Harrison's Reports (1932)

September 24, 1932 HARRISON’S REPORTS 155 “The Night of June 13” (Paramount, Sept. 23 ; running time, 78 min.) Good entertainment. The story is simple but somewhat different and effective; it has human interest and comedy. In addition, several of the situations hold the audience in tense suspense caused by the fact that the hero is in danger of being convicted of a murder he had not committed. The comedy is brought about by the frankness of the elderly father of one of the neighbors who exposes his daughterin-law and puts the prosecuting attorney in his place. The hero is a sympathetic character, suffering because of his wife’s unjustified jealousy, and later protecting the name of an innocent young girl. The story revolves around the actions of several families living on the same street in a small suburban town. The hero’s wife is extremely nervous on account of an automobile accident she had been in which ruined her chances of being a concert pianist. She is extremely jealous of the heroine, the daughter of one of the families, and imagines that the girl is trying to steal her husband. The heroine decides to leave town for a while. She sends a note to the hero aboard the commuter’s train to get off as she wanted to talk to him. He does and she drives him home. She tells him about her plans to leave town. W’hen the hero does not arrive home at his customary time his wife, who had seen the heroine leave with her bags earlier in the day, imagines he had run away with the girl and so she kills herself. The hero calls the police when he arrives home and before they come he burns a letter his wife had left in which she had named the heroine. He is arrested and tried for murder. At the trial all the neighbors testify against him because the truth would involve each one of them. The heroine rushes to the hero’s aid and tells the court he had been with her. But they will not believe her. The father of one of the neighbors throws the court into an uproar by telling them he had seen the hero get off a later train. The hero is freed and leaves the block that had caused all his trouble. The plot was adapted from a story by Vera Caspary. It was directed by Stephen Roberts. In the cast are Clive Brook. Lila Lee, Charlie Ruggles, Gene Raymond, Frances Dee, Mary Boland and Adrianne Allen. Suitable for children and for Sunday showing. “McKenna of the Mounted” — Buck Jones (Columbia, August 16; running time, 66 min.) In addition to its action being fast and to appealing to the emotions of sympathy, this picture possesses the advantage of being different from any story Mr. Jones has ever appeared in. It is unusual in that the hero, a Sergeant in the Canadian Mounted Police force, with the consent of his superior, poses as an outlaw with the hope of gaining the outlaws’ confidence and thus helping to exterminate them. Since no one else except his immediate superior and a banker, who had helped him fake a bank robbery, was in possession of the secret, the hero ran a risk. There may be persons who will doubt whether such a procedure would be allowed in real life, but it is done so well that it appears real : — Inspector Logan is dissatisfied with his men because they were unable to stop the depredations of the outlaws in that region. Sergeant McKenna (hero) requests of the Inspector to allow him to pose as an outlaw. The Inspector grants his consent and they stage a hold up ; the hero holds up a citizen carrying money to the bank, but he is arrested by a group of armed citizens and taken to headquarters. The hero is stripped of his honors and is lashed by his former comrades, including his brother, for having disgraced them ; but he is not imprisoned on account of his good past record. The hero joins the outlaws and is made to go with them in a hold up of the fast express, thus being put lo a test. During the hold up the outlaw leader’s men are captured by the mounted police, the Inspector having been tipped off by the hero ; but the hero and the outlaw that had been paired with him escape, because they held up the station while the others were trying to hold up the train. Among the papers, the outlaw leader finds a letter from the Inspector revealing the fact that the hero had volunteered to act the part of an outlaw. The outlaw leader plans to have him shot by the mounted themselves. The mounted police appear under the command of the Inspector. The outlaw shoots and kills the Inspector ; he then rides away. The hero, w'ho had been semiconscious from a blow, is arrested by his own brother. But the hero, upon becoming fully conscious again, knocks his brother from his horse, and escapes. He goes after the outlaw and, after