Harrison's Reports (1930)

HARRISON’S REPORTS November 8, 1930 i78 “Check and Double Check” — with Amos ’n’ Andy {Radio Pictures, (Jet. 2b; running time, 76 min.) Were it not for the fact that Amos ’n' Andy are nationally popular, their names alone being a drawing card, this picture would be classed as nothing more than a fairly amusing comedy. There is not much imagination in the direction and the story is extremely silly. There are a few scenes that are funny, but when Amos ’n' Andy are off the screen the story drags and liecomes tiresome. The scene that probably caused the most mirth was where Amos ’n’ Andy, by an ingenious method, changed a tire on their car. Another such scene is where the two are sent by their lodge to a supposedly haunted house, at midnight, to stay there an hour : — Amos ’n’ Andy are hired to drive an orchestra to a home in the suburbs where a party was being given in honor of the heroine. When they arrive, they are overjoyed to meet the hero, son of their former employer, who was a guest at the party. The villain overhears a conversation between the hero and the heroine’s father in which the hero admitted that he was in love with the heroine and that his future depended on his finding a certain deed, which was supposed to be hidden in a vacant house in Harlem. The villain, who desired to marry the heroine, goes to the house to find the deed, to thwart the hero’s plans. Amos ’n’ Andy are ordered by their lodge to go to that particular house, remain there an hour, bring back a slip marked "check and double check”, left there the year before by lodge members, and leave another slip in its place. They find the slip and in looking for another piece of paper they find the deed, not knowing what it was. The villain discovers them there and demands the deed. They are so scared that they give him the other piece of paper instead, and when they go back to their office they discover their error. On reading the deed they find a name similar to that of the hero in it. They finally reach the hero, just as he is about to leave town because of his failure to procure the deed. They give him the deed, and he is overjoyed when he sees it. He remains and he and the heroine are married. The story was written by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. It was directed by Melville Brown. Others in the cast are : Irene Rich, Sue Carol, Charles Morton. Ralf Harolde and Russell Powell. The talk is clear. “One Night at Susie’s” — with Billie Dove (First National, October 19; running time, 69 min.) Mediocre ! It is another picture with the unpleasant atmosphere of gangsters and prisons. Miss Dove for the first time takes an unpleasant part ; she is shown as having surrendered herself to a theatrical producer so that he might produce the play the imprisoned hero, with whom she was in love, had written. It makes the picture unsuitable for children, more so because in one situation the villain is shown tearing the clothes of the heroine and marking her boflv with scratches : — The heroine, a chorus girl, shoots and kills a theatrical producer, who had trapped her in his apartment. The hero, son of a dead gangster, but reared in ignoranee of it, out of his great love for the heroine assumes the blame for the murder and is sent to the penitentiary. The hero writes a play and because he is unable to have it produced, the heroine goes to a theatrical producer and by bargaining with her honor she induces him to produce it. The p!av is produced and makes a great success. On the night the hero is to return from jail a stool pigeon informs the hero’s foster mother that the heroine had disgraced herself. The foster mother asks her about it and she admits it, telling her that her sacrifice was small as compared to the sacrifice of the hero for her. At that moment the hero arrives and the foster mother sends the two away ; hut she is determined to have the gang put the stool pigeon on the spot. She is saved the effort, however, because she is informed that the stool pi-'^eon had already been murdered bv the gang. John Francis Dillon has directed it from a story by Forrest Halsey and Katherine Scola. Douglas Fairbanks. Jr., nla\'s opposite Billie Dove. Helen Ware is the mother. Tully Marshall is in tlie cast. The talk is fairly clear. (Out-of-town review.) “Oh Sailor Behave!” (garner Bros.. Aunitsf 16; running time. 68 min.) OWn and Johnson will mean very little to the box office of theatres in small towns, where this pair of vaudeville artists is unknown, having never