Harrison's Reports (1932)

August 27, 1932 139 HARRISON’S REPORTS “Isle of Paradise” {Adolph Poliak, Aug. 15; running time, 55 min.) An interesting travelogue of Bali, an island in the Dutch East Indies, which is referred to as the Isle of Paradise because of the beauty of the country and the happiness of the natives. Everyone in Bali, including the women, who by tne way are beautiful, works and enjoys it. Some of them are engaged in the rice fields where everything is done by the labor of man and not by machines. Others are engaged in more artistic work. The people live simple lives and not only are but look happy. Their daily routine is shown from early rising, going to market, and then work. At the end of their day’s work, the people, who are very clean, bathe in any one of the many streams that can be found in Bali. The people are playful and not without humor. They have kite-flying contests and one tries to outdo the other by the size and beauty of his kite. Some of the kites are made in the form of a pompous tourist, others in the forms of their gods, but they are all made artistically. Most of the picture is given over to the festivities surrounding a cremation. Not only the town of Bali but natives from neighboring towns come for the ceremonies. Side shows of every type are set up ; as for instance a bull race, or a bird fight. The wealthier a family, the more pretentious is their ceremony. The exercises are involved and the excitement is high-pitched. The final ceremony demands that the nearest relatives go out to sea, regardless of the weather, and scatter the ashes over the waves. Not for the masses, but excellent for the high-brows. Children may enjoy it. “The First Year” with Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell {Fox, July 31 ; running time, 80 wn’n.) The majority of picture-goers will like this picture, for it is not only human but close to their lives. The story shows the hopes and aspirations of two young folk, who marry, but who find that life is not so smooth after all. Instead of the success they dreamed, they have failure. This leads to such a misunderstanding that the heroine leaves her husband and goes back to her mother. But reconciliation is effected towards the end, despite prides. There is a great deal of comedy. The usual villain, in the person of a former sweetheart, is the cause of the misunderstandings. There are some melodramatic twists in it, too. Tliis occurs when Charles Farrell, after selling a piece of property to the railroad and getting a large sum of money for it, returns to his wife with the idea of effecting a reconciliation. There he finds his ex-rival trying to fill his wife’s head with divorce ideas and gives him a good beating. Frank Craven’s play of the same name has formed the basis of the picture. W. K. Howard directed it with skill. It is clean and suitable for children and as a Sunday show. “Devil and the Deep” with Gary Cooper, Tallulah Bankhead and Charles Laughton {Paramount, August 12; time, 75 »!in.) E.xcellently directed and acted, but it is a morbid entertainment, for most of the action unfolds in a submarine that had been purposely sunk by its commander, who is presented as partly insane and madly jealous of his wife. The scenes in the submarine have been produced with realism. There is first shown, through the periscope, the picture of an oncoming merchant vessel : the commander of the submarine, after submerging the vessel, directs it in the path of the merchant vessel. Just before the collision he orders his second in command to take the persicope. But it is too late for him to avert the collision. The water is shown rushing in and the men frantically attempting to shut off the bulkheads. Soon the fact becomes known that the commander is insane and they refuse to take orders from him, taking them from the hero. The men are shown putting on the “lungs” and filling them with oxygen ; then getting into the compartment at the conning tower, from which they escape by letting in enough water to increase the pressure, after which they open the outside hatch and climb to the surface of the water. The drowning of the insane commander in the submarine, when he opens some flood doors, is realistic in the extreme. The jealousy of Charles Laughton, as the commander of the submarine, is very realistic ; his thoughts are made to stand out as if they are spoken aloud. The action unfolds at a British submarine base in North Africa. The cause of the tragedy is the jealousy the commander feels for his wife, whom he suspects of infidelity. He causes one innocent officer to be demoted. While the heroine, his wife, suffering mental agony because of her inability to convince him that she was innocent of any wrong doing, walking through the celebrating Arabian crowds absentmindedly, she meets the hero, who realizes that she is not in good mental state and tries to protect her. He takes her to a lonely spot and they exchange words of love. She surrenders to him. The following evening the heroine is surprised when her husband brings to Ins nome for dinner the hero, who was taking the place of the demoted officer. The commander suspects that the two know each other and, feeling sure that they were lovers, he makes up his mind to do some harm to the hero. The heroine, suspecting it, rushes to the ship to warn the hero. The Commander arrives and when he finds his wife aboard gives immediate orders to shove off. As soon as they are in the offing, he submerges. Taking the periscope, he leads the vessel into the path of a merchant vessel and causes a collision. The men are all saved when the hero takes command. The Commander perishes in the vessel. The plot has been founded on a story by Harry Hervey; it was directed skillfully by Marion Gering. Others in the cast are Cary Grant, Paul Porcasi, Juliet Compton, and Henry Kolker. Because of the indiscretion of the heroine and of the hero it is unsuitable for children and for Sunday showing. It is an excellent drama, but very unpleasant. “The Limping Man” {Potvers Piet., June 15; running time, S3 min.) A fair mystery melodrama. The story is somewhat illogical and at times confusing; in addition, the first half is slow moving. But the interest is held fairly well all the way through since the mystery is not solved until the very end. The closing scenes are the most exciting; they show the hero is in danger of being killed by a criminal who had mistaken him for his twin brother. This is a British made picture and the talk is very English : — The hero had invited the heroine, her parents, and some friends to his country estate, and he and the heroine announce their engagement to their friends. One of the guests hears mysterious footsteps and screams. The servants notice a limping man on several occasions but cannot catch him. The hero goes to investigate a noise in one of the rooms. Slowly a panel in the wall opens and he is dragged in. Shortly afterwards he reappears somewhat dazed and faints. A friend of his, a famous detective, calls and takes the investigation of the matter in his hands. The heroine, who loved the hero, suddenly finds him repulsive and tells th.is to the detective the next morning. This gives him the clue he wants. The secret panel is found and they go through a dark tunnel. There they find the hero, with his arms bound, and on the floor alongside of him his brother who bore a striking resemblance to him. The brother is dead, having been killed by a criminal who had followed him from America for revenge. The mystery is cleared up. The brother had used the tunnel as a hideout without the hero’s knowledge, and he was the one who had dragged the hero in, later posing as the hero. The heroine is happy to have her fiance back. The plot was adapted from a story by Will Scott. It was directed by John Orton. In the cast arc Franklin Dyall, Margot Grahame, Arthus Hardy, and others. Suitable for children, except for sensitive ones who may be frightened. Not a Sunday picture. IS THE CHARGE MADE BY CENSORS FOR PASSING A PICTURE A TAX? In Alberta, Canada, the Government has increased the censorship fee and the distributors have decided to collect the entire fee from the exhibitors by charging them ten cents for each reel of film. They assert that Clause Twelve of the contract, which refers to taxes, gives them the right to do so. It does not require a legal mind to know that a censorship fee is not a tax fee, and that, such being the case, they are not entitled to pass it on the exhibitors. The censorship board in Alberta, like the censorship boards everywhere, was set up to protect the morals of the innocent public from the outpourings of the sewers of Hollywood. If the producers should produce decent films censorship boards will have no reason for existence; and since they are unwilling to make such films, it should be they who should bear the burden of censorship. To the Canadian exhibitors Harrison’s Reports would suggest not to be lambs all their lives. If the producers should insist upon charging them ten cents a reel they should apply to the courts for relief. I am sure that no court could ever find that a censorship fee is a tax; and if they should prove to the court the profiteering that will go on in making such a charge, I feel confident that the courts will put an end to it.