Harrison's Reports (1929)

March 2, 1929 “THE GIRL ON THE BARGE” (PT) JEAN HERSHOLT, SALLY O’NEIL AND MALCOLM McGREGOR (Univ., Feb. 3 ; syn. 7,510 ft.; sil. 6,908 ft.) There are many inconsistencies in this picture, but the action is so fast and the melodramatic situations are so thrilling for the average picture-goer, that one wall, no doubt, overlook the inconsistencies. The action is interesting all the way through, and the “talk” is made use of in a new, entertaining way. For instance, the heroine is shown as being illiterate, having grown up on a barge, and her father, who had been holding a bible in one hand and a bottle of booze in the other, would not let her learn how to read and write lest such “modern inventions” ruin her morals. When the hero, with whom she became acquainted, learns that she does not know how to read, he undertakes to teach her. This gave an opportunity to the author to work up some novel comedy in the situations, which is very effective, because the director handled it with intelligence. The closing scenes show a storm in which the life of the heroine and of her little brothers and sisters, including that of her cruel and drunken father, are endangered, and the hero going out in a tug to tow them to safety. The scenes have been done in miniature, of course ; nevertheless, they are suspensive and thrilling. The end of the picture shows the hero and the heroine married and the parents of a little son, and the heroine’s father reformed. Jean Hersholt does excellent work, but his part is extremely unsympathetic. Malcolm McGregor is good, too, but it is Sally O’Neill that carries away the acting honors. She takes the part of an unwordly-wise young woman so perfectly that one thinks that he is present before a real-life occurrence. Rupert Hughes wrote the story, and Edward Sloman directed it. “HARDBOILED”— WITH SALLY O’NEILL (RKO — Feb. 3; 5,940 ft.; 69 to 84 min.) Pretty good. The story' is familiar, but Miss O’Neill makes a charming heroine and gives a very good performance as the hardboiled chorus girl who would marry only for money. Donald Reed is fair enough as the playboy who loved his chorus girl sweetheart to the extent of marry ing her and being disinherited. Lilyan Tashman, as the heroine’s girl friend and adviser, is attractive. Others in the cast are Bob Sinclair, Ole M. Ness and Tom O’Grady. They are all competent. Ralph Ince directed it. Arthur Somers Roche wrote the story. (Not a substitution.) “THE CARNATION KID” (MTD) DOUGLAS McLEAN ( Par’nt, March 2 ; syn. 7,156 ft.; sil. 6,290) \*ery good. It is a comedy-melodrama, in which the action is fairly fast and the interest is kept pretty alive all the way through. In some of the situations the spectator is held in pretty tense suspense. The comedy comes from the fact that the hero, a noiseless typewriter salesman, is mistaken for a famous Chicago gangster ; the real gangster, nicknamed the Carnation Kid, had jumped from the train on which he and the hero had been traveling, so as to escape from the police, after forcing the hero to exchange clothes with him. The Carnation Kid had been engaged by an unscrupulous politician, running for District Attorney, to murder the rival candidate, father of the heroine. When the hero arrived at his destination, which was also the destination of the Carnation Kid, he is mistaken by the gangsters as the Carnation Kid and is taken to the politician. The villains kept talking about machine guns in veiled words and the hero, thinking that they referred to his noiseless typewriter (machine), extolled its virtues. The gangsters thought that the hero meant noiseless machine guns. This naturally is a source of comedy. The suspense is created by the fact that the hero’s life is placed in danger when it is discovered that he is not the Carnation Kid and the gangsters seek to murder him. An encounter between the gangsters and the police that guarded the home of the heroine’s father, too, helps create some suspense. The acquaintance of the hero and the heroine occurs on the train. When the heroine was told that the hero was a famous gangster, she would not believe it at first ; but she had to believe it afterwards when she was confronted with what she considered proof of his guilt. Everything is. of course, explaine din the end, after the hero had saved the life of her father. The story is by Alfred A. Cohn. The picture was directed by E. Mason Hopper. Frances Lee is the heroine. Others in the cast are William B. Davidson, Lorraine Eddy, Charles Hill Mailes, Francis McDonald and Carl Stockdale. “THE OFFICE SCANDAL” (PT) PHYLLIS HAVER (Pathe, March 3 ; syn. 6,291 ft.; sil. 6,511 ft.) The talk in this picture occurs in the last reel. It is not sufficient to satisfy the thirst of those that want talking pictures, but it adds to its appealing qualities. The music used in the synchronization is good, too. As to the story, it unfolds mostly in a newspaper office and has a woman reporter and a former famous man reporter, gone to the “dogs,’’ as the principal characters. It is a little different from the average newspaper story, and arouses the spectator’s interest in the fate of the characters. The spectator desires to know what connection the hero had wfith a certain murder. The evidence pointed out that it was he that had shot and killed a famous club man, owner of racing horses, and that he had murdered him because he loved his wife. But the heroine, who had met the hero in a night court under arrest and had asked the judge to be lenient with him when she found out that he was a famous reporter, succeeds in proving that he was innocent. She called on the dead man’s wife and forced her to admit that it was she that had shot and killed her husband, because of his cruelL' to her. At the time of the shooting the dead man had been shown lashing the heroine unmercifully. (But it does not explain why the hero, who is later presented as refusing the advances of the dead man’s wife, should have been found in the woman’s boudoir. But such little discrepancies are common in motion pictures.) The ston,' is by Paul Gangelin and Jack Jungmeyer. It was directed by Paul L. Stein. Leslie Fenton is the hero. Raymond Hatton, Margaret Livingston, Jimmy Adams and Jimmy .Aldine are in the cast. HARRibON S REPORTS