Inside facts of stage and screen (May 10, 1930)

PAGE FOUR INSIDE FACTS OF STAGE AND SCREEN SATURDAY, MAY 10, 1930 Picture Reviews ~ Previews " Shorts ‘FRAMED’ RADIO PICTURE (Reviewed at R-K-O) Los Angeles Although this is just another crook meller, unoriginal, with such errors of good taste as making a cheap hired killer the comedian of the piece, yet it has significance in that it presents Evelyn Brent in the best work of her career to date. For the first time she becomes really noticeable, artistically. Cast frequently enough as a hard moll, this time she endows her role with human character, artificial only where the limitations of the story impose it. The individual work of the cast is far superior to the story value or directorial treatment. The plot in brief, if possible, introduces Evelyn in a meaningless third de- gree scene, in which it develops that her father, whose connection with crookdom is not made clear, has been shot by a policeman. Evelyn, at the crude expediency of the scenarist, picks on the police inspector as an object for her ha- tred. It is not consistent, but perhaps the author is one of those who do not believe in femi- nine consistency. However, five years after, Eve- lyn meets the inspector’s son and plays with his affections in order to hurt the old man’s feel- ings. Papa tells the boy she’s a no good gal but the boy sticks up for her, believing in her pris- tine purity in spite of the fact that she has been moiling around for years and is at present a night club hostess. The boy breaks with papa and goes to see Evelyn again. Mean- while the night club owner and gang leader tells his pet killer to bump the lad off, and puts him on a spot. Evelyn gets hep and lifts him before the killer gets there. The couple go to Evy’s apartment, the gang leader fol- lows them and threatens to plug the lad there, but sonny boy turns the tables and drills the crook. She makes him duck. The killer lad shows up and when the cops come she frames him as the killer of the crook. Happy fadeout with the lovers clasped under daddy’s blessing. EXHIBITOR’S VIEWPOINT: If your audiences have not had an underworld yarn for some time they will find some enter- tainment in this. It moves along fairly consistently as to tempo and the work of the performers is of a uniformly good grade, which will make the average picture audience overlook story and directorial shortcomings. But if you play to a wise audience it will not be so good. They’ll shoot it full of holes, if not ac- tually bored. PRODUCER’S VIEWPOINT: One can well imagine that word went out to put out a crook yarn, and this is what the wheels ground out without too much thought being expended on the job. The trick of repeating situ- ations fore and aft of the plot is used, to doll it in the way a pretty ribbon is used to frill up a gift box. Stock situations are liberally used, and rough spots in story construction are politely skipped in favor of sensational effect. Juvenile fodder. CASTING DIRECTOR’S VIEWPOINT: Good work turned in generally by the whole cast, with Evelyn Brent coming to life encouragingly. Regis Toomey in a nice straight performance, without showing the slightest signs of inebriation. Ralf Har- olde, as the arch crook, turned in one of his type performances. Maurice Black as the hireling killer, William Holden as the po- lice inspector, and Robert O’Con- nor as a dick sergeant all de- livered good standard perform- ances in standard character roles. Y eat es. “THE MAN FROM BLANKLEYS” WARNER BROS. PICTURE (Warner Bros., Hollywood) Approved in other appearances prior to its opening here, this lat- est Barrymore picture is both a welcome break in the endless run- ning off of monotonously similar talking epics, and a very pleasing incentive to chuckles other than the sort inspired by out and out slapstick. Evidently, our "greatest thes- pian,” is no longer satisfied to com- pete with the run of filmdom Adonisis, distinguishing himself from these pretty lads merely by a considerably greater attention to the details of his pictures, his much publicized profile, and a great su- perfluity of thespic pyrotechnics. And you can lay that to the talkies! Back in the old silent days, Barrymore was a commanding fig- ure in the fields of romatically con- trived cinema excursions on the good ship Hokum. You could hand him a stirring plot, a costume and a few kegs of makeup and Barrymore would prestidigitate the ingredients into a sure-fire roman- tic epic, heavily flavored with su- perb over-acting. But those days are over! Barrymore presently finds him- self surrounded by an army of Broadway’s shining stars, while every train unloads bigger and better shippings of acting, writing and directing talent. The reaction was inevitable, and “The Man from Blankleys,” a bright, amusing farci- cal comedy is the first episode in the transformation of Barrymore back to