Inside facts of stage and screen (February 1, 1930)

PAGE FOUR INSIDE FACTS OF STACF Awn sruirw SATURDAY, FEB. 1, 1930 Picture “Reviews ^ Previews ** Shorts By A. H. FREDERICK ‘THE LOVE PARADE’ Paramount picture (Reviewed at Paramount) Borrowing the words of Abra- ham Lincoln, those who like this kind of a show will find it just the kind of a show they like. It is an operetta, strongly reminis- cent in everything but plot of "The Chocolate Soldier,” and laid in a Graustarkian kingdom. The Maurice Chevalier personality, some of the tunes and one sol- dier ensemble are the outstanding elements, the story interest being nothing but a skeleton upon which to hang the Frenchman’s audience appeal and a lot of well done laughs, some of which are very broad. In the field of screen musical operettas it takes good rank, and, as before indicated, where such have a drawing power it should fare nicely. The story is a much less considerable matter than was that of “Innocents of Paris” and the punch of some of Chevalier’s songs, in that picture outshines anything musical here, despite that there are some good tunes. The picture serves to introduce Jeannette MacDonald, who brings from the stage a highly pleasing personality and an ability to act which meets all demands of her role here, and an excellent and clear-miking singing voice. The story opens with Chevalier, an attache at Paris for the court of the mythical Sylvania, ordered home for explanation of some of his amours. Ushered into the presence of the queen, he brings his personality into play, and when she reads the charges against him she is intrigued to an extent where she invites him to dinner that night. This is a matter of great interest to her cabinet, which long has urged her to marry but with- out success. The attache so impresses her majesty that he becomes her prince consort, the wedding cere- mony showing a reversal of the usual situation in that the queen is enjoined to protect and cher- ish. whereas the bridegroom must promise to be docile. This scene is very funny. After the marriage the prince consort finds himself a nothing, she, from her position being the man of the family, and he having naught to do but eat and pass the time in idleness. How he changes the situation furnishes the balance of the plot. Ernst Lubitsch, the director, has brought a subtle touc hto the direction of the picture, and ex- pands the situations gracefully, easily and for full value. There are lots of laughs, cropping up unexpectedly as well as expected- ly, and, all in all, the direction is as. well done as has yet been con- tributed in the operetta division of the talkies. EXHIBITORS’ VIEWPOINT: Chevalier’s draw and the neat manner in which this picture has been filmed are sufficient, one or the other or both, to bring in good boxoffice to houses where one or the other or both are factors. PRODUCERS’ VIEWPOINT: Ernst Lubitsch proves himself a most able master of operetta di- rection, and the good points of the film are in no small degree to be accredited to him. Victor Schertzinger wrote the music, and among them has a number of extremely catchy tunes. '‘Dream Lover” is outstanding,, with “Let’s Be Common,” another' which should find wide use and popularity. Others, all of them good, are , “My Love Parade,” “Paris,” “Anything to Please the Queen” and “Nobody’s Using It Now.” Clifford Gray did the (Continued on Page IS) ‘ANNA CHRISTIE’ M-G-M picture (Reviewed at Criterion) Greta Garbo makes her talking debut in this O’Neill story with the same vibrant, vivid emotional power she has shown in the sil- ents. Her voice is of an alluring musical quality which throbs easily and naturally in the more stress- ful sequences and which never fails to be of a most pleasing and impressing timbre. It goes through a wide range of tones, occasion- ally hitting very low notes, but far from unpleasantly. Her por- VayM of the Anna Christie role is distinctly a triumph. It is easily one of the best things yet done in the talkies, more nearly like the tense artistry of Jeanne Eagels than any other actress has achieved to date. While some of her adherents may feel a penetra- tion of the Garbo silent mysticism a bad thing, doubtlessly she will win a reception from the others and from new fans which will far offset this. In this reviewer’s pre- diction as to the future, Miss Gar- bo will be rated among the great emotional actresses of all time. Certainly, her portrayal here will rate a high place among the ten best performances of 1930. As in all things Miss Garbo fol- lows no beaten trend. There is not readily brought to mind an- other actress who could have han- dled this role with so much re- straint, so much sincerty in avoid- ing pyrotechnics and yet so im- pressively. Her accent—of course the role is. with a Swedish accent in the O’Neill play—is not so noticeable as those of most of Hollywood’s foreign colony, Baclanova, et al. Her words are readily followable. The most “movie” thing in the picture is the work of Marie Dressier, playing the role of the frowzy old prostitute. And be- cause it is the most “movie” thing, many of the measure-by-standard fans will consider that she comes near stealing the picture. As a matter of fact she does some tre- mendously able work, but she mars this by an insistence upon getting in some of the Dressier hoke at points where the best total re- sults call for quite a different treatment, lacking