Harrison's Reports (1933)

58 HARRISON’S REPORTS “The Circus Queen Murder” with Adolphe Menjou {Columbia, April lo; running time, 64 min.) A good murder melodrama. Suspense is sustained throughout and tire plot is worked out logically. In addition, there are some thrilling situations showing trapeze artists performing tlieir acts in tlie air without any nets below. Some of their stunts will hold the spectator breathless. The most thrilling situation is the one that shows Greta Nissen, a trapeze performer, doing her act in the air, while her insane husband, Dwight Frye, watches from the top of the tent ready to kill her. Another thrilling moment is where Donald Cook, her lover, also a trapeze performer, just sa%'es himself from falling to death w'hen the rope breaks : — Adolphe Menjou, New York police commissioner, and his secretary, had left New York for a vacation ; they went to a small town where a circus had just arrived. The secretary, proficient in lip reading, notices one of the performers threatening death to a w'oman riding alongside of him. Menjou and his secretary are invited to the circus and once there the press agent, who knows Menjou, asks him to help them for they sense that something is wrong. Menjou finds out that Greta Nissen, half-owner of the circus, hates her husband Dwight Frye and is in love with Donald Cook. The husband disappears and every one thinks he had been murdered. But Menjou knows differently. While Donald Cook is up in the air the rope gives way but he grabs another rope just in time to same himself from death. Greta Nissen is up in the air doing her act. Her husband, having climbed up to the top of the tent, watches her from a slit in the tent and shoots her with a poisoned arrow. She falls to the ground and dies. Menjou realizes that Frye is insane and plans to capture him. But Frye wants to die in a spectacular fashion ; he climbs up to the top of the tent, shoots himself, and then falls to his death. Menjou and his secretary return with a feeling that New York is a better place for a vacation. The plot was adapted from a story by Anthony Abbot. It was directed by Roy William Neill. In the cast are Harry Holman, Ruthelma Stevens and George Rosener. Not suitable for children, adolescents, or for Sundays. “Kiss Before the Mirror” with Nancy Carroll, Paul Lukas and Frank Morgan {Universal, April 20 ; running lime, 67 min.) In spite of the fact that this picture has been given an excellent production, it is only fair entertainment, and at that suitable for high class audiences. Its chief fault is that it is too wordy, has little action, the characters are not very sympathetic, and the theme is unpleasant. In addition, it is repititious, for the picture starts off to tell a story which involves Paul Lukas and Gloria Stuart, and from this progresses into another story, identical in theme, involving Nancy Carroll and Frank Morgan. The most stirring situation is the courtroom scene in which Frank Morgan, confronted with the fact that his wife is unfaithful, makes an impassioned plea on behalf of Paul Lukas, who had killed his wife when he discovered that she was unfaithful. Suspense is fairly well sustained throughout; — Paul Lukas kills his wife when he finds out that she was unfaithful. Frank Morgan, his friend and attorney, insists that Lukas confess the story in detail. Lukas tells him that he first suspected his wife when he noticed that she was particularly careful about her dressing and was irritable when he tried to kiss her, He followed her, found her in her lover’s arms, and then killed her. Morgan goes home and his w'ife, Nancy Carroll, tells him she is going to play bridge. He notices that she is wearing a new dress, and that she is impatient when he tries to kiss her. Suspicious, he follows her and sees her meet her lover. He makes up his mind to kill her, but first he must win an acquittal for his friend. He insists that his wife accompany him to the court on the day of trial. In his plea he speaks about the anguish Lukas had gone through, and he makes the plea ver>' powerful because of his own unhappiness. Nancy Carroll realizes he knows about her unfaithfulness. Lukas is freed. Morgan does not kill his wife ; instead he asks her to leave him. He goes home and she follows him. She tells him he is the only man she ever loved. They are reconciled. The plot was adapted from a .story by Ladis'aus Fodor. It was directed by James Whale. In the cast are Jean Dixon, Donald Cook. Charles Grapewin. and others. Not suitable for children, adolescents, or for Sundays. Substitution Facts : This