Hollywood Motion Picture Review (1937-1940)

August 14, 1937 HOLLYWOOD MOTION PICTURE REVIEW Page 7 WELLS FARGO Paramounf Rating: ***. fft Pi §§§• »x. oo*. Catchlines: "A powerful drama of the expanding of the United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific." "He had faith in the destiny of his country — but was blinded to the loyalty of his people." THE STORY: McCrea, employee of a stage and express company, takes over the job of lengthening the line from New York to St. Louis because, there he will see Frances Dee, with whom he has fallen in love. They are married and when the Civil War breaks out, she is unwittingly responsible for the attempted ambushing of a wagon train of gold. McCrea believes her responsible and they separate. When peace is established, McCrea goes back to St. Louis and for the first time meets his grown daughter and she brings her father and mother together once more. CREDITS; The Cast: Joel McCrea, Frances Dee, Bob Burns, Lloyd Nolan, Porter Hall, Ralph Morgan, Ma ry Nash, Henry O'Neill, John Mack Brown and others. Produced and directed by Frank Lloyd. Screenplay by Paul Schofield, Gerald Geraghty and Fred Jackson. Story by Stuart N. Lake. THE WOMEN MEN MARRY M.G.M. Rating: **. tt IT §§■ x. o. Catchlines; "A Mystic cult brought two people together who discover the mystery of love." "She bought a one-way ticket to Reno — while he took a trip to the altar.” THE STORY: Murphy, Edwards and Josephine Hutchi nson, news reporters, are trying to expose Wray, the leader of a mystic cult, who shoots and kills Edwards when he catches him in the secret vault. Meantime, Murphy's wife, Claire Dodd, begins an affair with Murphy's boss, Blackmer. After covering another assignment, Murphy returns home to find the two together. Blackmer fires at the reporter but the bullet goes wild and slightly wounds Claire. Murphy takes care of her until she is dismissed from the hospital; hands her a one-way ticket to Reno and goes out to enjoy life with Josephine. CREDITS : The Cast: George Murphy, Joseph ine Hutchinson, Cliff Edwards, Claire Dodd, Sidney Blackmer, Peggy Ryan, John Wray, Helen Jerome Eddy, Toby Wing and others. Produced by Michael Fessier. Directed by Errol Taggart. Screenplay by Harry Ruskin, Donald H. Clarke, and James Edward Grant. Original by Matt Taylor. ESCAPE BY NIGHT Republic Rating: *. ft Iflt §§■ xx. oo. Catchlines: "Shadows aided his escape — but love made him face the truth with courage." THE STORY: Unjustly accused of being the ac complice of a racketeer boss. Hall, with Steffi Duna, Alper and Bond, three of the gang, escape and hide at the broken down farmhouse of Anne Nagel and her blind father. The four summer boarders fix up the dilapidated house and gardens and forget their former life. Hall falls in love with Anne and hopes she will not learn about his past. Later, the racketeer boss frames the four, but Hall risks his life to clear them and captures the real criminal. He returns to Anne who knows the truth and Steffi starts life anew with Meeker. CREDITS: The Cast: William Hall, Anne Nagel, Dean dagger, Steffi Duna, Ward Bond, Murray Alfiier, Charles Waldron, George Meeker and others. Associate Producer Harold Shumate. Directed by Hamilton McFadden. Original screenplay by Harold Shumate. — SUBSCRIBE TODAY ^ Margaret Mitchell’s novel of the South is stirring and most cleverly written, making popular reading, as attested by the remarkable sales taken place during the past few months. The story is a magnificent novel of the Civil War, and is amazingly clear in its portrayal of the lives of those characters in the book who saw and withstood, or fell with the turmoil of Reconstruction during the days of Sherman and the carpetbaggers. A record price was paid by David 0. Selznick for the screen rights to this widely discussed book. Whether or not it becomes as popular or as powerful when made into the form of motion picture entertainment, is to be questioned. In the first place the story contains much censurable material that cannot pass in many states. These same censorable sequences form the main highlights of the novel and if left out or glossed over, would make the film story fall short in the picturization of the vital facts. Naturally, with these highlights deleted, there is only the shell of a story left. Many wise and intelligent film minds question whether or not it was a master stroke to purchase such an expensive novel when most of the highpoints are included in objectionable sequences and must of necessity be stricken out for censorable reasons. If the picture is to be filmed according to the story (and if it isn’t, explain please, the logic of spending an enormous sum for the rights to a novel which can’t be filmed), the following sequences must be handled with kid gloves. Scarlett O’Hara was married three times — each time the husband was tricked into the ceremony; her first marriage, for spite, will be a tremendous let-down for patrons of the adolescent age. Her second marriage was consummated by deliberate scheming and stealing of her sister’s sweetheart — to marry the man herself when other plans for her security failed. This kind of romantic triangle is more or less nauseating to many patrons. Her third marriage to Rhett Butler, a questionable character who followed her through the years before offering marriage, although he had previously proposed another relationship on the same level as that evidently held by Belle Watling, a custodian of a house of ill-fame, ended in failure. The novel, itself, climaxes on a dismal mental note — with Scarlett plotting ways and means to win back her husband, Rhett Butler, the only man who truly loved her but whose love finally burned out because of her deceitful actions. In the screen treatment it would not be prudent to have him return to her after his bitter denunciation and desertion. Scarlett’s offer to sell her body to obtain money to save her father’s plantation, evidently will be omitted. Through her married life. Scarlett O’Hara clung to her desire for a married man with whom she believed herself to be in love, but whom she could not have. This too must be stricken from the screenplay. It should also be pointed out. war scenes and the horrors of war, have not been of great interest to women. The clash between the North and the South ; the determination of the North to clear the path by destroying, until they captured Atlanta, and the equally determined South to hold their own — is war — and the women patrons do not like war. The prejudice of the North and the South, their battles and the negro sequences are extremely essential, but of doubtful boxoffice material. To sell the film through the Northern and Southern territories, the subject will have to be handled mighty carefully. Then too, neither the crusades by the Ku Klux Klan nor the negro sequences, especially where white women are molested, can be shown. Although Gerald O’Hara’s loss of memory, his tragic death and the funeral, are masterpieces of writing, it is of doubtful appeal as film standards of entertainment go. Curiosity no doubt will draw those who have read the book — for the main reason to see just how close the producers have come to making the motion picture like the Mitchell novel; also, if the actors coincide with their conception of the book characters. While the film will no doubt show plenty of causes and excuse the hard and battling nature of Scarlett O’Hara, and her many obstinate and selfish actions which overshadows her courage and finer characteristics, it is still problematical if film patrons will enjoy paying their money to see a heroine or hero whom they would have little desire to imitate.— A. B.