Inside facts of stage and screen (January 25, 1930)

PAGE FOUR INSIDE FACTS OF STAGE AND SCREEN SATURDAY, JAN. 25, 1930 ’ ■' 1 ■ 1 , 11 ■'* :■■s.t 1 -" . 1 ss-rnry" — a ■■■ ■■■■■■■ ■ " -—US— Picture Reviews ~ Previews ~ Shorts By A. H. FREDERICK ‘HIS FIRST COMMAND* ‘SEVEN DAYS’ LEAVE’ “NEW YORK NIGHTS” “SALLY” ‘SOUTH SEA ROSE’ Radio Pictures’ Picture (Reviewed at RKO Theatre) As a programmer without pre- tentions of small proportions, this is a most pleasing picture, with an even flow of comedy and story, a weak climax which nonetheless is kept up to a good standard by the way it is handled, and all in all one which any exhibitor may book with assurance that his audi- ences will be pleased. The story, while, not entirely un- stereotyped, is sure-fire, and in- terpolated gags and the smooth, laugh-provoking flow of dialogue build it up to certain returns. Opening shots show William Boyd arriving in Kansas under direction of his father, who is angry at Bill’s escapades with chorus girls on Broadway. The daddy is a rubber magnate, and Bill’s orders are to learn the rub- ber business. But there is a girl who admires only men in uniform, so Bill enlists. The comedy starts immediately, with laugh after laugh coming at the rookie’s mis- takes in believing that he has joined a business enterprise and can meet the officers on terms of equality. But he learns—with sev- eral snubbings by the girl thrown j n —the ropes and becomes color- guard. Then there is a field day for officers, and a little girl, the daughter of one of the officers, falls behind a water jump over which the thundering hoofs of the racing horses will pass. Boyd rescues her, and shortly there- after is awarded a commission. Of course he also wins the girl who likes the man in uniform. EXHIBITORS’ VIEWPOINT: For a program picture, this is a safe booking and will be boosted by favorable word-of-mouth. Audi- ences which like to laugh will find the opportunity here, and the week should be a good one. PRODUCERS’ VIEWPOINT: Gregory LaCava directed, and there is no fault to be found in this department. His contribution was adequate in every foot, though the nature of the story prevented it from ever becoming more than exceptionally good straightaway stuff. Jack Jungmeyer did the story, with a keen eye to audience. A very good job. Jungmeyer and James Gleason collaborated in the dialogue, and this department is A-l. CASTING DIRECTORS’ VIEWPOINT: William Boyd con- firms himself as a talkie per- former who can be depended upon for a good program performance. He is equally proficient at draw- ing laughs and in handling dra- matic sequences. Dorothy Sebastian is weak as the girl. "While her talking is up to average, she lacks the appeal which other girls have gained through the power to be articulate. Paul Hurst is a hard-boiled ser- geant, and he makes his part sec- ond only to that of Boyd. His moments on the screen are all good and welcomed by the audi- ence. Alphonse Ethier is splendid as a colonel. The part has been drawn from the life, and without the usual over-doing of army offi- cer roles, and Ethier plays it just that way. The part is excellent both in the script treatment and in the manner in which it is handled. Gavin Gordon does a lieutenant well, and Howard Hickman has a minor character which also is developed for its values. Helen Parrreh, a youngster, of about 9 or 10, handles her lines convincingly and is a worthy ad- dition to the cast. STRAUSS DUE SOON Oscar Straus, coming to Holly- wood to write original operettas for Warner Brothers, will arrive in Hollywood about Jan. 27. Straus has had numerous works produced in this country, including the “Chocolate Soldier,” “The Waltz Dream” and “The Last Waltz.” His latest is “Marietta,” not yet presented in America. “Chic” KENNEDY Direction: JIMMY MURPHY Paramount Picture (Reviewed at Paramount) This picture looks to be a great deal more of an artistic triumph than a boxoffice cleanup. Artistic- ally it is a creation which will be sure to please those who like the more elevated phases of the drama, but from a boxoffice standpoint it lacks love interest and the more showy climaxes. Which will not please the sheik and the sheba type of movie fans. The direction of Richard Wal- lace and the work of the cast, par- ticularly of Beryl Mercer, is splendid. Taken from one of James M. Barrie’s ultra-saccharine plays, Wallace has tinged it with touches which embellish it to a greater height than was reached by the play, “The Old Lady Shows Her Medals.” Miss Mercer is no small