sincerity very badly at these times. But the “movie fans,” who, so the general opinion goes, are not educated up to straight O’Neill, will get their guffaws from the Dressier antics, both the consistent and the incon- sistent ones, and consequently Di- rector Clarence Brown did well in letting them stay in. I he O’Neill play is followed with faithfulness, with the addition of the sea vistas and exteriors which the screen permits. In this it betters the play, bringing more clarity to the environment which changes the girl and which has so affected the life of the old Swed- ish seaman. “Anna Christie” is laid in drab surroundings and has much drab about it as compared to the pic- tures which are usually fed out from Hollywood, and as a result the biggest applause for it is to be expected from those who wel- come something more than an- other version of “Burlesque” or another standardized treatment of the college boy, the whoopee girl or the domestic tangle themes. The discerning will rate it very high; the undiscerning, allured thereto by the education the polly- anna movies have given them, will express an opinion with reserve or else will remember the picture for the belly-laughs they got out of the Dressier characterization. EXHIBITORS’ VIEWPOINT: In any house which draws them in for artistically done pictures, Eileen Mercedes Favorite Stage and Screen Beauty New York Morning Telegraph says: “Miss Mercedes, tall blonde, un- usually beautiful, was made to or- der for pictures. Sings well and dances charmingly. There are not too many girls available who can do all the things she does and do them well.” Management JIMMIE BURNS EARLE WALLACE Always Busy Developing Dancing Stars but Never Too Busy to Create and Produce Original DANCE ROUTINES and REVUES That Sell Belmont Theatre Bldg., First and Vermont Phone Exposition 1196 Los Angeles, Calif. BU& MURRAY » ASSOCIATES- 3636 BEVERLY BLVD. — Los Angeles — Tel. DU. 6721 PRACTICAL STAGE TRAINING STAGE TAP DANCING fin All Its Branches) BALLE T Technique > By SIGNOR G. V. ROS1 this is a winner. And it is the same where the Garbo draw is in effect. In such places it may be looked to as a record-breaker, or thereabouts. In other spots than these the wise exhib will look this one over before booking. It’s anything but typical musical yardage. PRODUCERS’ VIEWPOINT: Clarence Brown has turned out an artistic triumph here, and the pic- ture moves along full of the sym- pathetic treatment he put into it. The only movieized touch is the Dressier over-play, and this is, from a boxoffice standpoint, a neatly done sop for the less dis- criminating patrons. Brown did well in sticking close to the O’Neill play, and this, with his able directorial touches and the Garbo characterization, hold inter- est up to a splendid point through- out. The adaptation was by Frances Marion, and was discerning in keeping the salient points to the fore with atmosphere effective but sufficiently short not to interrupt story flow. CASTING DIRECTORS’ VIEWPOINT: As above re- marked, Greta Garbo is . to be rated in all reckonings as to film- dom’s premier talking actress. Charles Bickford, of “Dyna- mite” and “Untamed,” does his best work to date in the role op- posite her, putting full life into the blatant and child-minded Irish- man of the play. It is difficult to imagine this role better cast from among Hollywood’s roster. George Marion plays his stage role of the Swedish father of Anna, and does it for full effec- tiveness, making the most of each and every chance. A very good portrayal. Marie Dressier, as before re- marked, could, with somewhat more sincerity, have made a clas- sic out of the prostitute role, a fact which is evidenced by the many fine sequences she turns in. But putting her trade-mark into the picture whenever the chance offered made the part more Dress- ier and less O’Neill, which was not any improvement except for the guffaw brigade. lee Phelps does a smooth bar- tender. SEITZ TO DIRECT George B. Seitz has been signed to direct “Hawk Island,” the New York stage play, for Radio Pic- tures. William LeBaron bought the screen rights to show on his last trip back to New York. Bert- ram Milhauser will supervise. Beu- lah Marie Dix has been assigned to do the adaptation. The play, which is a society murder mys- tery, is understood to have been bought originally for Richard Dix, but it is not thought likely he will do it. DANCE HALL’ Radio Pictures picture (Reviewed at RKO Theatre) Take the sex out pf a Vina Delmar story and what is left is not much. And what was left in Delrriar’s “Dance Hall” when the Radio Pictures studios made the necessary courtesies to the censors was badly marred by very poor casting of the two principal parts. Arthur Lake has the male assign- ment and Olive Borden the fern, and between them they failed to hold any interest whatsoever in their long sequences together. Lake was up to his old trick of sacrificing naturalness to his desire to scintillate exuberantly (which he also failed to do), and Miss Borden was far from convincing as a dance hall jitney dancer. Nor did a blond wig help her any either in looks or in character. There was in this picture a marvelous opportunity for some one of Hollywood’s juveniles who would enter the part with sincerity and a sympathetic understanding. 