Harrison's Reports (1929)

Euteted as second-class matter January 4, 1921, at the post office at New York, New York, under the act of March 3, 1879. Harrison’S Reports Yearly Subscription Bates: United States $10.00 U. S. Insular Possessions 12.00 Canada and Mexico. . 12.00 England and New Zealand 14.60 Other Foreign Countries 16.50 25c. a Copy 1440 BROADWAY New York, N. Y. A Motion Picture Reviewing Service by a Former Exhibitor Devoted Exclusively to the Interests of Exhibitors Its Editorial Policy: No Problem Too Big for Its Editorial Columns, if It is to Benefit the ;^hibitor. Published Weekly by P. S. HARRISON Editor and Publisher Established July 1, 1919 Tel. : Pennsylvania 7649 Cable Address : Harreports (Bentley Code) A REVIEWING SERVICE FREE FROM THE INFLUENCE OF FILM ADVERTISING January ^^1929 SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 1929 No. 4 1928-29 SUBSTITUTIONS— ARTICLE NO. 2 Fox The number given with each feature is the number that was given by tlie Fox Corporation on the Work Sheet. “Dry Martini” (No. 26), “Me, Gangster” (No. 24), "Mother Machree” (43), “Romance of the Underworld” (No. 1), and “Prep and Pep” (No. 6), were analyzed in the article that was printed in the December 15 issue. "VV'IN TH/\T GIRL” (No. 2) : In the Fox Annual Announcement, insert of which appeared in Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World, issue of June 2, Wiliiam Conselman was given as tlie author ; and as the plot of tlie finished product has been founcled on an original story, “Father and son,” by James Hopper, it is a story substitution. The Work Sheet had the following statement on this" picture ; “Here’s one with bo.x office topnotch entertainment written all over it. . . ; but here is the opinion I gave of the finished product in my review, which was printed in issue of October 6 : “If F"ox were to take this picture out in the offing, tie a rock around its neck, and sink it in deep waters, he would do the most charitable act he has ever done in his life. . . .” “RILEY THE COP” (No. 29) : This is not a substitution. “BLINDFOLD” (No. 8) : The original title was “The Fog.” No description of the story was given in the Work Sheet, but Charles Francis Coe was given as the author ; and since “Blindfold” has been founded on a story by the same author, it is not a substitution. At one time, “The Case of Mary Brown” was given as the title of “The Fog.” But as no particulars were given for “The Case of Mary Brown,” there is no way whereby we could make comparisons to enable us to tell whether it is a different picture or not. “HOMESICK” (No. 9) : This picture was sold with Sammy Cohen and Jack Pennick, to be directed by Benjamin Stoloff, but is being delivered with Sam Cohen and Harry Sweet, and has been directed by Henry Lehrman. It is a star and director substitution. “RED WINE” (No. 17) : Considerable juggling has been done by Fox iti this picture. The original contracts gave No. 17 to “Husbands Are Liars,” and No. 21 to “Red Wine.” No. 17 has now been given to “Red Wine.” Fox now says that the two titles, which originally were listed as two different pictures, are the same picture. I doubt if even Houdini, were he alive, could have made any one believe it. Those of you who bought both “Husbands Are Liars” and “Red Wine” and are being offered “Red Wine” in place of “Husbands Are Liars” are not obligated to accept it, for the reason that, since the two pictures are contained in your contract as two different pictures, one cannot be the other. The fact that “Husbands Are Liars” was described in the Work Sheet as “A sure-fire domestic comedy drama of suspicious wives and husbands. . . .,” whereas “Red Wine” is the story of a husband whose actions recur with clock-like regularity, is another proof that they are not the same picture and that, consequently, you are not obligated to accept it, not mentioning the fact that there i* a substitution of stars : Edmund Lowe, Earle Fox, and Marjory Beebe were promised with “Husbands Are Liars,” but Conrad Nagel, Sharon Lynn, and Arthur Stone are being delivered with “Red Wine.” Nor are you obligated to accept “Red Wine” even if it is being delivered to you as the picture you bought with the same title originally, for the “Red Wine” you bought was to be “An intoxicating story of the social whirl ; rich, spicy, daring and glamorously vibrant with burning lips and hearts ablaze,” and was to have Lola Salvi and Ben Bard in the cast, whereas the “Red Wine” Fox is delivering is, as said, a story of a husband whose actions recur with clock-like regularity, and has Conrad Nagel and Sharon Lynn in the principal parts. ’“THE GREAT WHITE NORTH” (No. 7) : In the Fox Annual Announcement, insert of which appeared in Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World of June 2, this picture was described as : “Strong Drama in the Great White North 1 — Shipwrecked . . . frozen . . . starved — one man, an Eskimo, has it in his power to save five shipwrecked Americans. His price is the engineer’s daughter, played by June Collyer. But Mary Duncan, in the role of a stranded and desperate vaudeville actress, goes to his igloo to sacrifice herself. In a battle of wits, she wins food, safety, honor, life. — Strong fare with a strong cast: June Collyer, Mary Duncan, Charles Morton, Ivan Linow, Ben Bard.” In the May 29, 1928, Work Sheet, this picture was described as, “An Extraordinary gripping story of Arctic Adventure with a cast of youth, personality and charm at its most charming best.” Lew Seiler was given as the director, and June Collyer, Mary Duncan, and Charles Morton as the cast. The same description, with the same director and cast, was given in a Work Sheet of a later date. The “Great White North” that is being delivered is nothing like what was sold you. It is merely the photographic record of an expedition in the Arctic to find traces of the explorers that were lost on Herald Island ten years ago, when they were separated from the Steffanson Expedition. (It was reviewed in HARRISON’S REPORTS of August 4, under the title “Lost in the Arctic.”) This is the rawest substitution that I have seen during my years of connection with the moving picture industry, in that other substitutions were at least dramas, or comedies, but never a travelogue, such as this substitution is. You are not obligated to accept it. Had it been released at the time of the Nobile North Pole Expedition, when the interest of the public was tense, it might have drawn some money. But it was not, and is worth very little now, for it is the kind of picture that pleases only picturegoers that like travelling. “CAPTAIN LASH” (No. 34): In the Fox Annual Announcement “Captain Lash” was described as “A Mississippi Romance by Charles Francis Coe.” John Ford was to direct it, and Victor McLaglen was to appear in the leading part. In the Fox Work Sheet of June 4, it was thus described : “Directed by the maker of “Four Sons” and “Mother Macchree” and with an all-star cast. This opus is based on a story aboard river boats and ashore along the lower Mississippi, written by Charles Francis Coe.” Victor McLaglen, June Collyer, and Farrell Macdonald were given as the principal players. The finished product, however, has no resemblance whatever to the original picture. According to the Fox presssheet, “An ocean liner is about to sail from Sydney to Singapore. Captain Lash, a huge bulk of a man so-called because, in the figurative sense, he uses a whip in handling his gang of firemen on the vessel, arrives at a dock after riotous time ashore with his pal, Cocky. A strikingly pretty blonde girl — Cora Nevins — alights from a car and goes up the gangplank. She attracts the attention of Captain Lash, who never has seen such a trim pair of ankles — never, in fact, has seen such a dainty young woman, used as he is to lovemaking and fighting in harbor brothels. . . .” It is a long way from Mississippi to Sidney and to Singapore, and {Continued on last page)