Harrison's Reports (1928-1928)

142 HARRISON’S REPORTS “The Night Bird”— with Reginald Denny ( Univ.-Jewel, Sept. 16; 6,702 ft.; 78 to 95 min.) Poorl It is neither fish nor fowl. Reginald Deny has appeared always in farce-comedies, and one would naturally expect that “The Night Bird,” too, would be a farce-comedy. But it is really a drama. There is hardly a comedy situation all the way through, and the drama is not strong enough to arouse one’s interest in what is unfolded. The action presents Mr. Denny, a boxer, with an ambition to win the heavyweight championship of the world, as being shy of women. His manager tells him that he will not attain his ambition unless he mingles in New York’s night life. He forces the poor boxer to attend a dance where he is kissed and otherwise “maltreated” by a redhead and by a blonde. He runs away secretly. In the park he meets a little Italian girl (but big enough to fall in love with later on and to make her his wife) ; she had run away from her home because her father had beaten her when she refused to marry an Italian, choice of her father. She follows the hero home. The hero, in fact, cannot get rid of her. Eventually he falls in love with her. The hero’s manager, not wishing to see the hero entangled in matrimony, tells the young Italian that she is ruining the hero’s future. As a result of it the girl goes back to her home, ready for the punishment her father prepared for her — to marry the man he had chosen for her. In a match with the heavyweight champion the hero fights half-heartedly and is about to lose the fight when an Italian boy rushes to the ring, and, in spite of the fact that children are not allowed in such places, tells the hero that his sweetheart, whose whereabouts he had lost, is being forced to marry a man she despises. The hero gathers all his energy, beats his opponent, rushes to the heroine’s home, knocks down everybody and carries away the girl. Betsy Lee is the Italian girl; Sam Hardy, the hero’s manager. The plot has been founded on a story by Frederick and Fanny Hatton. The picture was directed by Fred Newmeyer. “Beautiful But Dumb” — with Patsy Ruth Miller ( T iff any -S tahl, Aug. 1 ; 6,157 ft.; 71 to 87 min.) Rather tiresome ; it has been done too often. The story is weak; it may appeal mostly to women, because of the clothes worn in the heroine’s transformation from a plainlooking, masculinely dressed efficient secretary to a beautiful woman, trying to capture her employer, with whom she has fallen in love. Miss Miller causes a few laughs when she tries to follow the instructions she has received from a co-worker, a gold-digger, to win the affections of men. Gretel Yoltz is not bad as the girl who gets by on her looks rather than on her ability. The story revolves around the good but plain looking secretary of a rather good looking boss. In her efforts to win his love, she vamps him to such an extent that he invites her to his apartment. There he gets “fresh” with her. Still in love with him but disgusted, she gives up her job. But the office can’t run without her. So he asks her to return to work, saying he would not make love to her any more. But he finds that he has fallen in love with her and so they are united. Charles Byer is satisfactory as the hero. Others in the cast are George E. Stone, Bill Irving and Shirley Palmer. The picture was directed by Elmer Clifton from a story by John Francis Natteford. “The Water Hole” — with Jack Holt and Nancy Carroll ( Paramount , Aug. 25 ; 6,319 ft.; 73 to 90 min.) The story of this picture is by the famous author Zane Grey. The production end of it is very good ; the story is so-so, and its value will depend chiefly on the popularity of the author in your locality. The picture will, no doubt, satisfy, but it will not create a sensation. The underlying idea is old — the hero undertakes to tame the heroine, daughter of wealthy parents, and a girl that had always had things her own way. To do this, the hero, in agreement with her father, kidnaps her and takes her to a lonely spot into the desert, and there makes her cook and do other house work, things she had never done in her life, because she had always had servants to do the work for September 8, 1928 her. Her fiance learns from her father that she had been “abducted” and, hiring a guide, goes in search of them. He finds them and starts back with the heroine. But the guide, happening to be a horse thief, steals their horses. They are thus compelled to tramp back on foot. On the way, their water gives out and the fiancee is helpless. The hero does everything he can to help them, but he, too, eventually comes to the point of succumbing, until they are found by cowboys wroking for the heroine’s father. But the leader of them was one of those with whom the heroine had flirted ; he decides to carry the heroine off. He ties the hands of the hero, puts a noose around his neck, passes the other end of the rope over the bough of a tree, and ties it to a horse, intending to lynch him. But the fiance, who had been carried by the hero on his back when they found the water hole in the desert dry and had no water left, having revived after drinking water the villain’s men had given him, secretly cuts the rope that held the hero’s hands tied. The hero is thus enabled to subdue the villain. Eventually the hreoine marries the hero, who had proved the better man of the two. Jack Holt comes back into his own in stories that made him pretty popular ; in fact many exhibitors have come to think that no Zane Grey story could be produced by Paramount without Mr. Holt. Nancy Carroll is the heroine, and John Boles the fiance. Montague Shaw, Anne Cristie, and others are in the supporting cast. The story starts in a big city, and has several beautiful scenes in natural colors, the intention of the Paramount executives being to fit the Zane Grey pictures, which heretofore have been purely Westerns, in a way to make them suitable for first-run houses. F. Richard Jones directed it well. “Submarine” — with Jack Holt, Ralph Graves and Dorothy Revier ( Columbia , Sept. 23; 8,192 ft.; 95 to 117 min.) If Columbia is going to make pictures like “Submarine,” the big producers, Fox included, had better look out, for it has made something that comes up to the standard of productions of the biggest of them, probably at much lesser cost. “Submarine” is not only a great picture; it is different from the regular run. It is a re-enactment of the tragedy of the sinking of the S4, in which every one of the crew perished ; only that the crew in the picture does not perish ; they are saved. The scenes after the submarine had been struck during the maneuvres and sank, where the hero and the captain of the submarine are seen trying to dissipate from the minds of the others the fear as to their probable fate unless the ship were raised are so vivid that one really feels as if present in a real-life occurrence. The agony felt by the crew is felt to a certain degree also by the spectator. The scenes of the rescue efforts, too, are realistic. Most of these scenes have been photographed with real ships, and real diving outfits. The decompression tank, in which the divers are placed after reaching the surface if the depth to which they reached is great, is there. Earlier in the picture the spectator is thrilled when the hero is dragged into the water by the uncoiling rope that was tied to a bomb, shot at a derelict ; the hero is shown diving and cutting tlie rope on the other side of the hero’s foot, and rescuing the hero just before the bomb exploded. It is a real thrill. The picture is full of drama. The scenes that show the hero finding out that the woman, with whom he had kept company for a week upon his return to San Diego from the Orient, was the wife of his chum are tensely dramatic. The break of their friendship when the hero found his chum and his wife in an embrace saddens the spectator, but increases the spectator’s admiration for the chum, who lets the hero think that the fault was his rather than tell him that it was his wife’s and cause him more pain. The scenes that show the hero refusing to answer the call of the naval authorities, as the only diver that could reach the depth the submarine lay, are not sympathy arousing for the hero ; they should be cut down to the limit. But whatever bad effect might be created by his refusal to answer the call immediately are offset when he, after finding evidence of his wife’s guilt, rushes to the wharf, enters an aeroplane, flics to the scene of the disaster, dives and fastens the air hose to the hull of the submarine, saving the lives of the crew. The plot has been founded on a story by Norman Springer. The picture has been directed masterfully by Irvin Willat. All the actors do good work, including Clarence Burton and Arthur Rankin, who are in the supporting cast.