1 here were some unusual sym- pathy scenes, and some touching ones in the script. But by the time Arthur Lake did his burlesque walk, his overdone self-conscious awkwardness, and his parroty head slants all sympathy had fled. De- spite that the heavy (played by Ralph Emerson) was pictured as a villain of standardized depravity, what sympathy there was in the picture apart from a major share gleaned by Margaret Seddon was divided between him and Miss Borden. This is the second time within a short period that this reviewer has seen Arthur Lake in the final love fadeout, and it just doesn t click, he having too ir- radicably stamped himself as a clown to warrant h i m being placed in any romantic situation whatsoever. But there were bright moments m the picture, contributed by that estimable Joseph Cawthorn, who ea'sily stole the film; and there was the neatly-done mother role by Miss Seddon. And also Melville Brown directed the picture for a maximum considering the script and the cast he had to work with. The story relates how Lake is a dance hall fan, being drawn there by his love for dancing and for Miss Borden. Between them they dream of becoming profes- sional dancers, having won prizes in contests to bolster their assur- ance. But there comes a heavy, a flier who makes love to the girl. This flier gets a chance to try a non- stop flight across the country, and upon the eve of his departure, Lake discovers that the girl’s love is for the airman. The flier flies and crashes, and Miss Borden faints. Lake takes her to his home for his mother’s care during her convalescence. Then the flier returns and goes to housekeeping with another girl, without the formality of marriage. Lake discovers this and his at- tempt to keep the knowledge from Miss Borden causes her to accuse him of treachery. So Lake goes to bring the man 'to the girl by force, _ and gets vastly pommeled tor his pains. Then the girl dis- covers it is Lake whom she has always loved, the dance hall pro- prietor gives them a professional dancing contract and that’s it EXHIBITORS’ VIEWPOINT: Lukewarm but adequate for a pro- grammer. PRODUCERS’ VIEWPOINT: Melville Brown’s direction is bet- ter than the total of the product turned out. He did much to over- come the handicaps under which he labored, and, with better leads (Continued on Page 15) THE ROGUE SONG’ M-G-M picture (Reviewed at Chinese) Lawrence Tibbett brings to the talking screen a singing voice which without question is the most splendid yet heard in this new medium. He fills the house with an inspiring baritone which rings with a clarity and fullness that thrill to a point where the audience, shadow only though the singer be, cannot help but ap- plaud. It’s that kind of singing. .1 ibbett tops the male singers to date in this respect. And there is another in which he also bids for top honors, and that is as an actor-singer. He goes into the requirements of his role with a full fire of sincerity and never is he so content to rest upon his laurels as a singer that he tosses off the histrionic demands care- lessly. Whether he will be an- other great lover of the screen re- mains to be seen, but certainly it would be a tremendous surprise if he fails to become very big boxoffice. The picture is distinctly a new type of screen entertainment. The numbers are never of the “popu- lar” variety, coming closer, as de- livered, to opera than to musical comedy. The story lays claim to being one which would be ade- quate without the music, and its director, Lionel Barrymore, has given a full meed of consideration to seeing that it moves along with due speed and interestingly. 1 ibbett is the whole picture, his acting over-topping by far any- thing turned in by the rest of the cast, and his voice topping any- thing yet done in the talkies. The story is laid in Russia, with Tibbett a leader of a band of Russian Robin Hoods. In his pil- fering meanderings he meets a princess (Catherine Dale Owen), who is vastly fascinated by the rogue. So much is she intrigued that she warns him of an impend- ing danger when the Cossacks close in on him, and thus insures his escape. Returning to his home the rogue discovers that his sister has been betrayed by Prince Serge, and,, his sister having committed suicide, he sets out to kill the noble. He trails him to a big reception and there discovers that the Prince is the brother of the Princess whom he has now learned to love. Nevertheless he carries through his revenge, strangling the Prince and being discovered after the deed by the Princess. She expresses amazement that he a commoner, should have dared kill a noble for any reason what- soever. The rogue, angered by this insult to his dead sister, kid- naps the girl and carries her to- ward a mountain fastness, making her wait upon him in all menial chores. . Comes a storm, and with it a night of love. But meantime the Princess is plotting to betray him to _ the Cossacks, and succeeds in doing so. With her consent, he is taken to a castle and severely flogged, but up to the moment when he faints under the pain he ' keeps singing his songs, ad- dressed to the Princess. At last she can stand it no longer and makes them carry the unconscious man to her boudoir, where he awakens in her arms. .Then comes the ending, with im riding away with the words that some day the fictitious bar- riers of rank which separate them may be swept aside and he will return. As the story opens in tyiU one may happily conjecture it one cares to, that the bolsheviks brought this to pass.