Hollywood Spectator (1931)

20 Hollywood Spectator and amusing touch that we could expect to come from the fertile brain of my colleague, Bob Sherwood.” While granting the fertility, I must announce that this human and amusing touch came from the brain of either James Whale, Benn Levy or Tom Reed, or possibly from the brains of all three of them in conference, but not from mine. Sob Sister ▼ ▼ The beautiful, clear day when all rough stuff would be eliminated from the screen has again been postponed. Sob Sister is with us, and if there’s any sweetness or light in this one, or any lovely, exalting message of wholesomeness, then perhaps the time has come for me to visit an eye and ear specialist. Sob Sister is in the main a good picture, very well directed (by Alfred Santell) and skilfully played. But it’s dirty. The heroine, impersonated by that flower-like blonde, Linda Watkins, is a sweet girl who gyps her fellow reporters out of stories, who worms her way into the home of a dear old couple whose daughter has been murdered with a torch, who steals photographs from family albums for reproduction on a tabloid front page, and who gives herself whole-heartedly to her boy friend (with medium shot of the rumpled bed.) Miss Watkins is an extremely good actress, and I don’t think that the Fox Film Corporation has made any mistake in its enthusiasm for her. Nor do I blame Mr. Sheehan a bit for being sore at the Wampas. But I do think that she has been given a poor start in her screen career. Assigning her to the title role of Sob Sister was as bad a blunder as the casting of Janet Gaynor in The Man Who Came Back. James Dunn is excellent as the recipient of her favors and the victim of her double-crossing. He has a bad time with some of the excessively cute dialogue, but that isn’t his fault. Appearing as a reporter on the dignified Times, he looks more than ever like Walter Winchell. ▼ ▼ There are plenty of people on Broadway who would not be broken-hearted if Linda Watkins were to fail in Hollywood. For she is sorely needed on the New York stage, where she had gained recognition as that rarest of treasui'es, an intelligent ingenue. In the New York Sun, Ward Morehouse has commented on the staggering losses that Broadway has lately suffered. Aside from Miss Watkins, there are Helen Chandler, Sylvia Sidney, Miriam Hopkins, Dorothy Jordan, Peggy Shannon, Dorothy Hall, Irene Purcell, Constance Cummings, Madge Evans, Irene Dunne, Sidney Fox and Claudette Colbert. Mr. Morehouse adds: “Watch them grab Margaret Sullavan, now of The Modern Virgin, when her contract with the Shuberts runs out.” Perhaps the theatre is doomed, after all, if all the young ladies who combine beauty with talent are to be seduced by Hollywood gold. ▼ T T Outburst From the Dean (Dean of Newcastle in Film Weekly, Australia ) Unfortunately, there is a type of picture, which is hideous in its vulgarity, and presents human nature as something loathsome and degraded I believe the root of the trouble is that Hollywood, which is the center of the film industry, is controlled by a small group of men, chiefly of Oriental stock, few of whom have been adequately educated for the handling of such a gigantic thing as a picture industry. I believe that in Australia, our censors and those responsible for the screening of pictures, are doing their difficult task as best they can. What is needed is a strong educated public opinion, that will demand that the pictures are rescued from influences that would degrade them. Let s Go Places— And Do Things! An association of sportsmen, adventurers and hardheaded business men are banding together, under the name of Cinema Thrill Hunters (Registered) They will travel the trails in the Back O' Beyond, sail the little known sea lanes and seek sport, romance and profit in far-flung lands. The Association wiil be a permanent one, members of which will have the opportunity of accompanying the several expeditions that will be made to the South Sea Islands, Alaska, South America, the Congo and South Africa. The first cruise, which will be made in a palatial, private yacht, will sail in January next for the South Pacific Islands. The itinerary will include: Cocos Island — Where the buried Peruvian Treasure that has intrigued nations and individual adventurers for a century is buried. The Kxlarquessas — Where palm frouds sway in the Trade Winds. Where ''Shadows of the South Seas" throw a reflection on men whom God forgot. The Solomons — Where "long pig" is still a dainty dish among some of the island cannibals. The Fiji Group — Where deer hunting, wild cattle ("bulla-ma-cow") and wild goats provide unequalled sport. Here, on Wakaya Island — where Count Von Luckner, the German raider, was captured — is the Sportsman's Paradise of the South Sea Islands. New Guinea — Where "heads" are still native currency and where Pygmies roam the tangled jungle growth will also be visited, as well as other "off the main trail" places. The Island of Bau — Where Ratu Pope, the reigning son of the last Cannibal King of Fiji, will receive you with an Oxford drawl — and clothed in a native "Sulu". A reversion to type. Sponsored by sportsmen, managed by keen business men and select in its membership, Cinema Thrill Hunters invites your attention. Interviews granted by appointment. 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