Harrison's Reports (1932)

HARRISON’S REPORTS ‘‘The Big Shot” with Eddie Quillan (RKO Pathe, Dec. 18; running time, 85 min.) An excellent program picture, suited more to small towns than for key-city theatres. There is considerable human appeal in it and the action holds the interest in a fairly gripping manner all the way through. The strongest part is toward the end, where the young hero rushes into a bog to save the heroine, fast sinking and in danger of being swallowed up, and he himself is caught and is unable to extricate himself. He yells to his friend, an old man, for assistance. Between the time of finding himself in that position and the time he grabbed the end of the rope, the spectator is held in tense suspense; — The hero, a small town young man, is a failure in whatever he undertakes. All laugh at him but the heroine, and her mother. The latter’s faith in him is, in fact, so great that she mortgages her home to raise fifteen hundred dollars, which she gives to the hero to buy the Blue Bird automobile camp with. The hero had bought the camp sight unseen (just as exhibitors buy film), and when he went to take possession he found that the huts were dilapidated and uninhabitable. In addition to all these defects, there was a bog nearby which gave such a nauseating smell that, when the wind was blowing towards the place, visitors were driven away even if they had the best intentions of staying. An old man, living there without rent, helps him to put the place in order and to start' a’ga'solirie station. But it still is a failure financially. A complaint by the villain, who coveted the heroine and hated the hero, sends the health officer with the purpose of shutting down the camp as dangerous to health. But after analyzing the sample he had taken from the bog the officer discovers the water contained sulphur, helpful to health. The villain overhears about it and rushes to buy out the hero before the news of the discovery had reached him ; but the heroine speeds after him in an automobile to warn the hero not to sell. When she reaches the camp she runs into the bog and is sinking. The hero tries to save her but he himself is caught. Both, however, are rescued. In a short time the springs become famous and all visitors breathe heartily the sulphur-laden air that once nauseated people. Hero and heroine marry, of course. George Dromgold and Hal Conklin wrote the story ; Ralph Murphy directed it. Maureen O’Sullivan is Quillan’s heroine, Mary Nolan, Roscoe Ates, Belle Bennett, Arthur Stone, Otis Harlan, Harve Clark and others are in the cast. Suitable for children and for Sunday showing. ‘‘Ladies of the Big House” with Sylvia Sidney {Paramount, Dec. 26; running time, 76 min.) An interesting, though depressing, prison melodrama. It is suspensive and holds the spectator’s interest to the very end for both the hero and the heroine are unjustly accused of having committeed a murder, and the hero is sentenced to die, the heroine being given a life sentence. One sympathizes with the heroine in her despair for she and the hero had been married just one day and then were separated. A thrilling situation is the one in which she attempts to escape from prison in order to arouse interest in their case and so procure the release of the hero. The proof used to effect their conviction does not ring true. There is some comedy in the prison caused by the bickering of the women prisoners, but for the most part it is depressing and morbid; — The heroine, working in a florist shop, attracts the attention of the hero, a mining engineer just back from Mexico, who had spied her through the window of the shop. He enters and talks to her. At first she resents his informal manner but when she learns that he is lonesome and all alone she consents to go out with him. Their friendship ripens and they fall in love with each other. But the heroine is terrified because she is afraid of what a certain gangster, who had been attracted to her, would do. He swore to kill any man who paid attention to her. The hero is given a position in Russia and since he did not want to leave the heroine they are married. The gangster goes to her apartment and hides there. When a police officer enters to question the heroine about the gangster’s whereabouts, he kills tlie officer and leaves the gun in the room. The hero and the heroine are arrested. He is sentenced to die and she is given life imprisonment. The heroine appeals to the warden and she is given an interview by the district attorney’s assistant who refuses to listen to her story. He is connected with the gangster who is really guilty and naturally tries to cover him. The heroine