Harrison's Reports (1937)

February 6, 1937 HARRISON'S REPORTS 23 "Wings of the Morning" with Annabella and Henry Fonda (20th Century-Fox, February 19; time, 86 wtn.) Fair entertainment. It is a British-made picture, photographed entirely in color, and as tar as color is concerned it is the best one to date. It would be worth-while exhibiting for the color alone. Some of the shots of the countryside are extremely beautiful. And the players, instead of looking sickly, as they look in most color pictures, look quite natural. The story is only mildly interesting; the action is slow, and at times some of the situations are so long drawn out that one becomes impatient. A few of the situations are somewhat sexy ; but Annabella and Henry Fonda handle these scenes so well that they are not objectionable. The shots of London and of the crowds at the Epsom Downs races are colorful and should prove interesting to audiences : — Annabella, great-granddaughter of a famous gypsy, who had married a British lord, is engaged to a Spanish nobleman. They are separated by the Spanish Revolution. Annabella returns to her great-grandmother, who was living at a gypsy camp in the suburbs of London ever since her titled husband had died. While out riding on a spirited horse, which belonged to her great-grandmother and which was to be run in the races at Epsom Downs, Annabella becomes annoyed when the horse throws her. This happens on the estate of a British lord, where Henry Fonda a cousin and well-known race horse trainer, was visiting. She offers to trade her horse for six of Fonda's horses, ;not realizing how valuable her horse was. Being dressed in men's clothes, she is taken for a silly young man. When she returns to the gypsy camp, she learns that she had made .a bad bargain and is sent to get her horse back. She does this ; but her male attire gets her into many embarrassing stuations. Fonda, by accident, discovers that she is a girl and also that she is a titled lady. Fonda's cousin, who had been a cousin of Annabella's great-grandmother's titled husband, welcomes Annabella to his home. Fonda falls in love with her and is disappointed when her suitor arrives. But things turn out to his satisfaction when the suitor, believing Annabella to be without a dowry, jilts her. She gladly accepts Fonda's marriage proposal, for she had already fallen in love with him. Donn Byrne wrote the story, and Tom Geraghty the screen play ; Harold Schuster directed it, and Robert T. Kane produced it. In the cast are Leslie Banks, John McCormack, Steven Donoghue, and others. Suitable for all. Class A. "'We're on the Jury" with Helen Broderick and Victor Moore (RKO, February 19 ; time, 70 mm.) A pretty good program comedy. It starts off very well, hearty laughter being provoked by the antics of Helen Broderick and Victor Moore, two jurors, who annoy the Judge and the lawyers by their constant interruptions during a trial. But after the first few reels, it lags in spots ; the plot does not hold up. The comedy is combined with a murder-mystery which is the basis for the trial. But this is >of secondary importance, for the comedy predominates. It is not very difficult for the spectator to guess the murderer's identity, which is finally brought to light by Miss Broderick, who had insisted all along that the woman, standing trial for the murder, was not the guilty person. Miss Broderick and Moore are an excellent team ; they are particularly comical during the trial scenes, when they interrupt the regular court procedure. Miss Broderick awakens sympathy by her refusal to accept false testimony ; she relies on her intuition. Some of the laughs are provoked by the methods she uses to win the other jurors over to her way of thinking. The closing scenes are not only comical but hold one in suspense ; there the jurors visit the scene of the crime, using Moore to act in the dead man's place. The facts are finally brought out when the maid, who had accused the dead man's widow of the murder, confesses that she had done so to shield Earle Fox, the dead man's cousin, who had committed the murder. There is no romance in the plot. The plot was adapted from the play "Ladies of the Jury," by John Frederick Ballard. Franklin Coen wrote the screen •play. Ben Holmes directed it and Joseph Henry Steele produced it. In the cast are Philip Huston, Louise Latimer. Vinton Haworth, and others. Since the comedy predominates it is suitable for all. Class A. "You Only Live Once" with Sylvia Sidney and Henry Fonda ( United Artists, January 30 ; time, 87 mm.) A powerful melodrama ; the production, acting, and direction are excellent. But it is depressing entertainment, the type that leaves one in an unhappy frame of mind. From the very beginning one feels as if the hero and the heroine are fighting a losing battle. The end, although it is what one expects, comes as a terrific shock; it shows the two young victims shot and killed. Many of the situations hold one in tense suspense ; the most powerful situation is that in which the hero makes his escape from prison, just as he had been pardoned and cleared of the crime for which he had been convicted. The pity of it is that he, in escaping, commits a murder. One is in deep sympathy with the heroine, who fights for the man she loves and willingly sacrifices her life to be with him. The picture is, in its way, a preachment against our trial system of convicting persons on circumstantial evidence : — Miss Sidney, through the efforts of her employer, Barton MacLane, public defender, obtains the release of Fonda from prison. MacLane loves her and, although he thinks she is doing the wrong thing in marrying Fonda, promises to help him all he can. Fonda takes the position MacLane had obtained for him, and settles down to a happy married life. The first time he is late he is discharged. He is frantic, and searches in vain for another job. A former prison pal of Fonda's holds up an armored truck, killing six persons, and escaping w-ith a million dollars. The only clue he leaves is Fonda's hat, which he had taken while they were in a cafe together. Fonda is arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to die in the electric chair. On the death day he makes a break from his cell, taking with him the prison doctor as a shield. He threatens to kill the doctor unless the prison doors are opened. Just at that moment the warden receives word that the armored car, with the bank robber, had been found submerged in a river, and that Fonda was cleared of the crime and pardoned. But Fonda refuses to believe this. When the prison priest approaches him he thinks it is a plot and, in desperation, shoots and kills him. He escapes, and telephones to Miss Sidney to join him. She rushes to him in MacLane's car. For several weeks they elude the police. During this time Miss Sidney's baby is born in a shack. She gets word to her sister to meet her and turns the baby over to her. She then goes back to Fonda. They are finally cornered by the police and, shot, they die in each other's arms. Gene Towne and Graham Baker wrote the original screen play. Fritz Lang directed it and Walter Wanger produced it. In the cast are Jean Dixon, William Gargan, Warren Hymer, Chic Sale, and others. Not for children. Adult entertainment. Class B. "Off to the Races" with the Jones Family and Slim Summerville (20//; Century-Fox, February 19; time, 56 min.) Like the other Jones Family pictures, this is wholesome and comical family fare. The same players enact their respective parts in the family, only this time they are joined by Slim Summerville, as the financially embarrassed brother-in-law of Spring Byington, and his "pesty" little daughter. In the closing scenes, the race in which each member of the family has some financial interest owing to loans made to Summerville, who was racing his trotter, holds one in suspense. One is in sympathy with the older daughter ( Shirley Deane) , who finds her plans to entertain her fiance (Russell Gleason) upset by the untimely arrival of her uncle (Summerville). Summerville's methods of getting his bills paid by the different members of the family provoke laughter. The way the picture ends pleases the spectator. The father (Jed Prouty) races the trotter and wins, bringing a $5,000 purse to Summerville and winnings to Gleason, who had bet all his savings on the race, hoping to win, and thus be enabled to marry Miss Deane. There are many laughs in the picture, and it is of the same quality as its predecessors. Robert Ellis and Helen Logan wrote the original screen play, based on the characters originated by Katherine Kavanaugh. Frank R. Strayer directed it, and Max Golden produced it. In the cast are Kenneth Howell, George Ernest, and others. Suitable for all. Class A.