Hollywood Filmograph (Jan-Jul 1930)

HOLLYWOOD FILMOGRAPH Preview "ONCE A GENTLEMAN" James Cruze all-talkie production. Previewed at the Belmont Theatre. Good old rib-tickling laughter, the kind your doctor recommends, shook the Belmont like a mirthquake when Jimmy Cruze gave us a pre-glimpse of his very latest offering. "Once a Gentleman" is a wow. It has a thoroughly human and highly entertaining stor}'. It has rare direction and intelligent dialogue. And it has Edward Everett Horton in the pivotal position, with an all-star cast, including Francis X. Bushman, Sr., and the very capable Lois Wilson. What more could we ask? The story, adroitly handled in manuscript by Walter Woods and Maude Fulton, centers about the antics of a meticulous butler. His employer, a Philadelphia well-to-do, gives him a I thousand dollars and thirty days' leave of absence. Dressed as a gentleman j and armed with a message intended for his employer's bosom friend, the butler blunders into a series of mis! haps in a New York club and winds up in a Long Island mansion. Here he meets his "one great love" and his fond hope goes winging toward high heaven. Here we have ideal comedy. Of course, there is an expose, for all this is too good to be true, but Jimmy Cruze shows Eddie Horton the right way out and we have a sneaking hunch that Eddie and Lois are going to be pretty darned happy after all. There is one thing I like about this boy Cruze. He seldom tries to tell a story without availing himself of the very best talent. In this picture he has surrounded Eddie Horton and Lois Wilson with a remarkable ensemble. Present and accounted for, we find King Baggott, Cyril Chadwick, Frederick Sullivan, George Fawcett, Emerson Treacy, Gertrude Short, Evelyn Pierce, William J. Holmes, and a number of other excellent troupers. Aside from Horton, who shines with unwonted brilliancy, splendid acting is contributed by Lois Wilson, Emerson Treacy, Francis X. Bushman, King Baggott, Frederick Sullivan and George Fawcett. Young Treacy, who will be remembered for his keen comedy in Henry Duffy productions, is especially effective as the fun-loving and hell-bent son of Bushman. Voices, on the whole, are above the • average. The players are quite human and the story has verisimilitude. Studio vesture, while not elaborate, is adequate. We are aware of discretion and good taste. Nothing seems overdone. This is refreshing. Some of these painfully lavish productions hand me a pain in the tum-tum. Cruze can do more with fifty feet of garden than some directors can accomplish with all of Busch's Gardens and Golden Gate Park thrown in for good measure. I think Old John Ticketbuyer is going to rave over Eddie Horton in this charming offering. It is sheer entertainment, packed with fun, and clean as a hound's tooth. The crowd at the Belmont laughed so heartily I missed some of Maude Fulton's exquisite dialogue. The story is by George F. Worts and the camera work by Jackson Rose. Preview "THE BIG HOUSE" M-G-M all-talkie-singing production. Previewed at the Belmont Theatre. "The Big House," if it is a faithful transcript of the regime of some of our penitentiaries, surely contributes a scathing commentary on Uncle Sam's formula of penology. The Metro Goldwyn Mayer people, with the indomitable valiancy and courage of a palmer, have cut into this burning problem with almost unexampled temerity. In "The Big House" they show the very blister of the wound in all its festering corruption. Let's premise that this cinema expose bears the hallmark of truth. Then let's contemplate the summation of prison crimes as shadowed forth in the story: Food hardly fit for animals to eat; a cheap, rotten, sordid stoolpigeon freemasonry fostered among certain trusted prisoners; the surly, burly, ruffianism of manner toward the inmates frequently observed by the assistant warden and guards; the loose, free and easy intermingling of 3000 convicts in numerous huddles in one vast enclosure; the celling of 3-oung newcomers among vicious, snarling bravoes and cutthroats with constant sedition seething in their perverted brains. The horrors of the dark, solitary confinement frequently staccatoed with yelps of maniacal frenzy and ear-stunning wails of utter despair — the last gasp of hope at the bottom of a weed-choked well with no escape but the plunge into Avernus — who can swing the torch of mercy into this noisome, hell-hole of horror, crueler than the most exquisitely refined tortures of the Inquisition? Ah — here's a problem that might throw the dry and white light of truth on the causes of recent penal-asylum enormities. But to "The Big House." It swings Kent Marlowe (Robert Montgomery) behind the bars on a tenyear stretch for manslaughter. He snitches on an abandoned villain, "Butch" (Wallace Beery), and six of his fellow prisoners who have conspired to storm the gate on Thanksgiving Day at noon. Kent has been crimped by the prison officials as a stoolpigeon but is among the first to be killed when the World War, in miniature, breaks loose. Then the fireworks sputter as terrifically as they did at Chateau Thierry. "Butch" and his gang have an early advantage, even after the tear bombs have been utilized, but the warden (Lewis Stone calls in the services of three immense caterpillar tanks which succeed in ramming into the desperadoes' stronghold. The killing of "Butch" spells the end of the rebellion, but he takes with him the assistant warden, Wallace (who was universally hated), and a number of the guards. Many of the prisoners were slaughtered and the building looked like a punctured swiss cheese after the rioting and battle. Chester