attempts to escape from prison and the story gets to the January 9, 1932 newspapers. One of the girl prisoners recognizes the gun, a picture of which she sees in the newspapers, for she had given it to the gangster as a gift. Her testimony and the confession of the guilty man clear the hero and the heroine and they are freed and united. The plot was adapted from a story by Ernest Booth. It was directed by Marion (kring. In the cast are Gene Raymond, Wynne Gibson, Rockcliffe Fellowes, Elarle Foxe, Frank Sheridan, Purnell Pratt, and others. Not suitable for children or for Sunday showing. “Ridin* For Justice” with Buck Jones (Columbia, Dec. 10; running time, 58 min.) A fair Western. There is some humor in the first half. The second half is fairly suspensive, because the hero is forced to evade the Sheriff, who tries to pin a crime on him. There is some good horseback riding, too. The end is fairly exciting, for the hero is caught and is about to be hung when he is rescued by the heroine. The Sheriff knew that the hero was innocent but he was eager to have him out of the way, for his wife (the heroine) was in love with the hero and wanted the Sheriff to grant her a divorce. In the further development of the plot, it is shown that while her husband, the Sheriff, was away one night, one of his assistants, who had been forcing his attentions on her, attempts to take advantage of her. She kills him with a gun, which belonged to the hero, and which he had left with her as a token of his affection. The hero is arrested for the murder. But the heroine confesses the whole story to the Sheriff ; she tells him how unhappy she has been living with him, that she loved the hero, and that she wanted a divorce. He tells her he will grant her wishes ; also that he had permitted the hero to escape. Instead, he orders that the hero be hung. He is stopped in time by the heroine, who had learned the truth, and by the judge of the town, who frees the hero, and who orders the arrest of the Sheriff. The heroine leaves for her father’s home so that she might procure a divorce and then marry the hero. The plot was adapted from a story by Harold Shumate. It was directed by Ross Lederman. In the cast are Mary Doran, Russell Simpson, Walter Miller, and others. The talk is clear. Not unsuitable for children or for Sunday showing in theatres that show such pictures. “The Rainbow Trail” with George O’Brien (Fox, Jan. 3; running time, 60 min.) Entertaining 1 It holds one’s interest to the end. Some of the situations are suspensive ; some appealing. Most of the suspense comes from the hero’s endangering his life to save that of the young heroine. The picture has been photographed in and near the Arizona Grand Canyon, and most of the scenes possess grandeur. The story is a sequel to ‘‘Riders of the Purple Sage,” and shows the hero in search of the characters who, at the end of the first story were mountainlocked when, in trying to escape from the villains, they blocked the entrance to Surprise Valley, where they sought refuge, by rolling an immense boulder into the pass. The hero, who was near the outlaws’ lairj comes upon a man djing of a wound inflirted by" the villains for disregarding their w'aming not to proceed any further. The dying man begs the hero to carr>' on the search so as to save three lives landlocked in Surprise Valley. The hero joins, as a mere workman, a party that carried provisions to the outlaws. He is regarded with suspicion by the outlaws and is ordered by the second in command to take a walk for about two hours until the leader returns so as to decide his fate. In his wanderings he meets a young girl, who is one of the very women he had been seeking, but w'ho could not explain anything to him, for the outlaw leader had threatened to exterminate the other members of the party had she talked. The hero saves the sister of the Navajo Indian (Thief from an attempted assault by the lieutenant outlaw and the Indian Chief is grateful to him. By his aid the hero is eventually able to rescue, not only the heroine, but also the other members of the landlocked party. The plot has been founded on Zane Grey’s novel, which was put into pictures, in silent form, once before — by Fox. with Tom Mix in the leading part. In addition to George O’Brien, there are in the cast Cecilia Parker, Minna Gombell, Roscoe Ates, J. M. Kerrigan and others. Although the villain is shown as living with a woman without wedlock, and as having evil intentions toward the heroine, the information is conveyed only by implication. It will be up to each exhibitor himself, therefore, to determine whether it is good for children or for Sunday showing.