Hollywood Spectator (1937-39)

Hollywood Spectator Page Eleven complete is their unity, so perfect the illusion of reality they create and maintain. ( Our next discussion will deal with the Illusion of Reality, what it means, how the injection of reality destroys it, its importance as an element of screen art.) SOME LATE PREVIEWS MERVYN'S MASTERPIECE . . . • DRAMATIC SCHOOL* MGM; producer, Mervyn LeRoy; director, Robert Sinclair; screen play, Ernest Vadja and Mary McCall, Jrj original play, Hans Szekely and Zoltan Egyed; photographer, William Daniels; sets, Cedric Gibbons and Gabriel Scognamillo; set decorations, Edwin B. Willis; gowns, Adrian; film editor, Fredrick Y. Smith. Cast: Luise Rainer, Paulette Goddard, Alan Marshal, Lana Turner, Genevieve Tobin, Anthony Allan, Henry Stephenson, Gale SondergaarcL Melville Cooper, Erik Rhodes, Virginia Grey, Ann Rutherford. Hans Conried, Rand Brooks. Jean Chatbura. Marie Blake, Cecilia C. Callejo, Margaret Dumont. Frank Puglia, Dorothy Granger. Running time, 78 minutes. ONE of the finest talking pictures of this or any other season, one which, in dignifying stage art, lends dignity to screen art. By sheer brilliance of writing, directing and acting, it takes a single-idea story and weaves it into dramatically gripping screen entertainment; it makes big scenes out of what on paper would read as almost casual incidents without much story significance. Of, from and about the stage, directed by a former stage director with but one previous picture to his credit, it nevertheless derives its strength as screen entertainment by strictness of its regard for the demands of the medium in which it now expresses itself. It is a critics’ picture as well as one which should have wide popular appeal. Physically, it is highly attractive. Adorned with sets designed by that master craftsman, Cedric Gibbons, and his associate, Gabriel Scognamillo — sets whose architectural beauty is emphasized by the manner in which Edwin Willis has dressed them — it has added visual attractiveness in the persons of a score of girls who as a group shatter screen traditions by being both beautiful and talented. The whole production, both animate and inanimate, gave Willian Daniels photographic opportunities of which he availed himself in a highly artistic manner. Luise Rainer's Fine Performance . . . ITHOUT a single irritation of the kind which sprinkles so many otherwise satisfactory pictures — loud dialogue, too many close-ups, clumsy grouping— Dramatic School moves along at a smooth and steady pace which is a tribute to the excellence of its film editing by Fredrick Y. Smith. In short, it is a technical as well as a dramatic masterpiece. As dramatic as anything else in it, is its revelation of a new Luise Rainer, a vibrant, emotionally appealing young girl with an impelling ambition to become a great actress. It is a purely mental characterization, a scintillating one of lights and shade enacted with a brilliance which makes us believe no one else could have played the part so convincingly. Even though playing an actress, Miss Rainer makes us forget the actress and think only of the girl. As co-star, Paulette Goddard takes a long step forward in realizing the possibilities hinted at in her first screen appearance and emphasized in her second. Possessed of both beauty and brains, as well as an expressive speaking voice, she here has a characterization dominated by petty meanness for its greatest footage and developing into sympathetic emotion before the picture ends. She is in complete command of each of her scenes and takes her place among Hollywood actresses for whom brilliant careers may safely be predicted. Sinclair's Outstanding Direction . . . T\IRECTION by Robert Sinclair has the sympaU thetic and understanding quality which can be responsible for only intelligent and convincing performances. A score of names are listed in the cast, too many for the individual mention the work of each player entitles him or her to. Alan Marshall is excellent in one of the principal motivating parts, Genevieve Tobin is scintillating in a brief appearance, and Marie Blake registers strongly as Luise Rainer’s loyal friend. Among the distinguished performances is included that of Gale Sondergaard. A boy who gives promise is Rand Brooks who has the odd role of a youth who is a failure as an actor, odd because he does it so well he proves himself an excellent actor. Others whose parts and performances make them stand out are Henry Stephenson, Melville Cooper and Erik Rhodes. The screen play by Ernest Vajda and Mary C. McCall, Jr., is a beautiful bit of screen writing. The sum total of the whole production is a triumph for the eternally young Mervyn LeRoy. Dramatic School is not quite like anything else he has done, but it is to be hoped he gives us others like it. It is his first for Metro and is a tribute to that organization’s sagacity in securing him to produce for it. NOTABLE CINEMATIC EVENT . . . • THE BEACHCOMBER; Paramount release of PommerLaughton production; produced and directed by Erich Pommer; screen play by Bartlett Cormack; original story, "Vessel of Wrath," by W. Somerset Maugham; scenario, B. Val Thai; musical director, Muir Mathieson; music by Richard Addinsell; photography, Jules Kruger; film editor, Robert Hamer; assistant director, Edward Baird. Stars Charles Laughton. Supporting cast; Elsa Lanchester. Tyrone Guthrie, Robert Newton, Dolly Mollinger, Rosita Garcia, J. Solomon, Fred Groves, Eliot Makeham, Mah Foo, Ley On, D. J. Ward, S. Alley and Dudley (dog). Running time. 80 minutes. NDERLINE it as a must-see. Its assets: a psychologically sound story; four brilliant characterizations of widely diversified personalities; perfect direction; producton and photography up to the standard set by the other elements. Bartlett Cormack had a job on his hands to make a smoothly flowing screen play from the Maugham book. The leading man (Laughton) , when the story opens, is about as low as a man can get, a drunken beachcomber in ragged clothes which suggest filth. Playing opposite him is a narrow-minded old maid (Elsa Lanchester) , a religious zealot with a domineering complex. We are picture-wise enough to