Harrison's Reports (1932)

178 November 5, 1932 HARRISON’S REPORTS “Three on a Match” with Warren William, Joan Blondell, Bette Davis and Ann Dvorak {First Nat'l, Nov. 5 ; running time, 63 min.) Unpleasant 1 There is too much suffering and ugliness in this picture, which depresses one. The scenes showing the kidnapped child in the hands of his abductors, in squalid surroundings, ill and unkempt, will wring the heart of any one; sensitive people will not be able to watch it, especially the situation in which the abductors decide to murder the child when they realize they are trapped. The horror of the Lindbergh kidnaping is still vividly imprinted in the minds of American people. The gradual downfall of the mother is horrible. The situation in which she decides to sacrifice herself for the child’s sake is heart-rending. The pleasant parts of the picture are so few and far between that one is conscious only of the ugliness. There is no excuse for the wife to be dissatisfied ; she had everything— money, a loving husband, and a charming child. In the development of the plot, the heroine is shown, while on the boat, leaving for Europe, meeting a man and, before the boat had left, following him with her child. She takes to drink and then to dope. A friend of hers, with whom she had gone to school, sees her and, unable to stand the sight of that innocent child’s being reared in such an environment, calls on the hero and informs him of his wife’s whereabouts. With her help, the father regains his child. After his divorce, he marries the friend, a kindly girl. They are happy until the lover of the ex-wife, in order to exact money from the hero, kidnaps the child. The mother is horrified. The police search everywhere and when they are about to close in on them the kidnapers decide to murder the child. But the drug-filled mother, after writing with her lipstick on her white night-gown where the child is, jumps from the window and is killed. The police read the writing and raid the apartment, rescuing the child. The story is by Kubec Glasmon and John Bright ; the direction, by Mervyn LeRoy. Grant Mitchell, Lyle Talbot, Sheila Terry, Glenda Farrell and others are in the cast. Unsuitable for children or for Sunday showing. “The King Murder” with Conway Tearle {Chesterfield Pictures; running time, 67 min.) A good program murder melodrama. It has been well produced, and the interest is held to the end. The solving of the murder is done in an ingenious way, and the identity of the murderer comes as a surprise ; several people are suspected of the crime. Sympathy is felt for two of these people who, though inocent, become involved in the murder. The hero is head of the homicide squad. He receives a call from the heroine, who tells him that her husband is having an affair with another woman. Since he loves the heroine, he tells her he will see what he can do to restore her happiness. He calls the husband up to invite him out to lunch so as to talk to him. During the conversation he is interrupted by one of his detectives who tells him the woman in the case had been found murdered. He tells this to the husband, who is shocked and asks if he may join in the investigation. Several people are suspected, especially a young man who had entered the woman’s apartment to take some letters that she had kept to blackmail him with. When he entered the room he found the heroine dead. The myster}’ is finally unravelled ; it is discovered that the heroine’s husband was the guilty person. He had given the woman some poisoned phonograph needles and when she had gone to play the phonograph she was poisoned. The same thing happens to the husband when he rushes to the machine to prevent the hero from touching it. The husband dies. The hero comforts the heroine. The plot was adapted from a story by Charles Reed Jones. It was directed by Richard Thorpe. In the cast are Natalie Moorhead, Marceline Day, Dorothy Revier, Don Alvaredo, Huntley Gordon, and others. Not suitable for children or for Sunday showing. “Virtue” with Carole Lombard and Pat O’Brien {Columbia, Oct. 25; running time, 67 min.) For a drama of its kind it is good : it holds the interest well. Considerable sympathy is felt for the heroine, who, though she had been a street walker, had remained faithful to her husband after their marriage. The scenes that show her husband accusing her of infidelity when in reality she was innocent are dramatic. The theme is not pleasant in that it deals with street walkers and shows them plying their trade : — The heroine is ordered out of the city by the