Harrison's Reports (1933)

206 “By Candlelight” with Elissa Landi and Paul Lukas {Universal, Dec. ii; running time, 68 min.) Because of the fact that the production is excellent and the comedy high, “By Candlelight” should prove pretty good entertainment for class audiences; but it is not for the masses. The action is slow, and the characters are not of the type that win one’s sympathy. Parts of it are suggestive, as for instance when Paul Lukas, after having received a call from his employer Nils Asther that he was bringing a lady to the house, sets about to put things in order, even to fixing the bed. Suspense is sustained fairly well throughout because of the reception carried on by both Lukas and Elissa Landi ; although both were servants, each tried to make the other believe that they were titled people. The most comical situation is the one in which Asther returns to the house and finds Lukas entertaining Landi. Not wanting to give his butler away he makes believe he is the butler, much to Lukas’ embarrassment: — While on a train going to Monte Carlo with luggage belonging to Asther, Lukas meets Elissa Landi. She looks like a real society lady and since Lukas feels that servants are beneath him he carries on a flirtation with her. In the meantime she sees his luggage and thinks he is the Prince. He falls madly in love with her but before they reach Monte Carlo she sneaks away from him. He locates her in Monte Carlo and invites her over to Asther’s home the night Asther is out. Complications arise, but finally Asther discloses Lukas’ identity to Elissa Landi, she leaves him in an angry mood because she feels that he had fooled her. But she soon realizes that she, too, had been deceiving him, and so a reconciliation follows. The plot was adapted from the play by Siegfried Geyer. It was directed by James Whale. In the cast are Dorothy Revier, Lawrence Grant, Esther Ralston, and others. Not suitable for children, adolescents, or Sundays. “Criminal At Large” {Helber Pictures; running time, 66 mm.) This Edgar Wallace murder mystery melodrama is an English production with all-British cast. It belongs in the horror class of entertainment, and audiences with strong nerves who go in for this type of entertainment will find it fairly exciting. It holds one in suspense throughout since several people are suspected of having committed the murders, and it is not until the very end that the mystery is solved. The closing scenes are the most horrible, for then the audience is aware of the fact that the young English lord is a madman. The scene in which this is made evident is pitiful, for he raves and talks about the joy he finds in murdering people. One feels much sympathy for the heroine, since it is shown that she was being forced to enter a marriage she dreaded : — Several murders by strangling are committed on the estate of a famous English family, consisting of a mother and her son, whom she rules with an iron hand. The son, a lord, goes to Scotland Yard and asks them to try to find out what is happening at the house because he feels that he, too, will be murdered. When the detectives arrive they notice two peculiar looking butlers, who do not permit them to enter one room in the house. A young girl living with the family begs the detectives not to leave. It finally develops that the young lord is a madman, that his father and grandfather had been insane, too, and that the lord has committed all the murders ; also, that his mother, insanely proud of the famous family name, desired that the young girl marry her insane son so as to bear children and keep the family name alive. She was forcing the girl to do this by supporting the girl’s poor family. The son steals a gun from one of the butlers, and then tells the detective about the locked room which is padded. He finally kills himself with the gun. The mother is grief-stricken that there will be no one to carry on the family name. T. Hayes Hunter directed it. In the cast are Emlyn Williams, who gives an excellent performance as the young lord ; also Cathleen Nesbitt, Norman McKinnel, Gordon Harker, Cyril Raymond, and others. Too terrifying for children, and its suitability for adolescents and Sunday showing is questionable. December 30, 1933 “Convention City” with All Star Cast {First National, Dec. 30; running time, 68j4 min.) This comedy is uproariously funny but rough, bordering at times on the risque; it is good entertainment for adults who are not squeamish. The action is fast and the audience is kept in suspense because of the many complications the different characters find themselves in. Several of the situations will arouse hearty laughter, and things happen throughout that keep one amus^. The theme is a little different from the average run of themes. There is little human interest in the story ; it depends entirely on comedy : The action unfolds in Atlantic City, where a certain concern is holding its annual convention. To the convention come Adolphe Menjou, Guy Kibbee, Mary Astor, Frank McHugh, Dick Powell, and other salesmen. Guy Kibbee is frantic because his wife had insisted on coming with him ; she had not left him out of her sight. Menjou sends a faked telegram to Kibbee’s wife telling her that her sister in Kansas City was very sick, and she leaves to visit her sister. Menjou is determined to get the position of salesmanager and so he makes love to the owner’s daughter, Patricia Ellis. Joan Blondell, a gold-digger, attaches herself to Kibbee when his wife goes away. She gets him into a compromising position when his wife suddenly returns, having found out she had been tricked. Menjou helps Kibbee to escape and shoulders the blame. Mary Astor, who was in love with Menjou, cannot bear to see him use Patricia to further his ambitions and so she tells the girl a lie about the fact that she had been living with Menjou for years. Grant Mitchell, the owner of the company, is caught in a compromising position by Frank McHugh and so, in order to keep him quiet, he gives McHugh the job of sales-manager and makes Dick Powell his assistant because Patricia had fallen in love with Dick. Menjou marries Mary Astor. Hugh Herbert, who had been drunk all during tbe convention, finds at the end that he had attended the wrong convention. The plot was adapted from a story by Peter Milne. It was directed by Archie Mayo. Others in the cast are Hobart Cavanaugh and Ruth Donnelly. Not suitable for children, adolescents, or Sundays. “His Double Life” with Roland Young and Lillian Gish {Paramount, January 12; running time, 67 min.) A comedy that will entertain class audiences fairly well ; but it is too slow for the masses. It holds one in fair suspense throughout because of the fact that Roland Young, an artist, supposed to be dead, assumes another name so as to lead a peaceful life without being annoyed by curious people. Nothing exciting ever happens. The picture has been done in the style of a stage play and the pace is slow. There is human interest in the devotion Lillian Gish shows for Young. Comedy is provoked in one situation where Young, who had assumed his former butler’s name, receives a visit from a woman and two young men who claim to be his wife and sons respectively, and also in the manner in which Lillian Gish gets rid of them. In the development of the plot Roland Young’s butler dies and the doctor assumes that the butler, and not Young, was the famous painter. No one will listen to Young when he tries to tell them he is the famous painter for he had always kept himself in seclusion and no one had ever seen him. The butler is buried with all the pomp and honors due an important personage. Young meets Lillian Gish, to whom the butler, through a matrimonial paper, had offered a proposal of marriage. Because of a picture the butler had sent her of Young and himself, she thinks Young is the butler. He is so charmed by her common sense and quiet manner that he marries her and lives a peaceful life with her. He paints again and when their income is depleted she sells the pictures at a reasonable rate. The paintings come to the attention of an art dealer who realizes that they are in the same style of the supposedly dead painter. Eventually the whole situation comes to light in a law suit brought by a purchaser of Young’s pictures who claimed he had been faked. Young is able to prove that he is really the great artist. After the lawsuit he leaves England with his wife so as not to be bothered by curious people again. The plot was adapted from a story by Arnold Bennett. It was directed by .A.rthur Hopkins in association with Eddie Dowling. In the cast are Montagu Love, Lucy Beaumont, Lumsden Hare, and others. Suitable for children, adolescents and Sundays. HARRISON’S REPORTS