Hollywood Spectator (Apr-May 1939)

Technicolor director, can certainly stick a feather in her hat for the minstrel scene in which a row of dancers, in trousers with red stripes, perform in unison — one of the most effective employments of color on the screen I have witnessed. Little has been done toward using color in a rhythmical way. Bert Glennon was in charge of photography. If some of the interiors of Richard Day and Joseph Wright seem a little too ornate for the mood of the piece, they have done especially interesting work in recreating an old theatre of that day together with the settings for the minstrel show on view. As a musical production, the picture has uncommon emotional force. Though scarcely penetrating as biography nor presenting a very vivid portrait of Stephen Foster, the film captures much of the spirit of American life in the past century. Never have Foster's songs been presented more stirringly. Study groups should find especially interesting a scene in technicolor in which a row of minstrel dancers, with red stripes down their trousers, perform in unison, perhaps the first employment of rhythm with color outside of the cartoon field. The re-creation of a 19th Century theatre and the staging of a minstrel should be interesting to students of the drama. La Heme Glamorous In Nezv Comedy Role EVERYTHING HAPPENS AT NIGHT Twentieth Century-Fox Director Irving Cummings Associate producer Harry Joe Brown Original screen play: Art Arthur, Robert Harari. Director of photography: Edward Conjager, ASC. Art directors Richard Day, Albert Hogsett Film editor Walter Thompson Skating numbers staged by Nicholas Castle Musical director Cyril J. Mockridge Cast: Sonja Henie, Ray Milland, Robert Cummings, Maurice Moscovich, Leonid Kinskey, Alan Dinehart, Fritz Feld, Jody Gilbert, Victor Varconi, William Edmunds, George Davis, Paul Porcasi, Michael Visaroff, Eleanor Wesselhoeft, Lester Matthews, Christian Rub, Ferdinand Munier, Holmes Herbert, Roger Imhol, Rolfe Sedan, Frank Reicher, John Bleifer. Reviewed by Bert Harlen SNOW and quaint Swiss dwellings and gay costumes again create their spell in Everything Flappens at Night, the new Sonja Henie offering. The picture has a beguiling sparkle and spriteliness. Not quite everything happens at night, though; fact is, the most important episodes transpire during sunlit hours. A stickler for accuracy, this Harlen person, especially with respect to titles. The plot itself is nothing very novel, but, as Editor Beaton has pointed out, any story can be made entertaining by the treatment of it. Around the situation of two reporters out for the same story, as well as for the same girl, some amusing by-situations have been spun, and the whole is studded with tricksy dialogue. It is all escapist drama of the first water, but it achieves its objectives quite successfully. Skating Number Outstanding A highlight of the picture is the feature skating number of Sonja Henie, which, it seems to me, is the loveliest number she has ever done. A stately Viennese-type palace is the setting, from the vast frozen floor of which rises a row of great pillars. In and out of these she skates. Much of the music is from Strauss, though some rumba music and other strains are interpolated. The skater has never been more scintillating, more flexible of facial play, than here. Seems she presents a few new maneuvers in her routine, too. The Hollywood crafts of make-up, lighting and costuming have certainly worked their wonders in the case of La Henie. In some scenes here she is rather ravishingly comely. The comedy scenes she carries off with considerable zest and variety. In the heavier portions she is satisfactory, if a little taxed. Cast Is Strong <J Robert Cummings' buoyant comedy performance, as one of the reporters, gained him high favor with the audience. He is certainly showing Hollywood what he can do these days. The droll essayal of Ray Milland, the competing journalist, also contributes importantly to the success of the picture. There is a strong and lengthy supporting cast, notable among whom are Maurice Moscovich, Alan Dinehart, Fritz Feld, in another of his diverse characterizations, and Victor Varconi. Leonid Kinskey is subtle, but for the life of me I cannot seem to recall what he was in the story for. Indeed, there is more than one facet of the yarn it would be just as well not to examine too closely. For one thing, Cummings’ sending out the story to the world that the girl’s father, a Nobel prize winner, believed to have been assassinated but really in seclusion in the mountains, is still alive, and then with much alarm doing everything to help the man escape from his enemies, apparently the Nazis. It appears that the old man's predicament would have occurred to him beforehand. On its face, though, the situation seems to present no unsurmountable dramaturgic difficulties, and I am surprised Art Arthur and Robert Harari did not manage it better. Moreover, Milland’s out-and-out theft of Cummings’ scoop puts him pretty much in the light of a skunk. Men's Costumes Dazzle Cjj Most of the picture, though, as I said, prison is in a light an some Irving Cummir, points the humor . skating numbers, men. rere staged by Nicholas Castle, t L . a ing portions are in good balance with the story, an arrangement which might well be followed in succeeding films — one feature number and a shorter informal exhibition. Photography by Edward Conjager warrants mention, and certainly does the costuming by Royer. You should see what gentlemen are wearing in the Alps this season — flowing silk affairs that look like pajamas, and bushy feathers in their hats and everything. These journalists certainly take along a wardrobe. It has gay atmosphere, some diverting humor, and the incomparable skating of Sonja Henie, seen here in perhaps her loveliest number. Very much escapist drama, but beguihngly so. Aside from the “ poetry in motion,” good for the souls of everybody . there is nothing especially in the picture to call to the attention of study groups, except to observe the wonders Hollywood crafts of make-up. lighting and costuming have worked with the skating star, who is superglamorous in numerous scenes. Gulliver's Travels Satiric In Theme GULLIVER'S TRAVELS, Paramount Producer Max Fleischer Director Dave Fleischer Screen play: Dan Gordon, Cal Howard, Ted Pierce, Izzy Sparber, Edmond Seward. Adaptation of Jonathan Swift's tale: Edmond Seward. Scenics: Erich Schenk, Robert Little, Louis Jambor, Shane Miller. Directors of animation: Seymour Kneitel, Willard Bowsky, Tom Palmer, Grim Natwick, William Henning, Roland Crandall, Tom Johnson, Robert Leffingwell, Frank Kelling, Winfield Hoskins, Orestes Calpini. Reviewed by Bert Harlen HERE is much diverting fancy in the new feature length color cartoon Gulliver’s Travels, produced by Max Fleischer. There are beautifully colored vistas, many droll little characters, a dream-world pair of lovers, and by gum. some philosophy too. The g'ant Gulliver sees the foibles of these little people, their hot-headedness, irrationality, and suspicion much in the same light that an omnipotent mind would see the vain wranglings of peoples of our earth today. It will be recalled that Swift's tale was written with satiric intent, though, ironically, the work is now more widely read by children. In the film two rulers of the little folk lead their respective peoples into war because it cannot be agreed which song will be sung PAGE SIX HOLLYWOOD SPECTATOR