Inside facts of stage and screen (September 13, 1930)

PAGE FOUR INSIDE FACTS OF STAGE AND SCREEN SEPT. 13, 1930 Pictures — REVIEWS — Legit By LOU JACOBS “RAIN OR SHINE” COLUMBIA PICTURE (Reviewed at Orpheum) Columbia presents a new star to the movies with this offering and there is indeed lots of room for a man of Joe Cook’s fun making ability and versatility. He is an evening’s entertainment alone, but he is not alone in the picture. He has plenty of assistance in Tom Howard and Dave Chasen. Story is nothing to work up an appetite over, but the manner of telling it is a banquet. The wise- remarking of Cook and Howard is a laugh fest. It is about a girl who inherits a circus that has met a period of bad weather and has gone broke. Circus comes to home of one of the employees, who is in love with the girl, and whose Father is affluent. Cook, who is manager of the circus, is also in love with the girl. Ar- rived in town, the boy takes the gang to a party given at his house in honor of the girl. Here they cut up against all rules of etiquette. It is hokum pure and unadulterated. Back at the circus at the first nice day, when the tent is packed, the villian calls a strike' of the perform- ers, which results, in a ‘hey rube” sequence and a burning tent. Quite well done and excellently directed. EXHIBITOR’S VIEWPOINT. This is a natural. It will cause the laugh muscles to ache from over- exercise and is sure to be a magnet for the kids. Fix up your entrance like a big top and your box office like a circus. Get a couple of joeys in the lobby and your fortune is made. You will never have to buy extra advertising, when you get your next Joe Cook picture, that is if Ted Howard and Dave Chasen are with him. PRODUCER’S VIEWPOINT. The story is but an excuse for Joe Cook, but that’s reason enough. Joe does everything, tight rope walk- ing, juggling, ball walking and all sorts of deeds of heroics together with being a comedian de-luxe. This picture has been shot from many unusual angles, and some dif- ficult situations, which had to be grabbed on the now or never. The rain and mud sequences were very well done and lighted also the in- teriors. It is another great feather in the cap of Frank Capra. Dialogue and adaptation was ex- cellent. Wise cracking was most excellent, and the picture is a cinch to gross a million. CASTING DIRECTOR’S VIEWPOINT. Willie Collier, Jr. was all right in the little he had to do, as was Joan Peers as the lead- ing lady. Both parts, however, were innocuous. Louise Fazenda also was in the picture, but no use was made of her inimitable ability for laugh getting. She was kept fair and clean. Joe Cook, Tom Howard and Dave Chasen along with Collier are as potent a quar- tette as are the Marx Bros. Given another picture like this, and they will rate as a star combination. Adolph Millar and Albert Roscoe divided the heavy honors between them. “THE BAD MAN” FIRST NATIONAL-VITA- PHONE (Reviewed at Warner Bros.’ Downtown) The two greatest gifts of the stage to the screen have both been presented to Warner Brothers. They are George Arliss, now play- ing in Hollywood, and Walter Hus- ton, who struts across the Down- town sheet. In this well-told tale of Porter Emerson Brown, Huston contrib- utes a character with much fidelity to the swashbuckling Mexican bandit of fiction, a merciless, ruth- less, cruel, lovable, heroic, generous character, loyal to his friends and exacting loyalty from his men. Pancho Lopez, exiled from his own country by virture of a dead or alive reward, pursues his raiding and marauding on this side of the border, living precariously by dodg- ing the Texas Rangers. He swoops down on a ranch owned by a man who at one time saved his life. The ranch has been mortgaged and the mortgage is about to be foreclosed. A man and his wife have been stop- ping at the house, the wife proves to be an old friend of the owner, the husband discovers oil on the property and tries to obtain it. He treats his wife cruelly and the young rancher finds himself in love with her. Pancho settles the diffi- culty jn his own rather question- able but thoroughly satisfactory manner. The story is very old-fashioned in theme and treatment. It smacks of the old days of horse opera when Tom Mix started and Broncho Billy was the rage, vieing with Bill Hart, but those were the days when pic- tures were pictures, so no one can complain at “The Bad Man” for being great entertainment. EXHIBITOR’S VIEWPOINT: Walter Huston is a comparative stranger, but he will make friends for you and followers for himself. Spectacular desert riding and wild west Mex. costumes would suggest a similar ballyhoo. PRODUCER’S VIEWPOINT: The best thing in the picture is the flawless acting of Walter Hus- ton, without which the opus is quite ordinary. The direction of Clarence Badger was orthodox but showed experience and judgment. The pho- tography was at times magnificent ■but uniformly good. The dialogue closely followed the play, for which our criticism is that the English language used by Lopez, admittedly a poor peon, contained a selection of words not expected from that source. Huston’s* dialect, however, saved this defection. mean, grasping nickel nurser. His appearance is excellent for this type of character and, his acting leaves nothing to be desired. Sidney Blaclcmer in the heavy gave a really fine performance. He looked the character and conveyed it with exceptional understanding. Jlames Rennie, in the lead, did not have enough opportunity to show his real worth, but he did as well as could be expected with about the poorest part for a leading man ever written. Gwinn (Big Boy) Wil- liams also had a part in wjiich he dressed in he-man garb with lounge lizard duties so far as opportunity was concerned. Arthur Stone and Harry Semals played Mex bandits in splendid style. They looked the part and grinned viciously. Of the two women, Marion By- ron in the smaller part was the best. She got several laughs with her baby vamp remarks. Dorothy Revier was in the picture, but her work, being as her presence led to all the fussing, made a very poor casus belli. Her masklike face is as expressionless as a statue, while her acting, though not offensive, is