is replacing 5005. which is listed on the contract as Edna Ferber’s “Glamour.” It is a story substitution. April 15, 1933 “Terror Aboard” with John Halliday and Charlie Ruggles {Paramount, April 14; running time, 6sj4 min.) Terrible ! It should sicken even the most morbid follower of horror melodramas, for there is one killing after another. And the audience is not made aware of these killings by suggestion ; it is shown clearly how the sadistic villain commits each one. As a lesson in fancy and varied types of murders this picture stands in a class by itself : one man is poisoned ; another is shot; a woman is shoved into a refrigerator, and frozen to death ; another is shoved into the sea ; a man is incited into killing another man and then himself; another man is stabbed ; and as a final stroke of homicidal genius, a boatload of sailors are thrown into the sea and drowned. It is almost with relief that one sees the death of the villain. It hasn’t much of a story to tell since it is devoted mainly to the murders. Suspense is sustained for one does not know who will meet with his deatli next : — The villain, while aboard his yacht with the heroine and several other guests, receives a cable telling him that his manipulations of securities had been discovered and that he cannot escape arrest. He fir jt kills the wireless operator, the only one who knew about the message. He then sets about arranging plans to kill off every one, with the exception of the heroine. His plan is to live with the heroine on one of the islands they were approaching, where he would never be found. The hero, former sweetheart of the heroine, who had followed the yacht by aeroplane, is picked up by the villain. Eventually everybody aboard, with the exception of the hero, the heroine, and a drunken steward, is murdered by the villain. He then traps the hero and the heroine in the engine room, shoots open the gasoline tanks, and sets fire to it. A ship passing by notices something queer aboard the yacht and the Captain with some of his men board it. The villain jumps overboard, his intention being to swim to the island. The hero and the heroine are taken from the burning boat. The villain is killed by a shark. The plot has been adapted from a story by Harvey Thew and Manuel Seff. It was directed by Paul Sloane. In the cast are Neil Hamilton, Shirley Grey, Verree Teasdale, Jack La Rue, Leila Bennett, Morgan Wallace, Thomas Jackson, Paul Hurst, Stanley Fields, and others. Not suitable for children, adolescents, or for Sundays. “Silent Man” with Tim McCoy {Columbia, March 3; running time, 68 min.) Of the average quality of the other Tim McCoy pictures. This time ^Ir. McCoy is presented as an escaped convict, who had been sent to jail in Arizona by framing. While working as an inspector of cattle brands in another state, the villain recognizes him and threatens to give him away unless he did his bidding. Later on he is accused of a murder he had not committed. He is helped to escape from jail. In the end he rounds up the villains. His innocence is also proved. Thus he is free to marry the heroine. The story is by Walt Coburn ; the direction, by D. Ross Lederman. Florence Britton, Wheeler Oakman, Joseph Girard, Matchew Betz, William V. Mong, Lloyd Ingram and others are in the cast. If you are in the habit of showing Western melodrams to children and to adolescents, and on Sunday, this one will do. “Telegraph Trail” with John Wayne ( M'arner Bros., March 18; running time, 54 min.) A fast-moving Western of pioneer days and of Indian warfare : it has human interest and some good comedy situations. One situation that provokes much laughter is where Frank McHugh, while fighting the Indians, suddenly feels something trickling on his neck and thinking he had been shot says goodbye to his friends. It develops that a can of tomato soup had been pierced and the soup had dripped down on his neck. The audience is held in suspense because of the danger to the hero and to his men who were endeavoring to put up telegraph wires. They were being stopped at different times by the Indians who were egged on by a villainous white man. who did not want the telegraph because it might interfere with his thievery. A pleasant romance is worked into the story between the hero and the heroine. The villain is killed by the Indian chief, and the hero and his men finish their work. The story is by Kurt Kempler ; it was directed by Tenny Wright. In the cast are Marceline Daj', Otis Harlan, Albert J. Smith, and others. Suitable for children, adolescents, and for Sundays where westerns are shown.