Harrison's Reports (1930)

166 HARRISON’S REPORTS October 18, 1930 “Heads Up” — with Charles Rogers {Paramount, Oct. 11; running time, 75 min.) An entertaining musical comedy. The humor is supplied by Helen Kane, as the younger sister of the heroine, and by Victor Moore, as a skipper on the yacht of the heroine’s mother. The plot is thin and there is very little suspense, but it manages to keep at a fast pace and drags only when the hero and the heroine lapse into serious singing; — The hero, a graduate of Annapolis, falls in love with the heroine at first sight. Her mother, however, objects to the affair as she wants her daughter to marry a presumably wealthy society man (villain) she had in mind. The heroine’s mother arranges a yachting cruise, but she refuses to permit the heroine to invite the hero. The captain of the yacht is suspected of rum-running. It develops that he is using the yacht for such purposes without the knowledge of the heroine’s mother, and that the villain is his confederate in crime. The hero and two aides are assigned to watch the yacht. They manage to get on board the yacht without the Captain’s suspicion and their investigations prove that the captain and the villain are guilty. The heroine, however, refuses to believe this and is disillusioned as to the hero’s affection for her. She feels that he is just humiliating her mother for no reason at all. The hero places the captain and the villain under arrest and is about to turn the yacht back to land when they escape and a battle ensues. The yacht crashes on an island and the villain makes his escape in a motor boat. The hero, the heroine, the heroine’s family, and the skipper find themeselves on the island. Through a radio device the skipper sets up, they discover that the hero was right and that the villain had had a hand in it. A ship comes into sight and they are rescued. Hero and heroine are reconciled. The plot was adapted from the musical comedy by McGowan, Smith, Rogers and Hart. It was directed by Victor Schertzinger. Others in the cast are Margaret Breen, Gene Gowing, Helen Carrington and others. The talk is fairly clear. “Lady of the Lake” (Silent) (Fitat'atriclc Pictures; running time, 50 minutes) This picture is founded on Sir Walter Scott’s poem of the same name. It is in silent form, but has been produced very well. The characters are naturally romantic, and they appeal to the imagination of cultured picturegoers. The chief action revolves around the heroine’s saving the life of a Knight, an act for which she is rewarded eventually when they meet again ; when he hears that her father was under arrest by his men and about to lose his life at their hands, he gives orders that he be released. Additional happiness comes to her when she finds herself free to marry the young man she loved. Percy Marmont takes the part of James Fitzjamcs, the Knight, and Benita Hume that of the Lady of the Lake. Small theatres that cater to cultured picture-goers may find it suitable for their needs. It should prove particularly good for matinees for children. “Brothers” — with Bert Lytell (Columbia, Oct. 15; runnng time, 77 minutes) Not very many dual stories have been filmed lately, so this one should not set any spectator’s mind against it. Besides, it is interesting, and directs a pretty strong appeal to the emotions. It is about two brothers, who are separated in their infancy. The one is adopted by a rich man, and the other by a poor family. The rich brother (hero) becomes a famous lawyer, but a woman proves his undoing. She was the wife of a gangster. When the gangster comes out of jail, where he was sent because of a weak defense by the hero, he learns that his wife had intimate relations with the hero, and seeks to kill him. But the hero kills him instead. Because of his close resemblance with the poor brother, who had been making a living by playing a piano in an underworld cafe, the brother is arrested, accused of the crime. The hero is induced by the family doctor, who knew of the relationship between the two young men, to undertake the poor brother’s defense, and has him acquitted. But a blackmailer was so preying upon the hero that he becomes the victim of drink, and is sent to a sanitorium, where he dies. The poor brother had been induced to take the place of his brother until his cure, but when the hero dies, he consents to marry the heroine ; the two had by this time learned to love each other. The plot was taken from Herbert Ashton’s stage play. Walter Lang directed it. Dorothy Sebastian is the heroine. William Morris, Richard Tucker and others are in the cast. The talk is clear. “Those 3 French