Harrison's Reports (1933)

Marcrh 4, 1933 35 HARRISON’S REPORTS “Ladies They Talk About” with Barbara Stanwyck (Warner Bros., Feb. 4; running time, 69 min.) Just fair! It is only excellent acting that saves it from being mediocre. It is a prison melodrama, and the scenes of the women’s prison are so exaggerated as to be farcical. For instance, their cells look like girls’ rooms in colleges, and the girls are shown going to sleep in silk nightdresses and wearing the daintiest lace and silk underwear under their prison dresses. The talk that goes on between some of the inmates, in which they refer to a brothel, which had been run by one of them as a “beauty parlor,” is dirty at times. The heroine is not a very sympathetic character, for she is shown as being a member of a gang of crooks, and her acts, while in prison, make her even more unsympathetic. For instance, she enters into a plot to aid two male prisoners to escape. The closing scenes have some suspense, for the heroine is determined to kill the hero, thinking he had double-crossed her. But, in movie fashion, she changes her mind and accepts his marriage proposal. In the plot, the heroine is shown arrested on suspicion of having been an accomplice in a bank holdup. The hero, a preacher who had been friends with her when they were both children, falls in love with her and since she tells him she is innocent he is determined to help her. Just as she is to be paroled in his custody she confesses to him that she was guilty but that now she will start life anew with him. He refuses to sign the parole and disgusted she confesses to the district attorney and is sentenced to three years in prison. When she is released she calls at the hero’s temple and shoots him. It is then that she realizes she loves him, and is happy that he is not wounded seriously. They are united. The plot was adapted from a story by Dorothy Mackaye and Carlton Miles. It was directed by Howard Bretherton and William Keighley. In the cast are Preston S. Foster, Lyle Talbot, Dorothy Burgess, Lillian Roth, Maude Kburne, Harold Huber, Ruth Donnelly, and others. Not suitable for children, for adolescents or for Sundays. “Crime of the Century” with Stuart Erwin, Frances Dee and Jean Hersholt (Paramount, Feb. 24; running time, 73 min.) A fair murder mystery melodrama. The first half is rather slow, given more to talk than to action. But the second half holds one in tense suspense, even though most people will guess the murderer’s identity. The situations in which the first and then the second murders are committed are gripping, and the closing scenes in which the murderer’s identity is made known are exciting. Stuart Erwin provides some good comedy as a prying newsapaper reporter : — The police inspector receives a call from a doctor who tells him a strange story. It seems that the doctor had under treatment a patient he could hypnotize. He had told the patient to bring $100,000 to his office intending to retain the money after killing him. He begs the police to prevent him from committing murder. The police promise him that they will not leave him alone. While he is treating the patient, instructing him to take the money back to the bank, the lights go out, the patient is murdered, the doctor chloroformed, and the money taken. The hero, a newspaper reporter, rushes into the house when he hears the doctor’s wife scream. He does some investigating before the police arrive and finds some valuable clues. Many people are suspected, particularly the doctor’s wife, but it eventually comes to light that the two murders had been committed by the police inspector who, when cornered, kills himself. The monej" is recovered. The hero falls in love with the heroine, daughter of the doctor. The plot was adapted from a story by Walter Maria Espe. It was directed by William Beaudine. In the cast are Wynne Gibson, David Landau, Robert Elliott, Gordon Westcott, Torben Meyer, William Janney and others. Children will not understand the implication about the fact that the doctor’s wife is unfaithful ; unsuitable for adolescents or for Sunday showing. “A Lady’s Profession” with Alison Skipworth, Roland Young and Sari Maritza (Paramount, Mar. 3,' running time,, 70 min.) A fair program picture. The plot is weak and there is too much talk ; it depends entirely upon comedy situations for entertainment. The performances are good, particularly that of Alison Skipworth and of Roland Young, as two impoverished English people of the aristocracy, who, when they arrive in America, find themselves up against American racketeers whose methods puzzle them. The situation in which they mistake a potential buyer of their speakeasy for a revenue agent is quite funny. Some excitement is caused in the closing scenes where Alison Skipworth, realizing that the cafe is to be raided, hurriedly sells it to an eager buyer. There is a pleasant romance between Sari Maritza and Kent Taylor : — Alison Skipworth and her brother, Roland Young, English aristocrats, find they are broke. Young decides to go to America to make his fortune. His daughter. Sari Maritza, together with Alison Skipworth, sail to join him. Kent Taylor, son of an American millionaire, is in love with Maritza, but she refuses to marry him lest she and her family be a burden to him. In America, Skipworth is shocked to find her brother running a speakeasy. They try to sell it but their scheme fails. Realizing that they must recover their investment, she closes the place, has it redecorated, and then opens it again using their titled English names. This attracts society people, and it becomes profitable. When they refuse to buy liquor, the racketeers frame them by putting whiskey into the ginger ale bottles. The police are tipped off and go to raid the place. Skipworth is informed of it and, realizing that they will be ruined, she sells out to the eager buyer. But the buyer had only acted as agent for Taylor, who wanted to buy it to help them out. All is explained, and Maritza and Taylor are married. Skipworth and Young decide to return to England. The plot was adapted from a story by Nina Wilcox Putnam. It was directed by Norman McLeod. In the cast are Roscoe Karns, Warren Hymer, George Barbier, Dewey Robinson, and others. Because of the liquor angle, its suitability, for children, adolescents, or for Sunday showing is problematical. You will have to use your own judgement. “Parole Girl” with Mae Clarke and Ralph Bellamy (Columbia, Mar. 4; running time, 67 min.) Although very well produced, this is just mediocre entertainment. The plot is illogical and the characters are so unsympathetic that one loses interest in the outcome. One cannot sympathize with a heroine who is first shown as working an illegal racket, and then, when freed from prison, seeking revenge on the man who, because of his duty, was responsible for sending her there. The situation in which she forces the hero to acknowledge her as his wife is ridiculous and at the same time unpleasant. As a matter of fact all her actions make one feel resentful towards her instead of pitying her. There is some suspense in the closing scenes when the hero’s divorced wife calls on the heroine, forcing her to see that the ex-wife left before the hero returned. In the development of the plot the heroine is shown finally confessing to the hero that he had not married her, but that it was just a trick on her part to make him suffer. But since they loved each other they are united. The plot was adapted from a story by Norman Krasna. It was directed by Eddie Qine. Others in the cast are Marie Prevost, Hale Hamilton, Ferdinand Gottschalk, Ernest Wood, Sam Godfrey and John Paul Jones. Not suitable for children, adolescents or Sunday showing. (The Home office running time is 71 minutes.) “King of the Jungle” (Paramount, Mar. 10; running time, 72 min.) Excellent entertainment ! It is filled with thrills, human interest and some excellent comedy situations. Although some of the thrills are brought about by means of double e.xposure camera work, they appear so realistic that the spectator does not know the difference and is made to feel they are natural. There are two exciting fights between animals ; one between a lion and a bull, and the other between a lion and a tiger. The situation in which the hero enters the heroine’s apartment appropriating all the food and then frightening her girl friend provokes much laughter. The closing scenes are the most thrilling part of the picture. A fire breaks out in the circus and the animals are seen rushing about, endangering the lives of the audience. The elephants run into the street, overturning buses filled with people and breaking down everything in their way. The plot was adapted from a story by Charles Thurley .Stoneham. It was directed by H. Bruce Humberstone and Max Marcin. In the cast are Buster Crabbe, Frances Dee, Robert Adair, Nydia Westman, Irving Pichel, Sidney Toler and others. Suitable for children, adolescents and for Sundays.