contributor to the same end, with the star, Gary Cooper, also sharing in it. Gary is good, but it is Beryl Mercer’s play. Wallace is to be commended for the touching appeal he has put into the drab phases of London life in which the story moves, and for the deep sympathy with which he has caught the loneliness of the old charwoman. There can be little doubt that this film will come into deserved consideration when the best pictures of the year 1930 are being considered, and that Wallace’s direction of it will be likewise considered among the 10 outstanding directorial achieve- ments of the period. The picture is filled with throat-gripping mo- ments for those who lose them- selves in its artistry. The story deals with an elderly London charwoman whose deep regret is that she has no part in the world war. Every woman she knows has contributed either her efforts dr her son. She can do neither, because she is too old to be given war work, and because she has no son. Her lonely heart creates a fic- titious son from a name she has seen in the paper. Then the man of that name comes to London on leave and is steered to her house by a well-meaning acquaintance, who thinks he is her son. At first rough in his treatment of her cheat, the boy is gradually won over by her tender regard for him and enters the deception and she becomes the envy of all the neighborhood at being the mother of such a strapping soldier. But, in a fracas, he reveals a complete lack of patriotism, and discloses that he intends to de- sert. This so much breaks her up that he is conscience-stricken and changes his plans. He returns to the war, and is killed. The fade- out shows her mother’s heart ten- derly pondering over her few me- mentoes of him, until it is time for her to lift up her scrubbing pail and go to her char work in company with three old cronies who are her chief companions. EXHIBITORS’ VIEWPOINT: Look this one over before book- ing. While it has a big appeal for those who like the artistic, it is a doubtful booking in houses which want them “move.” Of course Gary’s “The Virginian” has put him at the zenith of his drawing power, but those who come in on the strength of the Wister play will find little of that Gary in this picture. PRODUCERS’ VIEWPOINT: Richard Wallace has something to be very proud of in “Seven Days’ Leave.” It is one of the most admirably directed talkies yet done and shows a depth of ability. John Farrow and Dan Totheroh did the adaptation, and a very neat job of it, building up every scene for a maximum. CASTING DIRECTORS’ VIEWPOINT: Beryl Mercer’s characterization of the sonless charwoman is tremendously effec- tive. By it and her work in “Three Live Ghosts” she has un- questionably leaped to the top of character women of her type, and has written herself boxoffice. Gary Cooper’s part is support for Miss Mercer despite his stellar billing. In it he leaves nothing to be desired, making the most of his every chance. But Gary’s more ardent fans are likely to be dis- appointed in its limitations. Three elderly women, playing frowsy, gossipy charwomen, all do splendid work, developing their respective roles to the full with- out any one overshadowing the consistently good work of the U. A. Picture (Reviewed at U. A. Theatre) Norma Talmadge’s talking debut was not happily chosen. It is an- other of the backstage stories, with nothing particular to distinguish it from its many predecessors. There is the true-blue Lou who sticks to her man as long as she is allowed to do so, despite his weakness for drink; there are the usual chorus ensembles and single acts interpolated to interrupt what flow to the story there is; there is a good themie presumably en- titled “A Year From Today”; there is the heavy who tries to make the girl, only to meet his just deserts (according to the movies); and there’s the happy fadeout of the husband and wife westward bound to start anew. As the story is average, so is the cast, with just one exception. John Wray, playing the heavy, has something new to offer, under the direction of John Milestone. Miss Talmadge has a clear voice, quite adequate to demands of all but the more dramatic mo- ments. At these crises it fails to be wholly convincing. But none of her work stands up to the standard she set in the silents. Her talkie presence as yet is not the equal in convincingness of her silent screen presence, though her personal attraction in the one me- dium is as good as in the other. Gilbert Roland fails to rise above the description of being just an- other