Harrison's Reports (1932)

June 4, 1932 91 HARRISON’S REPORTS “Man About Town” with Warner Baxter, Karen Morley and Conway Tearle {Fox, May 22 ; running time, 71 min.) One of the worst pictures Fox produced this season, not only from the point of material but also from that of acting. There is one situation that shows the hero’s former friend deliberately planning the murder of the hero by assigning to him a case that would have meant his death. This produces a feeling of horror even though the friend warns the hero of the dangerousness of the mission. The situation at the sick bed of his friend, where this villainous character tells the hero, who had been seriously wounded and his life was despaired of, that he would not rest until he sent the heroine to the chair, was conceived by the author apparently to endow this man with some virtue, by showing that he had become transformed, but it is horrid ; — Two men are n'i.adly in love with the same woman; The hero had met her in Europe during the world war and then he had lost track of her; the two met when the friend took the hero to the ball, given to diplomats by the British Ambassador, to introduce her “to the finest girl in the world.” When the heroine meets the hero again, she naturally breaks her engagement with the friend. This the friend resents. The hero is so attached to his friend that, rather than break their friendship, he closes his gambling hall and makes ready to go away. I5ut the heroine will not let him go. To make for himself a place in society, to which he once belonged because of his family prestige, he applies to the Department of Justice for a position on the Secret Service, in which once he worked. His friend, who is the chief of that Department, assigns him to a case that meant nearly his sure death. But the hero comes out of it a victor, arresting the counterfeiters. The heroine’s sister, thinking that her husband had died in the World War, marries again ; she is the wife of the British Ambassador. The first husband returns and, by threatening to expose her, forces her to steal a treaty from the Ambassador’s safe and to give it to him. The heroine reaches his apartment in time and, failing to induce him to return the treaty and thus save her sister from disgrace, shoots and kills him. The hero’s friend obtains evidence proving the guilt of the heroine and, in order to put the hero in an embarrassing position, assigns the case to him to bring the murderer to justice. The heroing confesses the facts to the hero. The hero begs his friend to drop the case. The friend refuses. The hero goes to the dead man’s apartment to take away the only clue that would have given the heroine away and is shot and seriously wounded. He tells the authorities that it was he who had killed the villain. He does not want to live. The friend, moved by the hero’s spirit of self sacrifice, relents; and in order to make the hero regain his desire to live, tells him that he will not rest until he had sent the heroine to the chair. This has the desired effect; the hero, in order to be able to battle for the heroine, wants to live. The plot was adapted from a story by Denison Clift. It was directed by John F. Dillon. Not suitable for children or for Sunday showing. Substitution Facts : This picture is replacing “Sink or Swim,” which was to have been founded on a story by James Starr and Jack O’Donnell. Therefore, it is a story substitution. “Ghost Valley” with Tom Keene {RKO Pathe, May 13; 53 minutes) _ Those who like western melodramas should enjoy “Ghost Valley” immensely, because in addition to the western action it deals also with ghosts and other mysterious doings. The action is much faster than it is in the average western, and holds the spectator in tense suspense. The scenes in the cave where the hero is captured by the outlaws and those that follow, which show him escaping from their hands, are thrilling : — Boom City, a deserted western town, becomes the centre of conspiracy. Judge Blake (Mitchell Harris) and Gordon (Ted Adams) his henchman, attempt to get hold of an old gold mine, the inheritance of Jerry Long (Tom Keene) and of Jane Worth (Merna Kennedy). When Jerry returns to town after a long absence he is arre.sted as a tramp and put into jail. Blake, seeing an opportunity to further his scheme about getting hold of the property, offers Jerrv, whose real name is not yet known, to pay his fine and to give him some money besides if he will only irnpersonatc a certain Jerry Long. Jerrv, seeing an opportunity to learn Blake’s schemes, agrees. Thus Jerry Long is introduced to cvervbody in town, including Jane, as Jerry Long. Misunderstandings arise between Jerry and Jane, but at the close Jerry is able to expose the crooks and to save the property by preventing Jane from selling her part out. Jane is glad to know that he is the real Jerry Long. The plot has been founded on a story by Adele Buffington; it was directed by Fred Allen. Good for children and for Sunday showing. THEATRE CHAINS A LIABILITY Mr. Abram F. Myers, general counsel of Allied States, .said the following in a Bulletin of the organization issued last week about the chain theatres : “Representatives of Allied in their contacts and correspondence with Congressmen and Senators have invariably received expressions of interest in and sympathy for the independent theatres. There was a uniform willingness, even anxiety, to fix the exemption at the figure which would exclude the majority of such houses from the tax. The figures arrived at in the Flouse and the Senate are a clear indication of this. “Because a good many independent houses charge admissions of 50 cents Allied tried hard to have the exemption fixed at that figure, but this could not be done without exempting the most of the great chain houses and this Congress was unwilling to do. “The outcome is a clear demonstration of the wisdom of Allied’s course in presenting the situation of the independents separately and apart from the presentation on behalf of the producers and chains.” No independent exhibitor need worry any longer about the chain theatres, for their disintegration is about complete. The biggest chain theatres, the dreadnaughts of the motion picture industry, are being shut down, for they cannot be conducted profitably. There is no room for picture theatres that seat more than twenty-five hundred, or three thousand at the most; any theatres of greater seating capacity have to be turned into garages soon. They were economically unsound to begin with ; and with the putrid pictures the producers have been making they have been turned into graves, graves in which the great plans of their sponsors have been buried. A1 Steffes told me last week that when the Minnesota Theatre, in Minneapolis, opened, he said to Sam Katz: “Sam, I have been present at the opening of one of the most beautiful theatres in the United States ; I am sure that I shall be at its funeral, too !” “You are crazy, A1 !” Katz said. But A1 Steffes saw the day when his prediction came true ; the Minnesota closed its doors this week. If the theatres the film companies now control had been in the hands of independent theatre owners, the film companies would not be in the terrible position they are now in; they would be getting some revenue out of them, whereas now they are compelled to borrow money to keep them open. Some time ago, I stated in these columns that the combined losses of the five theatre-owning producers were about one million dollars a week. The losses are now much greater, for one of the companies alone is losing about half a million dollars a week. Look at the stock quotations ; very soon it will be cheaper for you to paper your bedroom with stock certificates of the film companies than with wall paper. Wliere are the geniuses? During the prosperous days one could hear the names of some of the leaders spoken of with greater reverence than the names of President Lincoln, Washington, and of other famous historical figures, of this as well as of other nations. It took just one depression to prove that there was no real ability in the moving picture business. If you had read as many books and plays announced for production during the 1932-33 season as I have you would know how correct I am in this statenrent. I often wonder whether imbecils could in most of these cases have done worse. REPLACE DEFECTIVE COPIES Now and then a copy of Harrison’s Reports appears with the inside pages blank. This occurs because the press feeder takes two sheets at one time. Before mailing, the copies are examined ; but now and then a copy or two escapes attention. If you should happen to receive such a copy, write and ask for a complete copy ; it will be furnished to you free of charge. At this occasion let me suggest that you look over your files to see if any of your copies are missing so that you may order duplicate copies.