police because she had been caught soliciting. But she does not go. Instead she meets the hero, a taxicab driver, and they eventually fall in love. They marry; but the hero is disillusioned when on their wedding night a detective calls on the heroine to find out why she had not left the city. The hero is willing to go through with his marriage. For a time he is very happy but always a little suspicious. The heroine had been saving money the hero was giving her so that the hero might buy an interest in a gas station. She is fooled into giving one of her former street associates two hundred dollars. When she finds out she had been tricked she calls on the girl and tells her she must have the money. The hero sees her entering the hotel and suspects the worst He follows her the next night and sees her go there again. When she returns with the two hundred dollars he accuses her of being unfaithful. She orders him out of the house. The girl on whom she had called is found dead. The heroine is arrested. But it is finally proved that the girl had been killed by a man she had been living with. The hero and the heroine are reconciled. The plot was adapted from a story by Ethel Hill. It was directed by Eddie Buzzell. In the cast are Mayo Methot, Jack LaRue, Ward Bond, Shirley Grey, and others. Not suitable for children or for Sunday showing. Substitution Facts: On the contract 2023 is listed as “The Half-W'ay Girl’’ and as described in the work sheet was to have been adapted from the novel ‘Via Manhattan,” by Hawthorne Hurst. Since “Virtue” is replacing “The Half-Way Girl” it is a story substitution and you are not obligated to accept it. “Scarlet Week End” v/ith Dorothy Revier {Irving Pictures; running time, 57 min.) A moderately entertaining program murder melodrama. It holds the interest to a fair degree because the murderer is not identified until the closing scene. But the plot becomes rather involved and at times the action drags ; in addition, the sound occasionally is poor, making it difficult to follow what the characters are saying. Sympathy is felt for the heroine who suffers because of her husband's unfaithfulness. In the development of the plot it is shown that her husband had been having affairs with two married women. .At a house party given by the husband these two women are present with their husbands and other guests. The hero, who was in love with the heroine, and who had been disappointed because she had not married him, sees the murder of the heroine’s husband. But he cannot identify the murderer. The heroine is suspected because bloody pyjamas are found in her room. But the detective called in to unravel the mystery finally proves that the murder had been committed by one of the husband’s paramours out of jealousy for his attentions to another woman. The hero and the heroine are united. The plot was adapted from a story by Willis Kent. It was directed by George Melford. In the cast are Theodore Von Eltz, Phyllis Barrington, Niles Welch, Eddie Phillips and others. Not suitable for children or for Sunday showing. “Air Mail” with Ralph Bellamy and Pat O’Brien {Universal, Nov. 2; running time, 82 wiin.) .A great thriller ! In one scene, one will feel the same thrill as one felt in the Warner Bros, picture, “The Crowd Roars,” for a human being, pilot, burns alive when his plane crashes and the gasoline catches fire. The cries and the groans of the dying man are heart-rending. Other thrilling sights are those in which Pat O’Brien, as a crack pilot, flies his machine in a dare-devil fashion ; he takes tail spins, rolls over and over barrel-like, and flies through the one door of a, what seems to be, barn, or a hangar, and comes out through the other door. Pilots have been seen in pictures to fly under a bridge, but never through a low building. There are many other thrilling sights, the last one being that which shows Pat O’Brien grounding in a snow-covered mountain and rescuing Ralph Bellamy. This part of the film is also moving, for the two men up to that time had been shown as being enemies. The broadcasting of Bellamy’s accident adds realism to the affair. Thrilling as it is. and such as to please the masses greatly. “.Air Mail” appeals to the crude emotions. Refined persons may find fault with O’Brien’s disreputable conduct, and tender-hearted ones will, no doubt, feel horrified at the sight of a human being’s being burnt alive. U. S. N. Lt.-Com. Frank Wead wrote the story, and John Ford directed it. Gloria Stuart, Slim Summerville, and others are in the cast. Not suitable for children or for Sunday showing.