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

PAGE FOUR INSIDE FACTS OF STAGE AND SCREEN OCT. 25, 1930 Pictures — REVIEWS - Legit « “A LADY SURRENDERS” UNIVERSAL PICTURE Orpheum One of the best pictures of the season. In naturalness of story, dialogue, acting, and direction, pic- ture is almost perfect. Plot unrolls a drama of husband, wife, and wife’s friend. Wife does not appreciate how good a husband she has. Her friend falls in love with him and tries to take him away. Wife balks until she realizes her friend’s great love then she “surrenders.” Stahl did splendid job of direct- ing. Conrad Nagel and Genevieve Tobin are a great team. Their work is superbly natural. Rose Hobart is great as the heavy. A fine cast includes Basil Rathbone, Edgar Norton, Carmel Myers, Viv- ien Oakland, and Franklin Pang- born. Kerr. “LOVE IN THE ROUGH” MGM PICTURE (Reviewed Loew’s State) A shipping clerk holds an ace in a municipal championship medal, when the boss decides to fire him. Boss’ approach is worse than his drive and that’s worse than his put- ting, which is push-off for the story. Plot is an old reliable row of pegs to hang laughs on, and how this boy Reisner hangs ’em! “Love In The Rough” is a musical COM- EDY. Story and plot mean noth- ing. First there’s Reisner, then Rubin, then that guy who stutters like a Ford with a dry stomach, then a dish-faced yid comic who does a caddy monologue with Rubin, and of comics, and a director who knows comedy values and where to spot them, without hurting the story. Oh yes, it has its offering of heart tug. Robert Montgomery does splen- did work throughout. He is at home in this kind of story. Cast throughout is so uniformly excel- lent, the entire picture is one piece of smooth-working entertainment machinery. EXHIBITOR’S VIEWPOINT: Sell this for LAUGHS! If you do justice to this thing in plugging the laughs you won’t have space for its legit rep, or the theme song. PRODUCER’S VIEWPOINT: Photography and lighting is some- thing this reviewer knows little or nothing about. If it was faulty it didn’t mean a thing. CASTING DIRECTOR’S VIEWPOINT: Cast is perfect. Ted “LAUGHTER” PARAMOUNT PICTURE (Reviewed at Paramount) When action gets going, this pic- ture is all right. Main merit is act- ing of Fredric March and Frank Morgan, whose splendid technique make it all seem natural instead of melodramatic. Usual story of the chorus girl who has married for money and then yearns for love. In the end, she goes off with her former sweetheart, and finds love. Story would have been more inter- esting had she been forced to stay with her husband and work out her mistake. First third of action is abomin- ably weak in dialogue. Lines are so heavily melodramatic in Nancy Carroll’s bedroom sequence that it makes one uncomfortable. The spirit of melodrama is offset by F'redric March, so the latter portion is fairly natural. His performance is the least affected of his screen career. EXHIBITOR’S VIEWPOINT: This is just a program picture with little to create interest. PRODUCER’S VIEWPOINT: Inexcusable to permit weak dia- logue of this heavy melodramatic type to go into a first class picture. Direction in several sequences drops in allowing action to become as heavy as the lines. CASTING DIRECTOR’S VIEWPOINT: Fredric March is best of all. Nancy Carroll does not make her character stand out—there is no body in it. Frank Morgan, gives a perfectly conceived charac- terization. Glenn Andres makes a small part stand out like a cameo. Ollie Burgoyne gives two good comedy laughs. She is a good maid type. Leonard Carey is the butler. Kerr. “MY GIRL FRIDAY” VINE STREET Reviewed Oct. 19 Farce has plenty of laughs and hows original treatment of hack- leyed theme. Three men try to "ool three chorus girls, and get badly fooled themselves. Good :omedy moments are in second and :hird acts. First act needs rigor- jus cutting, and dialogue does not stand up well. Wisecracks are too stereotyped in conception. The fol- lowing acts, however, speed up in action and go over well. It is up to good farce standard. John T. Murray carries the play almost single handed. He points poor lines to high comedy value. Esther Muir and Nita Cavalier rank next in effectiveness. William Law- rence, Frances Morris, Harold Kin- ney, Gordon DeMain, Charles Gib- lyn, Wing, Edgar Reeves, Harry Vejar, Bernice Beldon, and Patsy Ann O’Neal round out a competent cast. Kerr. “PLAYBOY OF PARIS” PARAMOUNT PICTURE Reviewed at Paramount Chevalier puts over this picture with his personality, but it has nc other merit. Chevalier opuses arc going the way of all flesh—getting weaker and weaker. He needs an- other “Love Parade.” 