Girls” (MGM., Oct. 18; running time, 71 min.) A fairly entertaining comedy. It is one of those pictures that will cause good laughter if the house is full and fair laughter if the house is half full. Although there are some amusing scenes such as one in which the three girls, while they are in jail, meet the three men they eventually marry, the plot drags and at times is almost boring : — Three girls run a modiste shop in a suburb of Paris. Business had been bad and they were unable to pay rent. The hero, while passing their place in his automobile, finds them in the midst of an argument with the landlord who wants to put them out. He joins the girls in the argument. He assures the girls that he has a great deal of influence in the town and they can do what they please. They throw everything they can find in sight at the landlord and eventually the four find themselves in jail, in cells next to each other. Two other men are brought into the cell where the hero is. They all become acquainted and the six escape from jail. The hero falls in love with one of the girls (heroine) and takes them all to the home of his uncle an Earl in England. The uncle tells the heroine of all the affairs the hero has had with other girls. The heroine is too enraged to have anything further to do with the hero. The uncle sets up a fashionable modiste shop for the girls in Paris which becomes very successful. The heroine promises to marry him, and it is not until the day of the marriage that explanations are made and the hero and heroine are reconciled. The three couples decide to marry at one time. The story was written by Dale Every and Arthur Ereed. It was directed by Harry Beaumont. Fifi d’Orsay is the heroine, and Reginald Denny, the hero. Others in the cast are Yola d’.Avril, Sandra Ravel, Cliff Edwards, George Grossmith. Edward Brophy and Peter Cawthorne. The talk at times is indistinct. “The Costello Case” (Sono-.4rt, November 1 ; running time. 62 minutes) An excellent murder mystery melodrama, produced so well, that the interest is kept tight up to the last scenes. There is more thinking than gesturing done by the hero, a policeman, who sets out to get the murderer and gets him. A great deal of human interest is awakened by the kindhearted attitude of the hero towards two young folk, one of whom had robbed the murdered man’s safe before the killing. The scene where the villain corners up the hero and is about to shoot and kill him when the newspaner reporter’s fast thinking saves his life is full of suspense. So is the closing scene, where the hero has the villain rornered and shoots and kills him in self-defense. Roscoe Karns is excellent as the “nosy” newspaper reporter. Tom Moore is very good as the hero. Wheeler Oakman is the polite racketeer, as he is usually pictured. Lola Lane and Russell Hardie, as the two young folk, are good : — The story deals with the hero, who sets out to find the murderer of a man. Two young folk are suspe-'ted of the crime and are arrested, but by using a manufactured alibi they are released : thev told the captain that they were elopers from Peoria. The hero, however, is not fooled hv them ; with kindliness he takes them to his boarding house and asks the landladv to give them rooms. He induces tho young man, who had robbed the dead man’s safe but had nothing to do WMth the murder, to get a iob, honing thus to use him to catch the murderer with. The villain (Wheeler Oakman), who had committed the murder, gets the hero in a corner and is about to shoot and kill him when a “nosy” reporter’s fast thinking saves his life. The villain calls on the young woman and induces her to give him the fifty thousand dollars the young man had stolen. Just as the money is handed to him, the hero and the reporter burst into the room. The hero telephones to headquarters that he had caught the villain with the goods, and that he had shot him dead because he had attempted to escape. Cold perspiration runs over the bodv of the villain when he hears the hero talk that way. The hero gives the villain a chance to kill himself but the villain Quickly turns out the lights and starts shooting. The hero, however, is too fast for him and he shoots and kills him first. The death is reported as suicide. The two young folk decide to confess to the hero, but he will not listen to them. He suggests to them however, to seek a minister and to marrv. This suggestion they gladly accent, for bv this time the two had fallen in love with each other and had decided to give up thri’r crime career. E. McGrew Willis wrote the storv ; Walter Lang directed i^. The tone quality is fair even though the talk is pretty clear.