Hollywood Spectator (February 29, 1936)

Hollywood Spectator Page Eleven due to the greater education of some of the characters. This is nice attention to a little thing which might make a big difference. Quite a Tidy Job THE LEATHERNECKS HAVE LANDED. a Republic picture. Supervised by Ken Goldsmith; directed by Howard Bretherton; screen play by Seton I. Miller; original story by Wellyn Totman and James Gruen; photographed by Ernest Miller and Jack Marta; edited by Robert Jahns. Cast: Lew Ayres, Isabel Jewell, Jimmy Ellison, James Burke, J. Carrol Naish, Clay Clement, Maynard Holmes, Ward Bond, Paul Porcasi, Claude King, Christian Rub, Joseph Sawyer, Henry Mowbray, John Webb Dillion, Louis WVincenot, Lal Chand Mehra, Frank Tang, Ray “Crash” Corrigan, Beal Wong, Robert Strange, Victor Wong, Montagu Shaw. Wire provoking persistency Republic spotted its previews on nights when one, and sometimes two, of the larger organizations gave the press something new to look at, and as a consequence Leathernecks is the first of its pictures I have seen. If it is a fair example of the workmanlike manner in which all its products are turned out, the new organization must be making an impression on the market it aims at. It is not a big picture, but it is one of the neatest jobs of picture making I have seen for some time. Howard Bretherton’s interpretation of Seton I. Miller’s script is responsible for a swiftly moving drama which holds one’s attention on the screen. Bretherton apparently kept his mind on the story and made no effort to develop acting to interest us on its own account. The characters move naturally across the screen, read their lines in conversational tones, and leave us to discover for ourselves the drama latent in the scenes. The story is crowded with situations which would tempt a less capable director to commit the fault of resorting to heroics, to loud dialogue and violent gestures, to emphasize drama inherently dramatic enough in itself to require no stressing. As a result of the intelligent direction Bretherton gives the well constructed story, we have a picture which will give satisfaction to any audience. It is a story of the United States Marines, an authentic presentation of what a company of this most interesting branch of our defense forces would be expected to do in the situations in which it finds: itself. Most of the action takes place in China, and when we consider that the players never got nearer the Chinese Empire than North Hollywood, we must doff our hats to the Republic technical department in recognition of the skill with which it creates the illusion that the picture was actually shot on the other side of the Pacific. Stock shots of Shanghai streets melt into intimate scenes without disturbing the Chinese atmosphere, and the Marines parade against Shanghai backgrounds without suggesting the scenes are the product of tricks played by the camera. Lew Ayres heads the Leatherneck cast. He is a lad whose screen appearances always interest me. Never once have I seen him suggest the actor, and in this respect he might serve as a study for some of the higher salaried people from the stage who wish to increase their proficiency as screen players. He has a pleasing personality, adapts himself to his role, and lets his personality do the rest of it. If you like a nice, clean, good looking American boy, one with a sense of humor and who never seems to take himself seriously, you will like Lew in any picture in which he appears. For some reason I cannot fathom, the big producers do not seem to regard him as a screen asset. I see him as just the type of boy the public regards with favor. Isabel Jewel shares with Lew a romance, which, too, might serve as a study for writers and directors who wish to improve the present stereotyped method of depicting love making on the screen. Miller and Bretherton give us something refreshingly new, a romance tender and sweet, and with no lack of strength by virtue of the fact that no kissing is indulged in. The romance is suggested, not depicted. The two do not exchange one endearing term, nor does the boy ask the girl to marry him; but we know when Lew’s ship reaches Manila Isabel will be on the dock, waiting for him. It is a thing rare on the screen—a romance presented with the best of taste, one which does not fade out on a vulgar close-up of crushed lips. As Odd McIntyre puts it, “Love is an emotion of seclusion.” Hollywood regards it as an emotion for public parading. Jimmy Ellison is Ayres’ pal in Leathernecks. Here is another lad who is going places on the screen, who has made himself the favorite player in Harry Sherman’s worthy western series. In a year or two the big studios will be after him, but now their search for new talent is being confined to Little Theatres along the Atlantic seaboard. Hollywood is too far away to attract their attention. Others worthy of mention for good work in Leathernecks are James Burke, Carrol Naish, Clay Clement, Maynard Holmes, Ward Bond, Paul Porcasi, Claude King and Christian Rub. Succession of Quarrels LOVE BEFORE BREAKFAST, a Universal. Screen play by Herbert Fields; additional dialogue by Gertrude Purcell; sound supervision, Gilbert Kurland; editorial supervision, Maurice Pivar; photographed by Ted Tetzlaff; ; art director, Albert d’Agostino; film editor, Maurice Wright; assistant director, Phil Karlstein; musical director, Franz Waxman. Cast: Carole Lombard, Preston Foster, Janet Beecher, Cesar Romero, Betty Lawford, Douglas Blackley, Don Briggs, Bert Roach, Andre Beranger, Richard Carle, Ed Barton, Diana Gibson, Joyce Compton. there is a girl who would prefer drowning to mar rying the man she loves, but Universal could not put her in a motion picture and entertain me with it. Love Before Breakfast tries to do it, but does not succeed. Carole Lombard never in her screen career gave a better performance, but she is the silly girl the first sentence refers to. She loves Preston Foster to distraction, therefore quarrels violently with him during the entire film, has to be carried against her will from a sinking sailboat, her objection being based on the fact that Foster is rescuing her; harangues with him all the way through their marriage ceremony, and when the picture ends we know they will keep right on quarreling violently for the rest of their lives. It is an extremely tiresome and silly picture. It is made from Faith Baldwin’s Spinster’s Dinner and_ because there is no spinster’s dinner in the screen version, the picture is called Love Before Breakfast, even though there is no breakfast to give meaning to the title. O: COURSE it is possible that somewhere on earth