Harrison's Reports (1928-1928)

206 “Nothing to Wear” — with Jacqueline Logan ( Columbia , Nov. 5 ; 5,701 ft.; 66 to 81 min.) A good picture. The underlying idea of the story is not worn out, and has been constructed into a plot in a way that the spectator is kept guessing as to what the outcome will be. "lhere is suspense throughout, and some comedy. The heroine’s love for furs, and her husband’s unwillingness to buy her a particular fur coat she had set her eye on, forms the foundation of the plot. In the development, the heroine is shown going to an old sweetheart of hers to tell her that her “mean” husband would not buy her a fur coat. She returns home. Soon a messenger brings the coat with a unsigned note, but addressing her as “sweetheart.” Thinking that the coat had been sent to her by her former sweetheart, and thinking it unwise to keep it in the house lest her husband see it and create a scene, she sends it to her former sweetheart with a note thanking him for the present but requesting him to keep it in his apartment, so that she might wear it when they go out. The old sweetheart’s fiancee visits him, and is told by him that he has a surprise gift for her, the gift being a diamond bracelet. At that moment the messenger with the fur coat arrives, and the fiancee, thinking that it was the gift her fiance had promised her, puts it on and thanks him for it. The old sweetheart hasn’t the nerve to tell her that the coat was not his and that it belonged to his friend’s wife (heroine). The hero returns home, and finding the heroine still cold towards him asks her maid if she had received a fur coat he had sent his wife. The maid, having been instructed by the heroine to say nothing about the coat, answers in the negative. The hero telephones to the fur shop and learns that the coat had been delivered to his wife. Becoming suspicious of theft, the hero engages a detective to find the thief. Things soon become so complicated that the heroine is arrested and the husband learns about the note, and everything points towards divorce proceedings when the farmer sweetheart and his fiancee decide to prevent it by marrying in the hero’s house and thus reassuring the hero that there was nothing wrong with the relations between the old sweetheart and the heroine. The heroine had already learned that the fur coat had been sent to her by her husband. The story was written by Peter Milne. The picture was directed by Earle C. Kenton. Theodore von Eltz is the hero; Bryant Washburn, the “old sweetheart”; Jane Winton the old sweetheart’s fiancee. There are no offensive sex situations in the picture, but there is a “shot” of one of the women characters in the nude. There is no necessity for this “shot,” in that the story does not demand it ; it was evidently put there by the producers as an “extra” attraction. Note: One of the titles reads as follows: “Now get the hell out of here !” The use of the word “hell” in a picture is a violation of the promises the producers made at the Trade Practice Conference. “What a Night” — with Bebe Daniels ( Paramount , Dec. 22; 5,378 ft.; 62 to 76 min.) Enjoyable ! This is owed to Miss Daniels’ good acting. This time she takes the part of a newspaper reporter, who had been given a job by the editor out of regard for her dead father, with whom he had been a friend. The comedy comes from the young heroine’s blunders, at the time the hero, crack reporter, and the editor, were trying to get something on a politician, and blunders were out of place, as they might prove costly to the paper. In one part of the film it is shown that the paper, on the strength of a cancelled check as the evidence, had printed a strong story about the connections of a gang leader with a certain prominent politician, but the gang leader managed to take the evidence away from the hero at the point of a gun. The clue had been supplied by the heroine, and she would have become very popular with the paper had it not been for the fact that the gang leader succeeded in stealing the evidence. Later on in the picture the heroine saves the day by securing a photograph showing the gang leader and the politician together, conferring in a lonely spot. This made the heroine very popular with the editor and with the hero, for without that evidence the paper would have been compelled to retract the earlier story, and would have run the danger of being ruined. There are many laugh-provoking situations all the way through, particularly the ones that show Miss Daniels and William Austin hiding in the villain’s lair and trying to December 29, 1928 get a flashlight picture of the gang leader and the politician together. Bebe Daniels is good in the part of the innocent newspaper reporter. Neil Hamilton, too, is good as the reporter. Wheeler Oakman gives his usual villainous performance. Charles Sellon, Charles Hill Mailes, Ernie Adams and others are in the cast. The plot has been founded on a story by Lloyd Corrigan and Grover Jones. The picture has been directed with skill by Edward Sutherland. A good entertainment for any theatre. “Prep and Pep”(S) — with David Rollins and Nancy Drexel (.Fox, Nov. 18; Synchronized; 6,086 ft.) A good program picture of a military school, in which the chief diversion is the hero, a freshman, who had gone to that school immediately after his arrival from London, where he had been tailored in the latest style of clothes, and where he had been groomed in the latest style of social conduct, but which conduct wasn’t so popular with the other students of the military academy. The laughs are plentiful, caused by student pranks. The underlying idea is not new, but it has been handled in a refreshing way. It deals with a young man, whose father had been a famous athlete in his days at the military academy, but who had not turned out to be like his father. He was timid, lacked athletic ability, and appeared to the other students as a simple-minded fellow. After a while he realized that his father’s fame was a handicap to him, and that he would never make a success at the academy, and decides to leave. But the headmaster shames him not only into remaining at the academy, but also into making good. He wipes oft the old score with the crack athlete of the academy by giving him a good beating for the beating the crack athlete had given him in the early days. He also performs a heroic act in dashing with his horse into the burning forest and saving the headmaster’s daughter (heroine) as well as the crack athlete himself, who had been pinned under a fallen tree. For this he is acclaimed a hero. Naturally he wins the hand of the headmaster’s daughter, in addition to becoming fast friends with his former enemy, the crack athlete. The scenes that show the hero dashing into the burning wood with his horse are naturally thrilling. The story was directed by David Butler. It was written by Mr. Butler himself, in collaboration with William Conselman. Others in the cast are, John Darrow, E. H. Calvert, and Frank Albertson. Mr. Albertson contributes most of the comedy as the hero’s roommate and manager. “Dream of Love” with Joan Crawford and Other Tried Actors (M-G-M, Dec. 1 ; 7,987 ft.; 92 to 114 min.) As a costume play, “Dream of Love” has been produced with great skill. The acting and direction is of the highest order, and the settings impressive and pleasing to the eye. There are situations that hold one in fairly tense suspense. One of such situations is where the dictator’s wife visits the prince, whose father had been deposed, but who was allowed to live in the country of the fictitious Balkan Kingdom, turned by the dictator into a principality, so long as he behaved himself ; the dictator’s wife had been infatuated with the Prince, and had offered to withdraw her moneyed support from her husband and to help him declare their country a kingdom once again, if he would promise to make her his queen. The dictator enters the room and the spectator fears lest he discover his wife hiding behind a screen. The love affair between Nills Asther, as the prince, and Joan Crawford, as the gypsy heroine, is well done, but it is a bit hard to believe ; princes do not usually fall in love with gypsies, even in fictitious kingdoms. Mr. Warner Oland is good as the dictator. So is Aileen Pringle, as the dictator’s ambitious wife. Carmel Myers impersonates the part of the duchess, who had many lovers, well. The picture is a bit sexy but the sex situations have been handled well. The plot has been suggested from Eugene Scribe’s play, “Adrienne Lecouvre.” The picture has been directed by Fred Niblo. If your customers like costume plays they might enjoy this one well. HARRISON’S REPORTS