Hollywood Motion Picture Review (1937-1940)

Page 8 HOLLYWOOD MOTION PICTURE REVIEW September 28, 1940 DULCY M.G.M. SCREWBALL COMEDY WHERE EVERYBODY IS NUTS BUT THE AUDIENCE. MAY BE OKAY FOR MET. AREAS BUT SMALL TOWNS??? Produced by Edgar Selwyn. Directed by S. Sylvan Simon. Screenplay by Albert Mannheimer, Jerome Chodorov and Joseph A. Fields. Based on a play by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly. Photography by Charles Lawton, A.S.C. Release date October II, 1940. Running time at preview 72 minutes. THE CAST Dulcy Ward ANN SOTHERN Gordon Daly IAN HUNTER Roger Forbes ROLAND YOUNG Schuyler Van Dyke REGINALD GARDINER Eleanor Forbes BILLIE BURKE Angela Forbes LYNNE CARVER Bill Ward DAN DAILEY. JR. "Sneezy" DONALD HUIE Homer Patterson JONATHAN HALE Henry GUINN "BIG BOY" WILLIAMS Vincent Leach HANS CONRIED Rating: B. F. I. K. Q. X. a/g The Story: Ann Sothern, daughter of a wealthy family, falls in love with Hunter, an inventor whose prospects of selling his invention are slim. Ann decides to interest Young, the father of her brother’s fiancee, in the invention. However, her good intentions go wrong and the entire family is in an uproar. When Gardiner, a phoney fianceer, procures an option on the engine. Young buys the option from him and every one is happy. COMMENT : No punches are pulled in this screwball comedy, where everybody goes nuts hut the audience. If anything else crazy could have happened in the picture, it was undoubtedly due to the fact that the producer and writers couldn’t think of it. In metropolitan areas this sort of comedy may go over but for small towns, unless the area is highly sophisticated, it may prove a little too screwy for them. There is lively action and a fair romantic interest. All performances are in keeping with the show, with Ann Sothern, Reginald Gardiner, Roland \oung. Jonathan Hale and Guinn Williams standing out in their respective roles. S. Sylvan Simon has directed the show with vigor and of its kind, turned in the best job imaginable. Photography, recording, settings and general production details maintain quality throughout. Advertising: Title is attractive. Use nutty methods in advertising and exploitation. Squirrel in cage with a sack of nuts for window or lobby attraction. Fashions, wardrobe, luggage and barbecue equipment for window displays. Miniature airplane model engines in foyer display. Tie-up with travel agencies, S. S. Lines. —JOE BLAIR FACTS . . . GOSSIP Gene Autry and his famed equine actor “Champ” will fly to New York next week for personal appearances at Madison Square Garden for the annual Rodeo there. This will be the first time the movie horse has been up in an airplane and marks one of the best publicity stunts in which the Republic star has participated. Autry is completing “Melody Ranch,” a musical western filmed on a more pretention scale than previous Autry westerns. Irene Dunne has been signed by Warner Bros., for the starring role in “Mr. Skeffington,” most recent best-seller by Elizabeth. The picture will be directed by Edmund Goulding. Eugene Zukor By Joe Pearson Though he has carved a well deserved place for himself in motion pictures on his own initiative, no biography on Eugene Zukor would be complete without tribute to Adolph Zukor, the immigrant boy from Ricse in Hungary, whose brains and foresight was largely responsible for the sensational rise of moving pictures from the cheap and somewhat tawdry “nickelodeons” to their present magnificence, art and refinement — from their start as a glorified peep show in the Penny Arcades to their present position of a leading American industry. A true son of that sterling and beloved old gentleman, Eugene was born into the motion picture business and has been intimately identified with it for more than twenty years in every capacity from publicity department to member of the board of directors, including both foreign and domestic executive service. After a thorough schooling to prepare him for business, Eugene started with Paramount in 1916 in the publicity department of the New York studio on 56th street, writing feature articles and material for press books. The World War interrupted these duties; after service as Lieutenant Commander in the U. S. Navy, he returned to duties at the New York exchange. In 1920 Eugene was appointed assistant manager of the New York exchange after serving as shipping clerk, booker, and salesman. In 1922 he was transferred to the home office on 5th Avenue in connection with theatre purchases. During this time he made several business trips to Europe in connection with the production and acquisition of French, German, Austrian and English pictures for American release. He was appointed assistant to the president of the parent company in 1924, acting as liaison between the president, sales, production and theatre departments. During this time he made several additional business trips to Europe. Three years later he was transferred to the theatre department, specializing in construction and research, and having direct charge of many of Paramount’s most important new theatre developments. Later he became an executive member of the foreign department on the staff of vice-president John W. Hicks. He was a director of the company from 1918 until reorganization of the old Paramount Publix, and at the time held the post of assistant treasurer. Eugene transferred to the production department in Hollywood in 1936, where, as an advisory aide to his father, Adolph Zukor, he concerned himself with all phases of film making. In 1939 he was made an associate producer at the studio and a year later became a producer under William Le Baron; managing director of production. For his initial bow as a producer, Eugene chose “Mystery Sea Raider,” suggested by the world famous sea incidents involving the Graf Spee, the S. S. Columbus, S. S. Tacoma, and other vessels which recently made newspaper headlines. “The completed film story,” says Eugene, “is one of the most realistic films of it’s kind ever filmed, deals with an American merchant-ship seized by a beligerent foreign power, disguised by new paint and false tunnels, and used as a ‘mother ship’ for sea raiders. Human drama arises from the fact that captured crews and passengers from scuttled ships are imprisoned aboard the vessel to keep them from revealing its whereabouts.” Zukor’s idea of a good picture is when it runs into the black for both studio and exhibitors. If it runs into the red it shouldn’t have been made. Another of his pet ideas is that Hollywood is too much concerned with making pictures that Hollywood likes, and not enough with what kind of pictures the public wants. Because of his extensive box-office knowledge he disregards the ultrasophisticated farce, filled with wise-cracking inebriates, that some studios apparently get such a bang out of making, and devotes his efforts to producing sincere, down-to-earth films that are, in the final analysis, the back-bone of the box-office. Eugene practically ‘lives’ with a picture from the time the scenarist puts the first line on paper until the film leaves the cutting room, canned and ready for shipment. And though he readily admits liking money for the freedom it assures his family and himself, he is in no sense money-minded and gets more genuine satisfaction out of a job well done than he does any financial rewards it brings. He is highly conservative and his comfortable home in Beverly Hills, where he lives with his wife and three sons, aged 9, 15 and 18, is not pretentious as judged by Hollywood standards of living. His hobbies are cartooning and he has published two books. He likes Hollywood and thrives on sunshine and outdoors. For relaxation he indulges in sailing, tennis, swimming, boxing, gardening and horse back riding. He dresses modestly and is a voracious reader of the classics, “heavy” literature, books on business, biographies, with an exciting detective story thrown in once in a while. He is an excellent conversationalist and is well versed on foreign affairs, music, shows, art, pictures, horticulture and sports of all kinds. He has a violent dislike for back-slappers and people who seek to make his acquaintance merely because his name is Zukor. On the other hand he will go to great lengths to get a friend a proper hearing if he thinks a person is sincere, has something on the ball and is deserving of a helping hand. Past instances of his helpful influence are all too well known in film circles. Unlike most producers he believes that well presented stage shows have a definite place in a motion picture house, but he puts heavy emphasis on well presented. Editor's Note: Fictioniied biographies is a specialized feature for Hollywood Review. Exhibitorsubscribers are granted permission to use these articles In house organs and in their local newspapers in connection with picture showings.