's Club Maurice N. Wolf. Drew to Be Honored Cleveland — A testimonial dinner in honor of Frank D. Drew, who is celebrating his tenth year as local M-G-M branch manager, is in the making with Universal's Dave Miller in charge of arrangements. Tentative date is Dec. 28. ton, Michael Loring, Mary Alice Rice, Richard Tucker. Producer, Edmund Grainger; Director, Murray Roth; Author, George Sayre; Screen play, Brown Holmes, Harvey Gates, Harry Clark; Cameraman, James Van Trees. Direction, Good Photography, Excellent