Hollywood Spectator (1937-39)

Hollywood Spectator Page Thirteen Ford. Considering that the story snaps its fingers at verisimilitude, there is little one can say about it. He might query, for instance, where the spook got her many changes of finery, or why, if she could assume material form so readily, she did not stay materialized and let it go at that — but with what point? The sole purpose of the yarn is to divert, and it will either do that or it won't. It might be said that the dialogue is generally crisp and witty; some of Billie Burke’s lines are capital nonsense. WELL DONE MELODRAMA . . . • PACIFIC LINER; RKO Radio; executive producer. Lee Marcus; producer, Robert Sisk; director. Lew Landers; assistant director, Sam Ruman; screen play, John Twist; original Anthony Coldeway and Henry Roberts Symonds; musical director. Russell Bennett* photography, Nicholas Musuraca; special effects, Vernon L. Walker; art director. Van Nest Polglase; associate art director, Albert D'Agostino; set decorations, Darrell Silvera; gowns, Edward Stevenson; montage, Douglas Travers and Iohn E. Tribby; film editor, Harry Marker. Cast: Victor McLaglen. Chester Morris, Wendy Barrie. Alan Hale, Barry Fitzgerald, Allan Lane, Halliwell Hobbes, Cyrus W. Kendall, Paul Guilfoyle, John Wray, Emory Parnell, Adia Kuznetzoff, John Bleifer, Ernest Whitman. Running time, 76 minutes. Reviewed by Bert Harlen HERE is good stuff in Pacific Liner, produced by Robert Sisk for RKO. Irony, grimness, and excellent suspense are packed into this tale of the ruthless driving of a crew of stokers, attacked by the dreaded Asiatic Cholera, in order that the ship will arrive on schedule. John Twist has done an imaginative and vigorous job of screen play writing and Lew Landers has created the story on the screen with vivid characterizations and situations of impressive dramatic force. Practically the entire action takes place on board the Pacific liner. A coolie stowaway infects the stokers with the feared disease. They are confined to the lower quarters of the ship and knowledge of the epidemic is kept from the rest of the crew and the passengers. The captain depends on a brutish chief engineer to keep the ship under full steam, despite the fact that most of the stokers are bedridden, a number having died, and that the remainder are having their resistance lowered by long hours at overwork. A somewhat symbolic figure is a young doctor, representing the force of scientific thought pitted against ignorance. Characterizations Outstanding . . . CAST as the engineer, Victor McLaglen is seen to better advantage than he has been for some time. From a writing standpoint the character is pretty well rounded — the fellow is as hard on himself as on his men, picks up a shovel himself when there are not enough stokers left to man the furnaces. The key to the man’s personality is the affinity he has with the pulsating engines of the boat; he glories in them, for he is himself a powerful human machine. He holds in contempt the “bugs” against which the doctor would protect the men, feels that hard work will drive them out. McLaren seems to have grasped the psychology of the fellow and in his bigger scenes is truly dynamic. Chester Morris does good trouping as the doctor fighting against both disease and ignorance, and Wendy Barrie is capable as the ship’s nurse. Admirable characterizations are turned in by Barry Fitzgerald, Alan Hale, Paul Guilfoyle, and others. Spots Could Be Improved . . . ROBABLY the ironical contrast between the plight of the stokers and the luxurious and trivial life of the passengers was a bit overdrawn. Passengers are depicted as a rather effete lot. Actually there are many persons on board ships who are carrying on the world’s work, salesmen and missionaries and such. And certainly they are entitled to a little recreation; most people work hard. Moreover, the character of the ship’s captain might have been elaborated upon, considering his pivotal position in the story. His apparent indifference to the illness and death among the stokers is a weak part of the story, though rather well glossed over, at that. It would seem, though, that the doctor would have gone to the captain, explained to him that the men were wearing down their resistance against the disease, that there was danger of its spreading to other parts of the ship, and that the schedule should be forgotten about. Or am I being finicky? At any rate, for a moderately budgeted picture. Pacific Liner is very good produce. A little more thought and a little more care might have resulted in a really outstanding picture. Nicholas Musuraca’s dramatic photographic studies of the men is a meritorious contribution to the film. Special effects were by Vernon L. Walker. There is effective background music provided by Russell Bennett, montage from Douglas Travers, and first-rate editing from Harry Marker. The original story was by Anthony Coldeway and Henry Roberts Symonds. JOHN GARFIELD SCORES . . . • THEY MADE ME A CRIMINAL; Warners picture and release; director, Busby Berkeley; associate producer, Benjamin Glazer; executive producer, Hal B. Wallis; screen play, Sig Herzig; from novel by Bertram Millhauser and Beulah Marie Dix; photography. James Wong Howe; art director, Anton Grot; iilm editor. Jack Killifer; music. Max Steiner; musical director, Leo F. Forbstein; assistant director, Russ Saunders. Cast: John Garfield, Claude Rains, Ann Sheridan, May Robson, Billy Halop, Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, Bernard Punsley, Gloria Dickson, Robert Gleckler, John Ridgley, Barbara Pepper, William Davidson, Ward Bond, Robert Strange, Louis Jean Heydt. Frank Riggi, Cliff Clarke, Dick Wessel, Raymond Brown, Sam Hayes. Running time, 89 minutes. Reviewed by Robert Joseph LTHOUGH Warner Brothers might have given John Garfield stronger material for his second picture, he scores magnificently in They Made Me a Criminal. Interviewed in New York on his return from Hollywood recently, he expressed the modest belief that he was just another one of those flashes in the pan, and that most of the ballyhoo that was raging around his head was just exploitation for Four Daughters. Garfield is good, and no matter what