Harrison's Reports (1930)

December 20, 1930 HARRISON’S REPORTS 203 “The Truth About Youth” — with Loretta Young and Conway Tearie (First National, rel. Nov. 30; running time, min.) Fair ! It is the familiar story of the young man who is engaged to one girl and falls in love with another — a notorious woman. The direction is good and so is the acting, but the story material does not give the actors a chance to rise to any heights. There is some human interest in the closing scenes, where the heroine, impersonated by Loretta Young, reveals to Conway Tearie that it is him she loves and not David Manners, the young man she had been engaged to : — The hero, one of the three guardians of the son of a dead friend, desires to see his ward married happily to the fine daughter (heroine) of his housekeeper. The young man, when he returns from college, becomes infatuated with a cabaret entertainer, a notorious gold-digger. When his guardians try to persuade him to give up the woman, he resents it and marries her at once. When the entertainer finds out that the young man was not as wealthy as she was made to believe he was, she orders him out of her apartment. The hero, not knowing the break between the two, attempts to buy the entertainer with money hoping thus to break up the young man’s infatuation. He gives her money to pretend that she is his. The young man, however, comes to his senses and returns home, begging forgiveness. The hero loved the heroine secretly. Nevertheless, he urges him to marry her at once. He is shocked to find out that he had been married to the entertainer. But the heroine succeeds in making the hero understand that she was in love not with her young fiance, but with him. The hero is happy ; and so are his two friends, as well as the young man. The plot was taken from the play, “When We Were Twenty-One Wm. A. Seiter directed it. David Manners is the young man, and Myrna Loy the entertainer. J. Farrell MacDonald, Myrtle Stedman, Harry Stubbs and others are in the cast. The talk is pretty clear but the sound is poor, particularly in the low notes. (Out-of-town review. Not a road show.) “Only Saps Work” (Paramount, Dec. 7 : running lime, 74 min.) An amusing comedy ! Leon Errol, in the role of a kleptomaniac, provides most of the laughs by the manner in which he takes things and avoids being detected. For instance, he wants to travel. He visits a bank and comes out with a satchel-ful of money. While riding on a train, he wants a cigar. In a few minutes the man sitting alongside him misses his cigars and Leon Errol is offering him a smoke. There is some suspense in the scene where Leon Errol tries to get rid of a suitcase containing the money he had stolen from the bank. He throws it out of the window. but it is picked up by a bell-hop, who has aspirations to become a great detective, and brings it back to the room : — The hero, a college graduate who is anxious to make good without the help of his father, accepts a position as a pantry boy at a health farm. He meets the heroine by accident. She is attracted by his looks, and when she finds out that he is going to the farm she induces her father to go there for his health. She accompanies him there. The hero is held up by Leon Errol, but he overcomes him. Instead of turning him over to the police he pities him and takes him home. They become friends and Errol joins him by going to the farm as a guest. The heroine thinks that the hero is the manager and the hero keeps out of her way because he does not want her to know his real work. The hero finds himself involved in a robbery that had been committed by Errol. Errol explains that the hero had nothing to do with it and he is exonerated. The hero explains his position to the heroine but she admires him all the more for it and they are united. The plot was adapted from the stage play “Easy Come, Easy Go,” bv Owen Davis. It was directed by Cyril Gardner and Edwin H. Knopf. In the cast are Richard Aden, Mary Brian, Stuart Erwin, Anderson Lawler, Charlie Grapewin and others. The talk is clear. “See America Thirst” (Universal, Noz’. 24; running time, 7oj4 »tin.) .\ fairly amusing burlesque on gunmen ; but it becomes boresome after the first two reels, because of the slow action. The dialogue is not very funny, but the situations Harry Langdon and Slim Summerville find themselves in when they are mistaken for two notorious gunmen are amusing and at times suspensive. One such scene is where they both find themselves in the pent house of the leader of one of the gangs. In trying to make their escape, they go out on the terrace. Langdon sits down on what he thinks is a seat but it turns out to be a battleship gun and Summerville, playing around with the machinery, unknowingly pushes a lever and the barrel slides out, leaving Langdon suspended in the air. In the next scene Summerville finds himself in a similar predicament. These situations are somewhat similar to those in Lloyd’s “Safety Last” : — Langdon and Summerville, two hoboes, hitch on a truck being driven by bootleggers, members of a notorious gang, who had with them $250,000 belonging to their leader. They are stopped by a rival gang and in the heat of the battle drop the money into the hoboes’ hands. With all that money they become men of leisure and go to a night club frequented by gunmen. They are mistaken for two dangerous gunmen and realizing the position they are in they play up to it. The heroine, an entertainer in the night club, and supposedly the girl friend of the leader of one of the gangs, is there to get information on both gangs, being sent there by the District Attorney’s office. She becomes friendly with the hoboes and assists them in eliminating the gangs. When their real identities are discovered, they overpower the gangs with the aid of an exterminator and leave the scene with all the money. T'ne story was written by Vin Moore and Edward Luddy. It was directed by William James Craft. Others in the cast are Bessie Love, Mitchell Lewis, ^latthew Betz, Stanley Fields, Lloyd Whitlock and LeRoy Mason. The talk is clear. A NATIONAL MAGAZINE IN DEFENSE OF THE INDEPENDENT EXHIBITOR At last a national magazine has told the reading public the true story of producer oppression and has shown with dramatic clarity why the exhibitor has shown so many poor films. Get a copy of the December issue of the North A merican Reviezv and read “The True Story of Gideon Nathan,” by Norah Wellesby. Gideon Nathan is not, of course, the real name of the e.xhibitor ; it has been suppressed for an obvious purpose. With the producers spending a hundred million a year on advertising and on publicity, we know there are few editors who can tell the inside story. In the hope that we may keep open this avenue of contact with the public, let us each write to the editors of the North American Reviezv expressing our appreciation for their courage. Their address is 9 West 37th Street, New York City. They will be interested, I am sure, to hear about your troubles. THE TONE QUALITY OF THE RCA PHOTOPHONE AT LEAST FORTY PER CENT SUPERIOR TO THAT OF WESTERN ELECTRIC Recently RCA Photophone gave a demonstration to exhibitors at its quarters at 411 Fifth Avenue for the purpose of giving them an opportunity to compare the sound quality of its instrument with that of Western Electric. The amplifier was connected with the loud speakers of both instruments, in such a way that the current could be switched from the one system to the other. The engineer in charge did not tell the exhibitors what system was in use while the film was shown : but in a short time the exhibitor could tell by the difference in the tone quality. The tone that was reproduced by the RCA loud speakers was sharp and crisp ; the tone that was reproduced by the Western Electric horn was dull. It is this test that won over the Navy engineers and induced them to contract for RCA Photophones instead of for instruments of any other brand. I was present at the demonstration and had an opportunity to observe that the exhibitors, none of whom had any technical knowledge, were able to tell the difference in the tone quality instantly. At one time the engineer attempted to mislead them by switching back and forth several times : but the exhibitors were not to be fooled ; they knew what system was in use. My gratification at this demonstration was, needless to say, great ; I have been recommending the RCA system of sound reproduction for nearly three years, because I believed that the RCA Photophone gave the best sound. And only by good sound can the picture-going public be held at the theatres.