Morris and Leila Hyams furnish forth the collateral love story in "The Big House," both turning in excellent performances. Lewis Stone gave a sterling personation of the inexorable warden; it was one of the The print I saw ran about 7500 feet. It can be trimmed a little. But not too much. TOM LEWIS. Review "THE DIVORCEE" At the Criterion Theatre. A good story, well done, with a capable cast, will draw crowds at any time as evidenced at the Criterion Theatre where Norma Shearer is holding forth and what's more, from present indications M-G-M are in for continued box-office records. The story is based upon marital happiness and unhappiness, a subject in which all of us are interested, and Norma Shearer as "Jerry" is a treat for both sexes. She is lovely and no one wears smart clothes better. In addition to these attributes she gives a real and convincing interpretation to the principal role. Zelda Sears and Nick Grinde have deviated somewhat from the text of the book "Ex-Wife," but for picture purposes we think they have improved it somewhat. John Meehan, who wrote the continuity, has provided us with smart lines and interesting dialogue. Robert Leonard is at his best in both the comedy and dramatic scenes and who knows better than this director how to put on smart society comedies as evidenced by so many former successes. A thoroughly competent cast has been allotted the star in which we see Chester Morris of "Alibi," who plays the husband. Conrad Nagel as "Paul" is excellent and Robert Montgomery as "The man about town" gives a real performance. Zelda Sears, Florence Eldredge, Helen Johnson, Mary Doran, Robert Elliott, Tyler Brooke, and that veteran George Irving all add much to a very smooth performance. All of which clearly demonstrates that a good cast supporting a clever and popular star added to fine direction will spell M-O-N-E-Y at the box-office and M-G-M are surely realizing this. Of course Laurel and Hardy in "Below Zero," which is an added attraction to the bill, make a complete evening. These two comedians will surely drive dull care away at any time. ARTHUR FORDE. i i i Lucien Littlefield, featured character actor in "She's My Weakness," Radio Pictures' romantic comedy drama, takes his "daily dozen" at the RKO studio during the lunch hour. Every noontime finds him playing baseball with members of the technical staff. best things we have ever seen him do. Wallace Beery was a knockout in the character of "Butch." Others that comprised the efficient cast were George Marion, Sr., Mathew Betz, Karl Dane, Dewitt Jennings, J. C. Nugent and Mrs. Claire McDowell. George Hill's* directing was masterful in every detail of his art and Harold Wenstrom's photography, a gem in its way. We have also words of high praise for Francis Marion's dialogue. This is a behemoth of a film and is sure not only to draw big at the box office but also to create a cascade of comment among those who are intrigued in. any plan that will make for the betterment of Uncle Sam's penal institutions. ED. O'MALLEY. 29 Stage Review "TO WHAT RED HELL" At Pasadena Community Playhouse. Lucille Le Verne, who could not turn in a bad performance even if the fate of a nation depended upon it, gives a stirring portrayal as Mrs. Nolan in the Pasadena Players' version of the Percy Robinson play adapted by Harrison Orkow. True, we do not see here the Lucille Le Verne of "Sun Up" fame, although we catch flashes of it now and then, but it must be remembered that "Sun Up" and her depiction of Mrs. Cagle therein were in a class by themselves. Such roles come to a woman once in a lifetime. In "To What Red Hell," which is a vivid protest against iapital punishment, Miss La Verne rises to great heights within the limts of the role. She is seen as a widow whose only son, falsely accused, is about to be executed for a crime committed by a rich young incompetent. Differing somewhat from the London version, the Community play gives us a happy ending and affords Miss La Verne and the supporting cast a little more latitude in sympathetic gradations. In the opinion of this reviewer, Miss La Verne deserves better patronage than that which was in evidence the night we saw the play. She is a consummate artist, working for finer things' for the Community movement, and it certainly cannot be very consoling to play a great part to half-filled houses. "To What Red Hell'-' is adequately staged in the beautiful Community Theatre. It was directed by Miss La Verne .assisted by the capable Gilmore Brown and Stuart Buchanan. The support includes Lila Eccles, Charles Sutton, Onslow Stevenson, Laddie Knudson, Harold Enfield, Charles Levison, Ashton Wells, Eugart Yerian, William La Beaume, Dorothy Adams and others. TOAI LEWIS. SONG OF THE ROCKIES "Song of the Rockies" is a gypsy operetta, the location near a lake in the Rocky Mountains. Campfires, songs, music, dances and strange stories of the Rockies. There is enough pathos to bring out the handkerchief from the pocket, only to have the tears forget to fall and one laughs instead. The moonlight night, romantic love, and the three black riders that only appear at Sunset being pursued by forest rangers but never caught. The Hotel Masquerade Ball and the mysterious murder, makes the picture most interesting with sensational moments. The theme song, "When It's Springtime in the Rockies." A very clever operetta written by a young man who was brought up among the gypsies and who lives the most part of his life in the Rocky mountains, makes it most realistic. The young man who wrote the story can be reached by calling the Hollywood Filmograph, or DRexel 9131 and ask for ANTHONY PONSELLI