Harrison's Reports (1933)

October 7, 1^933 HARRISON’S REPORTS 159 party, and are at a loss as to what to say. The closing scenes in which they encounter a gang of international crooks are the most exciting, for the heroine is held prisoner by the crooks, and the hero and his pal are almost killed by them : — The hero, an American visiting London, is lonesome and wanders about in the fog. He loses his way and wanders into a house to ask directions. There he sees a “dead” man and rushes out for help. He returns with a man but cannot find the body ; instead he finds the owners of the house who question his sanity. He becomes friendly with the people, particularly when he is introduced to the heroine, a niece of the owner. She, too, thinks he had been seeing things, hut later they both overhear her uncle talking about having shot a man and realize that the hero was right. They meet the supposedly murdered man, who had just been wounded and w as hiding in the house, and he sends them with a note to a certain address. The only way out of the house without being detected is by way of the roof and so that is the way the hero and the heroine go. They wander over various rooftops and encounter a genial burglar who joins with them to give them his professional help. When they arrive at the address the heroine is held by the gang, wdio, it develops, are crooks. Their purpose in holding the heroine is to force her uncle to give them certain governmental military secrets and the man who had been shot in her uncle’s home was one of their gang. Both the hero and the heroine now realize that the story the man had told them about her uncle being a crook was a lie. The hero uses his wits by pitting the two leaders against each other. A fight develops. His burglar friend plants all his burglar tools in the gang’s pockets so that when the police, who had heard the shots, arrive they arrest the whole gang. By tliis time the hero and the heroine are in love with each other. The plot was adapted from a story by Ruth Rose. It was directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack. In the cast are Ralph Morgan, John Miljan, Laura Hope Crews, Henry Stephenson, Phyllis Barry, and others. Suitable for children, adolescents and for Simdays. “Curtain at Eight” (Majestic Pictures; nmitiiuj time. 69 min.) Only fair program entertainment. It is a murder melodrama and since the outcome is quite obvious it holds the spectator in just fair suspense. It is rather unpleasant, too, for the leading character, played by Paul Cavanaugh, is a conscienceless philanderer. He brings al>out the death of a young girl, who believed he loved her but who found out later that she meant nothing to him. It is rather slow in getting started — the entire first half is used to establish the bad character of Cavanaugh ; the second half is a little more exciting for it is then that the murder is committed and the detectives set about solving it. Sympathy is felt for Dorothy Mackaill in her attempt to convince her sister that Cavanaugh was not the man for her : — Cavanaugh, an actor, although married, amuses himself with several young ladies. Among his victims is Marion Shilling, a young sister of Dorothy Mackaill, both of whom are actresses in his play. Dorothy begs Marion to give up Cavanaugh but she refuses. Another one of the cast, a young society girl, thinks that Cavanaugh is going to divorce his wife so as to marry her. On the eve of Cavanaugh’s departure for New York, a party is given for him backstage. Marion, realizing now that she had never meant anything to Cavanaugh, kills herself. Dorothy is the only one who knows of this and she goes to the party intent upon killing Cavanaugh. At one time during the party the lights are put out to prepare for a surprise. A shot is heard and when the lights are put on again Cavanaugh is found dead. C. Aubrey .Smith, a detective, sets out to solve the murder. He eventually discovers that the murder was committed by an ape that had been used in the play, and v.-ho had been amusing herself with the gun. Another man is killed in a similar manner. The society girl is reconciled with her sweetheart v.'ho had been unjustly accused of the murder. The plot was adapted from a story by Octavus Roy Cohen. It was directed by E. Mason Hopper. In the cast are Sam Hardy, Russell Hopton. and others. Not suitable for children, adolescents, or Sundays. “The Avenger” with Ralph Forbes and Adrienne Ames (Monogram, July 30; running time, 75 min.) A fairly good murder melodrama, which holds the audience in suspense until the very end. One bad fault is that during most of the picture one is led to believe that the hero had killed several people. Thus one. instead of feeling sympathy for him, feels revulsion as a result of his actions, and when at the end it is shown that he really had not killeil them but merely held them prisoners to turn them over to the police it is difficult to erase the former impression. At the beginning one does sympathize with him, because he had been framed and then had lost the woman he loved. His method of going after the men who had framed him, although not plausible at all times, is ingenious, at least. The heroine is not particularly sympathetic ; first she makes no effort to effect the release of the hero and on the contrary marries his enemy ; and later, inste.ad of having faith in him, again turns against him. In the development of the plot the hero, district attorney, is sent to prison for twenty years, framed by his enemies, but unable to prove it. The heroine could have saved him by telling that he had spent the night with her, but she is advised against this. In prison he eventually meets another prisoner, a member of the gang that had framed him, and who himself had been sent to prison framed by his own gang when he became conscience-stricken. This prisoner attempts to escape and is shot. On his death-bed he confesses all, and the hero is released. He is heartbroken when he finds the heroine married to his enemy, the man responsible for framing him. He starts out on a campaign of revenge. One by one members of the gang disappear, and although evidence points to the hero as their murderer, he is not arrested because he had been promised by the chief of police absolute freedom for thirty days in getting his men. The heroine’s husband, unable to bear the strain of his guilt, kills himself. The hero then proves to the heroine, who believed him guilty of murder, that he had not kille<l the men but merely held them prisoners to obtain their confessions and then turn them over to the police. The hero and the heroine are united. The plot was adapted from a story by John Goodwin. It was directed by Edward L. Marin. In the cast are Arthur V'^inton, Claude Gillingwater, Charlotte Merriam, J. Carrol Naish, Burton Churchill, Murray Kinnell, Thomas Jackson, and others. Because of the reference made to the fact that the hero had spent the night w'ith the heroine, it is unsuitable for children, adolescents, or Sundays. “Thunder Over Mexico” (Principal Distributing ; running time. 68 min.) There has been so much controversy about the editing of this picture, the final form of w'hich is just a small part of the 200,000 feet of film taken by Sergei Eisenstein, that undoubtedly the interest of intelligent people in this country has been aroused, and they will want to see “Thunder Over Mexico.” But it is doubtful for mass entertainment since the action is slow, and the characters do not talk. The picture is merely synchronized. The picture was meant as propaganda to disclose the cruelties towards the slaves in the peonage system during the Diaz regime in Mexico, and the story it tells, whicli revolves around a poor peon and his sweetheart, is at times stirring. But its greatest attraction is the unusually beautiful photography. The suffering of the peons concerned will at times stir the emotions. The scene in which the three young brothers are killed is horrible — it shows how they are put into a hole in the ground with just their heads protruding. The murderers rush over them with their horses who trample them to death. The sorrow of the heroine on seeing her sweetheart thus killed is pitiful. The story concerns a poor peon who is about to marry a charming young girl from a neighboring town. According to the law he must first present her to his master for approval. She is sent up to the master just as his own daughter arrives with her fiance, and she is forgotten in the excitement that follows. One of the guests who had his eye on her from the time she came in, forces her into a room when no one is looking and attacks her. Her sweetheart hears of this and rushes up to kill the man. He is taken away and the girl is imprisoned. He and his brothers make their escape and are followed by the master's daughter, her fiance and some soldiers. In the fighting that follows the daughter is killed, and the three young men are caught. They are killed in a brutal manner by having horses trample them to death. There eventually is an outbreak by the peons and the picture ends on a happy note showing their freedom and a change in the laws. The picture was directed by Sergei Eisenstein, and photographed by Edouard Tisse. Not for children, adolescents, or Sundays.