a terrific struggle, he manages to handcuff the outlaw. The mounted find them both unconscious from exhaustion. The sight of the handcuffs holding the outlaw to the hero’s wrist makes his brother and the other mounted men realize that the hero was only playing the part of an outlaw. The hero is honored by the force. He wins also the heroine, who had never doubted him. The story is by Randall Faye ; the direction, by D. Ross Lederman. In the cast are James Flavin, Greta Grabstedt, Niles Welch, Mitchell Lewis and others. Thrilling for children ; good for Sundays. “Unholy Love” (Allied Piet., running time, 68 min.) Poor ! It is slow-moving and therefore tiresome. The heroine is a weak character ; therefore no sympathy is felt for her. Some of her actions are distinctly distasteful. There is a feeling of mild suspense throughout because the hero is unaware of his wife’s unfaithfulness. The closing scene is exciting and at the same time pathetic ; it is where the heroine kills herself : — The hero, a wealthy young doctor, son of a prominent surgeon, has his first case ; he attends the family gardener, father of the heroine. He falls in love with the heroine who plays upon his sympathies and is secretly married to her. The gardener dies and the hero tells his father of his secret marriage. This causes his father much grief because he had taken it for granted that his son would marry an old friend’s daughter, who was very much in love with him. This girl is made exceedingly unhappy. The hero takes the heroine to his father’s home and they live there. She is snubbed by all their friends. She is friendly with a manabout-town and the affair becomes serious. The hero’s father finds out about it and tells the man to leave town. The heroine rushes to the man’s apartment to beg him to take her with him. When he refuses she rushes out to her car and drives away. Driving at a high rate of speed the car breaks through the railing of a bridge and crashes. She is killed. The hero’s father and the former fiancee, who knew about the heroine’s unfaithfulness, agree never to tell the hero about it. He thinks it was an accident. The story has been adapted from a novel “Madame Bovary’’ by Gustave Flaubert. It was directed by Albert Ray. In the cast are H. B. Warner, Lila Lee, Beryl Mercer, Joyce Compton, Lyle Talbot, Ivan Lebedeff and others. Not suitable for children or for Sunday showing. “The Painted Woman” with Spencer Tracy and Peggy Shannon (Fox, Aug. 21; running time, 75 min.) A cheap sex melodrama, slow-moving and at times extremely boresome. The story is familiar, and it has not been treated from a new angle. It is all sex, for the heroine is constantly being pursued by men who desire her. Some sympathy is aroused for her when she wants to go “straight.’’ The most interesting part is one short scene in which men are shown diving for pearls : — The heroine, a singer in a cafe in Singapore, is the mistress of a brutal sea captain who warns her not to look at any other man. She goes up to her room and a man follows her and forces his way in. She hits him over the head with a bottle. Afraid that she had killed him she packs her bag and rushes to the captain’s boat. He is happy to have her with him. One of the sailors contracts cholera. The captain, not wishing to endanger her life, puts her off on an island and tells her he will be back for her. There she meets the hero, a former U. S. Marine, now in the pearl diving business. He falls in love with her but she repulses him. She is desired also by a law'yer who is drunk most of the time. She is about to go away with this man when she reads an item that the captain’s boat is lost. Glad that she is free she marries the hero and they are happy for a time. But the lawyer gleefully tells her that the ship had been found and that its captain is on his way to the island. She does not tell the hero anything about her fear but when the boat lands she goes to the captain and tells him a lie about the police having a warrant out for him. She gives him a valuable pearl to go away. But the lawyer tells the captain the truth. That night the hei*o is called away and the captain comes to her home. A native follows and kills him when he tries to attack the heroine. She is arrested and tried for murder. The hero is disillusioned. But the native, who is shot at by the police, confesses to the murder and is the means of bringing about a reconciliation between the hero and the heroine. The plot was adapted from a story by Alfred C. Kenned}^ It was directed by John Blystone. In the cast are William Boyd, Irving Pichel, Raul Roulien, and others. Not suitable for children or for Sunday showing. (Not a substitution).