Harrison's Reports (1933)

38 HARRISON’S REPORTS March 11, 1933 “Strictly Personal” with Marjorie Rambeau, Dorothy Jordan and Eddie Quillan {Paramount, Mar. lo; running time, 69 min.) Mediocre I The characters are not of the type that arouse any sympathy, since the plot deals mostly with crooks. In addition, the story is thin, and the characters talk in subdued rhythm ; the cadence of the talk becomes monotonous after awhile. Several situations are unpleasant ; as for instance when Louis Calhern, a racketeer, chokes Olive Tell to death when she confesses that she is not a wealthy woman as she had led him to believe. As a matter of fact, in every situation that Louis Calhern appears something ugly occurs, leaving one with a bitter taste; one resents his treatment of the girl who lives with him, and also the fact that he attempts to seduce Dorothy Jordan, an innocent girl Marjorie Rambeau and her husband, Edward Ellis, an escaped convict, run a “Lonely Hearts Club,” and look forward to the day when they will have enough money to buy a fox farm. Since they are living an honest life, they are n fear lest some one recognize Ellis, who had dyed his hair and straightened his nose so as to avoid recognition. Dorothy Jordan, daughter of Ellis’ pal, who is in jail, comes to live with them. She thinks her father is dead. They take the girl in and treat her as if she were their own daughter. She meets Eddie Quillan, a newspaper reporter, and they fall in love with each other. Rambeau and Ellis receive a call from Louis Calhern, a racketeer, who knows about Ellis’ past. He threatens him with exposure unless they run the club as he, Calhern, wants it to be run; that is, lure wealthy old men to the place, introduce them to pretty young girls, and then obtain money from them. They are forced to accept his proposition. Eddie and Dorothy quarrel when Eddie intimates that the club is not legitimate, and they part. One of the members of the club appears to be a wealthy widow and Calhern is attracted by her jewels. He plays up to her and is soon asking her for money. She confesses that all she owns are her jewels. He kills her and takes the jewels. He attempts to put the blame on Ellis but is unsuccessful. Dorothy’s father, released from prison, calls on Ellis and they introduce him as a friend so that Dorothy will not know he is her father. Calhern wants Dorothy. He telephones to her to meet him if she wants to help Rambeau and Ellis. She rushes to an airport. Eddie, having followed her and found out where she was going, telepiiones to Ellis, and both Ellis and her father rush to the airport. The father kills Calhern just as he was to board a plane with Dorothy, but he is not caught. Dorothy and Eddie are united. The plot was adapted from a story by Wilson Mizner and Robert T. Shannon. It was directed by Ralph Murphy. In the cast are Dorothy Burgess, Hugh Herbert, and others. Not suitable for children, adolescents or for Sunday showing. “Clear All Wires” with Lee Tracy {MGM, Feb. 24; running time, 78 min.) A fair comedy. It is fast moving and the laughs are provoked by the manner in which Lee Tracy, as an international news-reporter, makes and writes news items for his American paper, obtaining scoops by lies and cheating. Although he is not a sympathetic character, and there is little human interest in the story, yet the interest is held because the spectator does not know what Tracy will do next to obtain news. The closing scenes are exciting, suspensive, and mirth-provoking: — Tracy is foreign correspondent for an American paper. In Paris, he meets Una Merkel, an American chorus girl, and after having had an affair with her he learns that she is being financed by his editor. This does not upset his plans for when he is ordered to Russia he takes her with him. His secretary obtains the best rooms for him by having another newspaperman ousted, and even takes the man’s interpreter by paying him more money. As soon as Tracy arrives in Russia he begins sending exaggerated news reports to his paper. But the editor, finding out about Una Merkel, sends Thomas a cable firing him. And then Una Merkel leaves him. Thomas is heartbroken and realizes that in order to regain his position he must have some startling news. He and his secretary plan to shoot a Russian prince, a friend of Tracy’s, in Tracy’s room, and then send out cables about the Russian plot to kill the last of the Romanoffs. Everything is set and the secretary goes out on the balcony to prepare