more artistic and credible fields of action. At last Barrymore has a task before him, that of regaining in ac- tuality, the pre-eminence he holds through virtue of no little press- agentry and the inertia of tradi- tion. Perhaps that’s what he needs. Certainly, the stuff he has been turning out during the past few years, has not been of the sort to test the mettle of Barrymore’s asserted talents. You may be sure that “The Man from Blankleys” is a feeler in the direction of “Hamlet, hokum-loaded and packed with enough items of popular appeal, yet bringing out through many of its sequences a far different Barry- more than the handsome heroic figure of other productions. Next from the Warner Brothers studios comes “Moby Dick,” pretty good material for some real stuff, based on an acceptedly classic piece of writing. Loan this on the current success of Barrymore’s ice- breaking venture and it won’t be long before we will see probably the greatest versions of Shakes- peare that the average theatre-goer from Broadway to East Jallope will ever get a crack at. It’s something to look forward to. And let’s hope that if the Barrymore transformation reaches that point, that no Hollywood mas- ters be coerced into collaboration with the Bard, as in a recent ex- ample. Meanwhile, “The Man from Blankleys,” a rather obscure little comedy of middle class English life is doing a nice job of breaking the ice. EXHIBITOR’S VIEWPOINT: This picture is a novel thing. In a show business filled with same- ness of late, and it’s a 'mod idea to throw overboard other opinions and be thankful for something different. And as for critical esti- mations that the play might be, perhaps, somewhat over the. heads of the average picture audience, the patrons on the night of review gave no evidence of either being thick-headed, or unappreciative of humor, no matter what kind. PRODUCERS’ VIEWPOINT: Reams of critical storming, plead- ing, condemnation and ridicule have been concentrated on the re- fusal of the average producer to try anything new. Warner Bros, have, with this production, ab- solved themselves. The rest of the boys might look this one over with profit to their minds, and pocketbooks. And don’t overlook A1 Green’s direction. CASTING DIRECTORS’ VIEWPOINT: Loretta Young lends nice support to jjarrymore as the nice, young governess, play- ing easily and naturally. The rest of the cast was picked strictly for type, and the selections were ideal. They were William Austin, Al- bert Gran, Emily Fitzroy, Dick Henderson, Edgar Norton, Dale Fuller, D’Arcy Corrigan, ...-ay Mil- loy, Louise Carver, Yorke Sher- wood, Diana Hope, Tiny Jones and Angella Mawbry. E. H. G. MARGIE CARSON PLAYING RKO CIRCUIT Supporting MANNY KING It’s five years since my last appearance in San Francisco, and I want to send greetings to BERT LEVEY, ELLA WESTON and RUBE COHEN, who started me on my career. Voice Culture, Especially For Talkies and Radio MICROPHONE TECHNIQUE JOSEPH DISKAY HUNGARIAN TENOR Granada Studios 47, 672 So. Lafayette Park Place At Wilshire and Hoover DUnkirk 1941 or HOllywood 6173 “THE TEXAN” PARAMOUNT PICTURE (Paramount Theatre) O. Henry, belatedly appreciated as an idea man for motion picture plots, is posthumously back again, this time with Paramount’s version of his “Double-Dyed Deceiver.” Gary Cooper is the lad around whom this story is draped and it fits him nicely, providing a suit- able follow-up on “The Virginian,” though the treatment is more slow- paced and less abounding in rapid- fire climatic developments than the previous Cooper picture. O. Henry, in his prolific writing career, often repeated himself, and this climax, as picturized, varies but little from the dramatic con- clusion of “Alias Jimmy Valen- tine.” Remembered through a dim haze, it seems to us that the writ- ten tale had a tragic ending, how- ever, and if the sheriff’s kind, human gesture was dragged over from the other story, it’s just as satisfactory. The point is scarcely worth the research needed to settle it. ' The story is another tropical af- fair, with Hollywood-Spanish ac- cents, and the attendant trickery and departure from the plausibili- ties of detail, Texas is merely the starting point of the story, most of the action taking place in the South American country, where Cooper is persuaded to go when he meets up with a greedy agent of a wealthy widow, whose son has been missing for years. Cooper meets the agent, while fleeing from a shooting scrape over a card game, and manages to work his way into the household as the missing son. He falls in love with his “cousin,” Fay Wray, is reformed by love, etc., etc., and refuses to steal the “money.” Then comes the Texas sheriff, and that night, the duped agent sneaks up with some desperadoes. In the ensuing gun-fight, Cooper shoots down the villainous agent just as he reaches the hidden store of gold, the girl rushes in and