leading man for the talkies, and not at all a vivid one when his offering is compared to some of the sterling work which the talkies have uncovered. The story starts with the wife (Norma Talmadge) of a song writ- er (Gilbert Roland) upbraiding him for his weakness for drink, which, so she says, is killing their future. But in company with his buddy (Roscoe Karns), he has "written a song, and, through the agency of the wife, it is sold to the producer of a show of which she is the star. This producer is a gangster chief of Chicago (John Wray), whose one present ambition . is to make the wife. The gangster frames it for the husband to get drunk and be caught with a girl in a hotel raid. This finally breaks down the wife’s faith and she steps out of the home to have a good time on her own. There are parties and entertain- ment at this point, and climaxes of virtue nearing its defeat, but of course everything comes out all right and the two-person family turns westward to start all over again. EXHIBITORS’ VIEWPOINT: Except for the draw of “New York Nights” being Norma Tal- madge’s first talkie, there is noth- ing here other than an average program picture based on the well- worn motif of backstage life. Box- office will be in proportion to the public desire to hear Norma speak. PRODUCERS’ VIEWPOINT: Lewis Milestone has brought ade- quate but no sensational direction to the picture. His touches are good, but the nature of the story prevented him from doing other than average. The dialogue is best in the por- tions between husband and wife, the other stuff having a thoroughly familiar ring. The picture is from the stage play, “Tin Pan Alley” and would have been much better movie ma- terial a year ago than it is now. CASTING DIRECTORS’ VIEWPOINT: Talkie qualifica- tions of Norma Talmadge and Gil- bert Roland have been discussecj above. John Wray plays the gangster chief with a new interpretation, the outstanding difference being a laughing period to almost all of his remarks, and a most convinc- ing and true-to-life manner of handling his every sequence. Lilyan Tashman is cast in an- other of her wise-cracking roles, in which she is always certain to deliver for full value. Mary Doran has a fluffy-talk chorus girl role, in which she ac- quits herself in standard but effec- tive manner, and Roscoe Karns is fully satisfactory as the second Tin-Pan-Alley er. trio. They are Daisy Belmore, Nora Cecil and Tempe Pigott. Arthur Hoyt and Arthur Met- calfe have small assignments, which they perform satisfactorily. First National Picture (Reviewed at Warners’ Hollywood) Transferred to the screen with fidelity and with Marilyn Miller in her familiar title role, this picture could not help be otherwise than distinctly pleasing.. And it is. The old catchy tunes are as catchy as ever, Marilyn is as efficient and al- luring and with as sweet a voice and personality, and the surround- ing cast is almost unanimously good. In one respect the picture out- does the play, and that is in the department of being more convinc- ing. On the stage one always felt the orchestra ready to tune up and that it was just another musical comedy, albeit a good one. But Director John Francis Dillon has managed to imbue the play’s lines with a naturalness in sequential de- velopment which frequently dis- abuses the mind from the fact that it is a musical show, and better heart-throbs or good moments are the result. The story is long familiar. The little girl whose dancing feet skip her out of waitress jobs until fin- ally she gets a second rate chance in a cabaret. Then her promotion into an evening of entertainment at a society affair, where she is in- troduced as a foreigner of distinc- tion. Of how she there learns that the man she loves is to wed another. Of her rise to Ziegfeld- ian heights and the reconciliation between her and her lover, who has got out of the announced en- gagement to the other girl. The one best comedy spot in the picture is a sequence wherein Joe E. Brown and Jack Duffy exe- cute some dangerous antics on a ladder. But nevertheless it is with a memory complimentary to a former day that the work of Leon Errol in the silent “Sally” version with Colleen Moore is recollected. Certainly Joe E. Brown comes no- where near stealing the present picture, and Leon Errol wrapped up the silent version without much trouble. EXHIBITORS’ VIEWPOINT: The career of this picture will be interesting and exhibs had better look it over for themselves. Whether the popularity of the play in former days, and the former