for the shooting, which they had arranged to carry out at seven o’clock. But just a few minutes before the appointed timethe head of the Russian police calls for an interview and sits in the chair where the Prince was to have sat. Tracy had no way of telling his secretary not to shoot and just at seven o’clock steps in front of the chief and receives the shot. He is acclaimed a hero. But his newspaper rival finds a copy of the cable about the shooting of the Prince which Tracy had written beforehand. He takes this to the police chief and Tracy, together with his secretary, is put in jail. Their cell mate is a half-demented communist and Tracy concocts a scheme whereby this man confesses to the shooting. This clears T racy, and he obtains a pardon for the man. Hq receives a cable from his editor offering him his formerposition at a salary of $50,000 a year, with orders to leave for China. Tracy suddenly realizes that he loves Benita Hume, a reporter, stationed in Moscow. They marry and she flies with him to China. The plot was adapted from the play by Bella and Samuel Spewack. It was directed by George Hill. Others in the cast are James Gleason and C. Henry Gordon. Not suitable for children, adolescents or for Sunday showing. “The Secrets of Wu Sin” with Grant Withers and Lois Wilson {Invincible Pictures; running time, 64 min.) A moderately entertaining program picture. The spectator is held in fairly tense suspense throughout, as a result of the fact that the heroine, a newspaper reporter, and another reporter, are both in danger because of their attempt to uncover the doings of a gang that were smuggling Chinese into the United States. The closing scenes are exciting ; they show a Chinaman, member of a tong, attempting to murder the hero, editor of the newspaper. Comedy is provided by the reporter who was working on the case with the heroine : — The hero, a newspaper editor, saves the heroine’s life when she attempted to kill herself. He gives her a position as reporter on his paper and soon she falls in love with him. But he is engaged to a wealthy societ> girl. The hero assigns a reporter to the Chinatown district to work on a story about the smuggling of Chinese into the country. The heroine, desirous of helping him uncover the gang, goes to do some investigating of her own. She finds out that the hero’s fiancee’s father was the head of the ring and also learns where they were operating from. The hero publishes the story and his fiancee and her father leave the country. This leaves the hero free to declare his love for the heroine and they are united. The plot was adapted from a story by Basil Dickey. It was directed by Richard Thorpe. In the cast are Dorothy Revier, Robert Warwick, Tetsu Komi, and others. Suitable for children and for Sunday showing. “The Man Who Won” {Powers Pictures; running time, 71 min.) This is an English production with an all English cast. As has been the fault with other English pictures, it moves slowly, consisting more of talk than of action, although there is much human interest. Most of the characters speak with a distinct English or cockney accent, some of the things said being unintelligible. The background, — that of rural life in the English countryside, — is excellent. Both the hero and the heroine are sympathetic characters. There is some suspense in the closing scenes : — The hero, a titled English society man. loses his fortune. The only thing left is a broken-dowm country estate and farm. Urged by a woman who loved him he determines to bring the farm back to a paying basis. The owner of the farm adjoining the hero’s is enraged since he wanted to buy the property to annex it to his own. The heroine, his daughter, disobeying her father’s instructions, calls on the hero to help him. For this her father orders her to leave his house and she is taken in by the hero, to act as his housekeeper. The hero receives a call from his former society friend who urges him to give up the farm. While the hero is at a party the heroine’s father sets fire to the hero’s haystack. This so discourages the hero that he decides to quit. But the heroine brings about a reconciliation between the two men and her father offers to help the hero. He decides to stay on and he and the heroine are united. The plot was adapted from a story by Dion Titheradge. It was directed by Norman Walker. In the cast are Henry Kendall, Heather Angel, Nora Swinburne, Sam Livesay and others. Suitable for children and for Sunday showing.