the sheriff, seeing “the love light in their eyes,” congratulates Cooper on killing “himself.” EXHIBITORS’ VIEWPOINT: This picture is suitable enter- tainment for the average patron, with Cooper and O. Henry as exploitable names. It deserves about the good average of ex- ploitation and should have a satis- factory boxoffice appeal. PRODUCERS’ VIEWPOINT: John Cromwell’s direction main- tains the action at an even keel, building the conventional story treatment to a satisfactory climax, and doing very well with a script that could have been better de- veloped for more punch and dra- matic tension. CASTING DIRECTORS’ VIEWPOINT: Cooper demon- strates a continual and steady im- provement in his understanding of characterization in this picture, and continues to maintain his one big acting asset, a positive refusal to over-act. Fay Wray, in a Spanish dialect role, was pictorially an excellent senorita, but permitted her accent to slip once in a while. Oscar Apfel handled the role of the treacherous agent convincingly and James Marcus was equally satisfactory as the Bible-quoting sheriff. In an excellent part, Emma Dunn snatched acting honors with an exceptional mother portrayal, Solidad Jiminez, repeated with a duenna role in this picture for a maximum of effect. Other parts were of minor importance, but all handled effectively. Mears. “CAUGHT SHORT” M-G-M PICTURE (Reviewed at Loew’s State) This picture is boxoffice. It capitalizes at one stroke (a) a topic of nationwide interest recent enough to be still timely, (b) a generally re-awakened public de- sire for broad comedy, and (c) the waxing popularity of the Marie Dressler-Polly Moran team. To our pleasant surprise this pro duction does not turn out to be exactly the elongated short subject expected. It works to a sort of climax, with young love and a certain suspense for maintenance of interest, and a measure of char- acterization for flavoring. The story presents Marie and Polly, each in the boarding house business, bosom friends and occa- sional enemies. Marie has a daugh- ter, played by Anita Page, and Polly, a son, played by Charles Morton. Polly plays the market and goes ritzy with her winnings, but Marie resists temptation until an extra bitter row with Polly decides her to plunge her savings. They join the leisure class and meet in a resort hotel, still bad friends. On the advice of a mani- curist Polly tries to chase Marie by announcing the wedding of her son to an actress, which fails to work as Marie responds by saying she will be pleased to come to show she does not care, in fact she follows suit by declaring that her daughter is to be married too. When the kids, who are in love with each other, hear that the other is to be married they feel in a bad way and the boy decides to marry the actress after all. The wedding ceremony is in progress when newsboys rush on with extras about the market crash. The actress call off the wedding when she learns the boy is cleaned, and Marie and Polly melt into each others’ arms. Fade- out finds the two mothers fixing things for a grandchild, and back in the boarding house business. Gags, of course, are planted all through the opus, but they are well handled and carry the action forward instead of retarding it. EXHIBITORS’ VIEWPOINT: Surefire. Big, wholesome belly- laughs in dozen lots for everybody, plus romantic interest for the young folks . It never goes stale, never gets really slapstick even in the rougher scenes, and will glut the good old box office every- where. PRODUCERS’ VIEWPOINT: The fine hand of a director who really understands comedy is plainly evident. It is remarkable how the interest as well as the humor is held up all through the picture, and the photography is commendably free of trick, disturb- ing shots. Nothing happens to break the mood, and even the song and dance act of Marie’s gets over. Credit some good work to Director Chuck Reisner. CASTING DIRECTORS’ VIEWPOINT: Marie Dressier and Polly Moran became very defi- nite box office with this one. Marie leaves the largest (this is not a gag) impression for her fast de- livery, her facile mugging and her never flagging tempo. Polly is right behind in value for her tell- ing delivery of the malaprop speeches. Anita Page and Charles Morton are just a nice ingenue and juvenile couple, fitting nicely enough into the grooves assigned them. The rest are standard char- acter bits. Y eat es. NOVARRO VACATIONS Planning an extended vacation in the east and middle west during which he will appear in a broad- oast of songs from New York over the NBC network, on May 13, and during which he will study in Michigan with Louis Gravure, his teacher for the past few years, Ramon Novarro has left for New York. JVan Halperin R. K. O. Circuit NOTICE TO AL BOASBERG! TYLER MASON! IS AT THE R.K.O., LOS ANGELES MOVE OVER!!! Material by AL BOASBERG Representing CHARLIE MORRISON