silent version will aid or hinder good boxoffice on this one is some- thing to be considered in the in- dividual case. Marilyn Miller’s name will necessitate a consider- able amount of explanatory exploi- tation in other than metropolitan first runs if full value is to be achieved therefrom. PRODUCERS’ VIEWPOINT: John Francis Dillon rates credit for his very clever direction of this picture. He has neatly blended picture demands with the stage ma- terial so that an interesting story weaves its way as much more than a mere skeleton upon which to hang catchy melodies. The en- sembles, staged by Larry Ceballos are excellent. Waldemar Young did the screen version of the Guy Bolton musical comedy, and did a good job of it. CASTING DIRECTORS’ VIEWPOINT: Marilyn Miller’s famed stage attributes are in no- wise lost upon the screen. Rather enhanced, if anything, by the abil- ity to bring her near in closeups and short shots. In addition to her intriguing personality, she has a real ability at screen singing and dancing (which is sometimes dif- ferent from stage singing and dancing), the total rating her right in the top ranks of screen musi- cal comedy stars. Alexander Gray is possessed of a pleasing enough personality, but (Continued on Page 13) Fox Picture (Reviewed at Loew’s State) This is a hybrid affair, the story moving along the lines of a real take but the laughs mainly being of the slapstick variety. Which means that there are more laughs than there is entertainment. A considerable improvement would have been obtained by working the script over for laughs in line with the story and eliminating the Mack Sennett angles. As it stands it is certainly a weak vehicle dramatically for anyone of the reputation of the star, Lenore Ulric, and its draw should be looked for mainly from the title and from the exploitation and ad- vertising angles used. Loew’s had a trio of Hula players, two men and a gill, out in front of the the- atre to attract the passerby. The picture can stand something like that in houses where titles are not the paramount consideration. There the name and the Hula posters should make it march steadily enough. The picture opens prettily enough with South Sea Island scenes, dances and songs. The themie, “South Sea Rose,” is suf- ficiently pretty though strongly reminiscent of bygone melodies, but there are too many repeti- tions of it. A ship’s captain (Charles Bick- ford) has sailed into the port to marry a French girl there (Lenore Ulric) in the belief that she is an heiress. This comes to pass, with an ocean storm thrown in for good measure on the trip home. Also on shipboard are scenes wherein Miss Ulric is called upon for a display of her 'native cute- ness, and she acquits herself fairly well therein. Bickford takes his bride to his New England home, kept by his prudish sister (Elizabeth Patter- son). Miss Ulric properly shocks all the natives by her ultra- French garb and mannerisms, Culminating when she performs a Hula dance at a lecture on the South Sea Islands. Meanwhile Bickford has sailed for France to get guardianship papers, and his bride has been carrying on a prodigious flirtation with the vil- lage doctor (Kenneth McKenna). When Bickford returns he dis- covers his wife in the doctor’s arms. So he says he will sur- render her, and he leaves. How- ever, he declares that he loves her and can tell her so manfully now because it has been dis- covered by him that she hasn’t a dime in the world. As he is about to sail away Miss Ulric comes aboard and says that it is he whom she has always loved. Through lack of good scenariz- ing there are many draggy spots, with the opening scenes promis- ing far more than is delivered in the remainder of the picture. EXHIBITORS’ VIEWPOINT: This is just mediocre entertain- ment, and with no particular cast name to draw looks like under- average boxoffice. Lure of the South Sea title is the best thing to draw the shoppers with, with heavy play also on the sirenic reputation of the star. Bickford of “Dynamite” fame is also good for a percentage of the patronage. PRODUCERS’ VIEWPOINT: Alan Dwan directed, with the ex- cellence of certain shots scenically outweighing the dramatic direc- tion. He played the comedy broad, thus insuring laughs though scarcely building up the picture from a story or romantic stand- point. CASTING DIRECTORS’ VIEWPOINT: The cast runs at (Continued on Page 13) l9^5E4SOIM 100 IN CAST SION GABRIEL R.D. Mac Lean as frayjuniperoserra EVERYAETERWON-EXCEPT MOHDAY-i'S — WED. AND SAT. EVE &' S PRICES 7S? */ au