Harrison's Reports (1931)

30 “The Easiest Way” — with Constance Bennett {Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Feb. 7; running lime 70 min.) Unsatisfactory ! Again the story of the poor girl who is kept in illicit luxury by a wealthy man; she meets the poor young hero, who otfers marriage. In many spots, the direction rises above the material, but the story is of ancient vintage and shows it. Constance Bennett attempts to get higher than the subject matter, as does Robert Montgomery and Adolphe Menjou, but the story is against them. Marjorie Kainbeau is excellent: — Brought up in impoverished surroundings and yearning for finer things, the heroine (Bennett) drops her position in a department store for one as a model in an advertising agency. She attracts the attention of the wealthy head of the company who offers luxury, wealth, but not marriage. To escape from poverty and to get money to help her family, she accepts the illicit bargain, lhe agreement continues for many months, with the heroine often posing as her protector’s secretary. U11 a trip west, she meets the hero ( Montgomery ), and falls in love with him. She accepts his offer ol marriage, after he tells her he knows of her former life. The hero leaves for South America but promises to come back to marry her. The heroine breaks her agreement with the protector and attempts to support herself until he returns. This proves difficult and she finds herself without funds. The hero has stopped writing. When her mother dies after she had been unable to provide money for better care, she returns to the former protector, on his one condition, that she write her sweetheart telling him of her return to her former life. She fails to do this. Two weeks later, the hero returns to marry her. He does not know of her new agreement, and the heroine, to save her happiness, does not tell him. Just as they are prepared to leave her apartment for marriage and a new life, the protector returns and the hero understands that she had broken her promise that she would remain true to him. Instead of believing in her, he departs. The heroine, filled with remorse, again leaves her protector. The ending is unsatisfactory and abrupt, with the heroine being welcomed back into the home of her sister on Christmas Eve. There is reason to believe that the hero may return to her eventually. Jack Conway directed the play by Eugene Walter. Robert Montgomery, Adolph Menjou, Marjorie Rambeau, Anita Page, J. Farrell MacDonald and Charles Judels are in the cast. The sound is good. (Out-of-town review. The picture belongs to the “Lucky Seven” group.) Note— The picture has been brutally mutilated by the Pennsylvania censors. Besides minor deletions, there are four spots where so much was cut out that subtitles to tell the plot were inserted. The practice is so obvious and the titles so poor that the audience laughed out loud. In its local showing, this proved to be a severe detriment to any popularity of the picture. Obviously, the cuts referred to illicit relations of the heroine and her protector. The subtitles sought to infer that despite this, the protector always intended to marry the heroine at some time. The picture, of course, did not contain this angle, but to make it a bit purer for Pennsylvanians, according to state censor standards, the subtitles were put in. Exhibitors in states with censorship should watch the running time. Not for children, no matter what their ages. “The Lady Refuses” — with Betty Compson ( RKO , March 8: running time, 72 minutes) Fairly appealing, but the story is not of the pleasant sort, in that it shows the heroine determined to be a street walker to make her living with, this humiliation being spared her when she accidentally runs into a titled gentleman and is hired by him to rescue his young son from the clutches of a designing woman. The thought of her being hired to win the young man over, too, is somewhat in bad taste, particularly in the scenes where she lures the young man into her apartment ; when the young man awakes in the morning and finds himself in a strange place, and before a beautiful strange woman, he starts asking her questions in a somewhat tongue-tied way. But most children will not mistake the meaning of his questions ; they will know that he asked whether they had been indiscreet with each other or not. It is the kind of conversation that would not be tolerated in polite society, even though the impolite words are implied and not spoken. The scenes that show the son upbraiding his father and talking to him in disrespectful terms, and even making an attempt to strike him, will not, I am sure, be relished by American parents. February 21, 1931 “A Woman of Paris,” the picture which Mr. Charles Chaplin produced with great finesse, and which the Authors’ League declared a masterpiece, made a box office laiiure, as Harrison's Reports predicted it would make, chiefly because a son was shown cursing his mother, telling her, "Damn you 1” There are several situations with deep human appeal, the cause of them being the pure love the heroine ana the young man’s father felt lor each other. Gilbert Emery, as Sir Gerald Courtney, is an inspiring type 01 lather — kindly, forgiving, and pure-minded. But John Darrow, as the son, is not always a good example to other children. lhe story is by Robert Milton and Guy Bolton; the direction, by George Archainbaud. Young John Darrow, should make a hit in pictures with good stories; he has youth, and does good acting. The talk is clear. ( Not a substitution) Children under twelve will be made to laugh; their morals will not be hurt, because they will not understand it. It is not good for children between the ages of twelve and twenty. A very good entertainment for sophisticated picture-goers. Not a Sunday picture for small towns. “Don’t Bet on Women” — with Edmund Lowe {Fox, Released Feb. 22; running time, 70 min.) A highly amusing comedy for sophisticated audiences. Though almost every one of the characters, Mr. Lowre in particular, contributes his share in causing laughs, most of the laughs are caused by Una Merkel, who takes the part of an unsophisticated girl, and who does not realize how meaningful are her remarks. She is vigorous and unafraid, and does not understand why she should not act in a certain way. Mr. Lowe is good in his part ; and so is Jeannette MacDonald. Roland Young, too, is good in the part of the lawyer : — The hero has a reputation of being a “lady killer.” He engages a lawyer to make a settlement for him with a woman who had threatened suit for breach of promise. The lawyer gives a reception and invites the hero. The hero states that all women are bad. The lawyer, thinking of his wife, disagrees and dares him to kiss the first woman that they would meet. The hero accepts the bet. The first woman to appear before them is the lawyer’s wife (heroine.) The hero wants to call the bet off out of respect for the lawyer but the latter insists upon his carrying out the terms of the bet. The heroine learns of the bet and sets out to teach both a lesson. But the hero succeeds in bringing the heroine to the point of capitulation. However, he does not kiss her. The heroine is enraged and accuses him to her husband of having tried to kiss her. The husband, who did not know the truth, is proud. The hero, in order not to disillusion him, admits defeat and pays the bet. The story is by William Anthony McGuire ; the direction, by William K. Howard. The talk*is clear. Children below fourteen will not understand it : some of those between fourteen and twenty will get the meaning. Most adults should enjoy it. Not a Sunday picture. SUBSTITUTION FACTS: The production number of this picture is 220. On the contract, No. 220 is Janet Gaynor No. 1. It is, therefore, a star substitution. “Are You There?” {Fox, February 22; running time, 60 min. ) An exhibitor from Texas writes to this office as follows: “I looked through your reports carefully and never could find a review on Fox’s ‘Are You There?’ “Not finding anything on it, we booked it and had to wire another exchange for a oicture. It is terrible ! “It seems to me that you would make a special effort to review the bad ones, for that is the only reason we pay you for this service. The good ones we hear about anyway ; the bad ones we are willing to pay to avoid. “Kindly advise why you have overlooked the worst lemon of the season.” This picture was announced for release on December 14, 1030. Later the release date was changed to November 30. Still later it was withdrawn. When I received from the Fox Film Corporation the release schedule for the Semi-Annual Index (Pink Section), the picture was not in the list. Nor was it in the schedule furnished by Fox for the February 14 Blue Section. This made me believe that the picture had been withdrawn from release. When I received this letter I inquired of the Fox Home Office and was informed that the picture is being released only for small theatres and not for first run accounts. HARRISON’S REPORTS