nothing to write home about. “MAN TROUBLE” FOX-MOVIETONE PICTURE (Reviewed at Loew’s State) This is another gangster number whose only excuse is to afford Milton Sills a chance to be a hard boiled villain. Those who liked Sills in the old days of virile he-man pictures and who loved him in “The Barker” will be disappointed in “Man Trouble.” Here, he is but a dressed up ruffian who uses his strength to beat up small piano players and shoot up other gang- sters. When he isn’t doing that he’s tossing pretty young girls around. He rants and bellows in places and does everything a real bad man should do. Even his efforts to be nice, are sinister. The story tells of a despondent girl who has been treated badly by all men caught trying to make up her mind to jump in the river. This she does under a dare from Sills while he is about to run a line of bootleg. He jumps in and saves her then gives her a job in his cafe. She answers a newspaper article which results in a Christmas day spent in an old fashioned farm house. Sills comes to bring her back and she goes to save the young man she is vacationing with. Back, she tips off Sills to the danger of a frame up. He disre- gards this tip and gets himself shot. He forgives the girl and allows her to go with the man of her choice. Particularly effective scene was the day and night spent in the farmhouse under homely conditions where a Xmas tree and exchange of presents touch those senti- mentally inclined. EXHIBITORS VIEWPOINT: If your customers still fall for the society night club gangsters, they will not object to this but there is nothing of a novelty to recommend it. PRDOUCER’S VIEWPOINT: When are you going to let up on exploiting the underworld. We have advanced to the prison cycle now, why go backwards? The direction of Berthold Viertel was prosaic, perhaps there was nothing in the story to inspire him to make an effort other than get the picture shot. The photography was medi- ocre and in many places, worse than that. The lighting was care- lessly done in many important scenes and the angles shot from were often confusing. CASTING DIRECTOR’S VIEWPOINT: The work of O. P. Heggie was delightful. He played the fussy old invalid uncle in splen- did style and his manipulation of the wheel chair was very funny. He got most of the laughs and fre- quently set the rhythm at a faster tempo when it had a tendency to lag. E. Alderson as a skinflint also gave a sterling performance of a NELSON and THACHER PARAMOUNT - SAN FRANCISCO THIS WEEK Offering Sincere Thanks to Busby Berkeley, Bud Murray, Harry Gourfain, Harry Santley _ — * — * —* * —- & — * — 4 * ♦ * «— * — ❖ — * 4 *—’ 4 *— 1 4 **» 4 *♦ 4 * 4 * 4 * 4 **•”♦' 4 *♦ 4 *— 4 * 4 * r * 4 * 4 * ♦ 4 * ♦ ❖ ♦ 4 * ♦ * * BETTY . • • • • GR ABLE Late of “WHOOPEE” Just Completed Two Weeks At The Paramount Theatre, Los Angeles Thanks to Busby Berkeley * However, it was done as well as the subject deserves. CASTING DIRECTOR’S VIEWPOINT. The outstanding point of excellence in this picture was the remarkable work of Dor- othy Mackaill. She shows here an ability both emotionally and scen- ically to rank with the very best of them. By this picture alone, she proves her worth to be a star in her own name and given a fair chance she will be a sensation. Harvey Clark and Edythe Chap- man as the lovable farmer and his wife were excellent, in fact, next to Mackaill were easily the best in the picture. James Bradbury Jr., as the piano player also gave an ex- cellent performance. Roscoe Earns as a newspaper reporter was very effective in his frequent.scenes but small opportunities. Sharon Lynn was quite alright as a girl in the cafe, and scar Apfel completed the cast. “FOLLOW THRU” PARAMOUNT PICTURE (Reviewed at United Artists Theatre) Golf sets the motif for this ouvre and it is an excuse but by no means an apology. Laurence Swab, one of its authors and stage producers, was also co-director of the picture with Lloyd Corrigan, and a very fine job they made of it too. Its story is a nice blend of slap- stick hokum seasoning a pretty love story. The film closely follows the play and is really a justification for a continuance of musical come- dies in pictures. The original mu- sic of De Sylva, Brown and Hen- derson was kept in the picture, and one number, “I Want To Be Bad,” was magnificently staged, with some effects that were delightfully spectacular. The story drags a lot in spots and speeds up splendidly in others. It is this change of rhythm, perhaps, that is the chief po ; nt of criticism, if any. The picture is entirely in techni- color and has some exceedingly beautiful shots. Particularly does it make Nancy Carroll stand out to better advantage than in any other picture she has done. It enhances her beauty immeasurably and brings out new phases of her charming personality. Its golf motif specializes in a putting lesson which is not at all bad for the minnie devotees to get some pointers on holes in one. The love scenes between Buddy Rogers and Nancy and Jack Haley and Zelma O’Neill surely get under your skin if you are the least bit sentimentally susceptible. EXHIBITOR’S VIEWPOINT: Golf here is your tie-up. A put- ting contest would turn a lot of the little golf enthusiasts back to the theatre. The technicolor feature is a sure draw and the music of the popular musical comedy is another thing to play up, as it is sticky and easy. It will delight the fans of Buddy Rogers and Nancy Carroll, anyway. PRODUCER’S VIEWPOINT: No need to fear the musical come- dies when you can present them with such a cast. The direction should be accredited with no little responsibility for the sucess. The photography was exceptional and the comedy well sustained and han- dled in excellent taste. EXHIBITOR’S VIEWPOINT: Zelma O’Neill, fresh from the stage version of this comedy, showed herself a decided asset to the screen. Her engaging personality and understanding of audience re- action enabled her to step immedi- ately into line with the best of the screen comediennes. Another little girl, by the name of Margaret Lee, also created a most favorable im- (Continued on Page 10) Behrendt-Levy-Rosen Co., Ltd. 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