plaved there. It is true that ‘hey are considerably popular in the big cities, hut “Oh tsaiior Behave!” will in no way increase their popularity, lor their work in it will not excite any one. Where the characters sing or where music is played, the picture is slow and tiresome ; it is interesting only in the comedy situations. Oil the who.e, however, me plot is too thin even for a musical comedy ; — It had been announced that the heroine was about to marry a man of position and wealth. This naturally shocked the hero, a newspaper reporter, who loved her, and who was in Italy trying to obtain a story from one of the Montenegrin generals. The hero received a telegram from his paper asking him to send in a story concerning the heroine’s marriage to a Russian nobleman. In his efforts to forget the heroine, the hero turns his attentions to the "flame” of the Montenegrin general. Soon the heroine returns and reveals that her marriage was prompted by her desire to save her sister, from being blackmailed by the nobleman. The nobleman is shot and killed and everything ends happily for heroine and hero. The plot is said to have been taken from the stage play, “See Naples and Die,” by Elmer Rice. But how much of it has been left is difficult to tell without reading the play. Archie Mayo directed it. Charles King, Lowell Sherman. Noah Beery, Lotti Loder, Irene Delroy, Vivien Oakland and others are in the supporting cast. 'J'he sound qualities arc about average. (Out-of-town review.) “Bright Lights” — with Dorothy Mackalll {Jurst National, Sept. 21 ; running time, 71 min.) Only fair 1 It is another backstage story, the heroine being presented as rising to the top of her profession as a singer in a musical show. The picture has been photographed entirely in color, some of which is good and some bad — the long shots are dull. It is plain that in the long shots dummies w'ere used to represent the backs of an audience. A murder is shown committed on the stage of the theatre where the heroine worked, but the facts of the murder are handled lightly — no one is shown arrested for the crime ; — The heroine, a chorus girl, announces that she is about to marry a man of position and wealth and reporters go to interview her during the performance. Her stage partner is in love with her but he had not had the courage to confess his love. The villain, burned on the face years before during a fight when the hero was defending the heroine, who worked in a dive, turns up in the audience and, recognizing the heroine, goes backstage to see her. There he is shot and killed while being covered by a friend of the hero. In the end, however, the heroine marries her stage partner instead of the wealthy man. The plot has been founded on an original story by Humphrey Pearson ; it has been directed by Michael Curtiz. Dorothy Mackaill is the heroine, and Frank Fay the hero. Noah Beery, Janies Murray, Inex Courtney, Frank Mcflugh and others arc in the cast. The talk is clear. (Outof-town review.) “Du Barry” — with Norma Talmadge (United Artists, Oct. 11 ; running time, 90 min.) The picture has been produced artistically, the direction being masterly, the acting artistic, and the settings lavish and beautiful. But it is a costume play; it deals with the love affairs of Madame Du Barrv’, the French milliner who fascinated Louis the XV. King of France, whose mistress she became. There is pathos in the scenes that show Miss Talmadge’s love for Conrad Nagel, the young Guardsman, who was madly in love with her, and whose heart was broken when she became the King's favorite ; and there are thrills where the young hero sacrifices his life for her ; he had been jailed by the King, who wanted no rival, and. having escaped, he becomes the leader of the revolutionists, .^fter the success of the revolution, the populace demands the head of Madame Du Barry, and despite the hero’s pleas, .she is condemned to die. The hero, however, decides to die with her rather than to live alone ; he seals his doom by throwing down the insignia of the Republic, pinned on his hat. and tramping upon it. The picture does not follow history faithfully ; it has been Actionized, most of the material having been taken from David Belasco’s play of the same name. Sam Taylor has directed it. Miss Talmadge is supported by William Farnum. Conrad Nagel. Hobart Bosworth, Ulrich Haupt, TTenrv Kolker and others. Mr. Farnum is good as the King. The talk is clear. B is an excellent picture ; but it is doomed to failure, no doubt, because of its nature.