4 This is the old one about the poor waiter who inherits a million francs, and gets into the regular comedy situations. Stuart Erwin keeps right up with Chevalier for good comedy, and Eu- gene Pallette is there with the goods. Frances Dee is weak and colorless. In the duel sequences she doesn’t even look pretty. Why waste film on these so-called discoveries? Exhibitors will book this for Chevalier. Glaring fault is the duel idea. Af- ter Chevalier* knocks the banker down and later slaps his face twice, any real Frenchman would have then Harry Burns. There is quintet fought him, no matter how low caste he was socially. Kerr “UP THE RIVER” FOX PICTURE Reviewed October 15 Merit in this picture goes to Spencer Tracy and Warren Hyner, who work their scenes for every ounce of comedy. Love interest is not important and is poorly handled. Story is an original by Mauring Watkins. It attempts to build up a great farce, with the background of prison as rather a pleasant place. And there lies the weakness. One can’t expect people to think of prison as a place where the inmates have a lot of fun. Scene where the heroine leaves prison and initmates that she will return to her old racket, is illogical. Obviously the writer intends to work up a great sentimental scene, succeeding only in being maudlin in dramatic technique. Direction of comedy scenes is very good, and the sentimental scenes cannot be blamed on the director. EXHIBITOR’S VIEWPOINT: Ordinary program picture. Plenty of comedy from Tracy and Hymer forms the picture’s only merit. Take it or leave it. PRODUCER’S VIEWPOINT: This picture will not help John Ford’s reputation. Story has an es- sential weakness in conception, (description above) that makes it worthless for anything more than a program picture. CASTING DIRECTOR’S VIEWPOINT: Spencer Tracy goes over the top gloriously. His work is so natural that he merits a better story. Get him for anything in his line of work. Warren Hymer is a great moron type. Don’t forget him. Claire Luce is not good look- ing, and as an actress not good enough to make up for her lack of physical appeal. Same true of Humphrey Bogart. Kerr “SINNERS’ HOLIDAY” WARNER BROS. Warners Downtown Plot of this picture has interest. Revolving about a penny arcade, complication of the bootlegging menace with the weak son, gives an interesting story. Characters are melodramatic but interesting. Dir- ector John Adolphi wrung every angle of the plot for dramatic in- terest. Great weakness lies in romantic leads. Warners have tried to make something of Grant Withers for two years and he is still a flop. No looks and can’t act, so why waste the film. Evelyn Knapp can’t act and looks very weak; her wobbling chin is not enticing—just annoying. Real performance of the picture is James Cagney’s interpertation of the weakling son; it is highly com- WANTED Revue Acts STANDARD HIGH CLASS VAUDEVILLE ACTS FEATURE ACTS ONLY Three to Five Days Work Top Salary Apply American Legion Marathon Dance Pacific and Leonis Blvd., Vernon, Calif. DPE55 YOUR THEATRE OR YOUR ACT WITH THE FINEST AND MOST ARTISTIC 'ENERY"® DESIGNED MADE UP AND PAINTED BY THE LARGEST AND MOST EFFICIENT STAFF OF SCENIC APTIST5, DESIGNERS AND DRAPEDY EXPERTS IN AMERICAS LARGEST AND MOST BEAVTIFVL STUDIOS Los Angeles Scenic Stvdios Inc affiliated with ChasT Thompson Scenic Cq DROP CURTAINS PICTURE SCREENS PROLOGUES CINEMAS STAGE CYCLORAMAS ASBESTOS CURTAINS 1215 BATES AVE. AT FOUNTAIN AWE. NEAR SUNSET BLVt\ HOLLYWOOD Phone OLympia.2914 [VnIC^UE LfECtS^SETTINSSTHE MODERN STAGE UNUSUAL FABRICS 1 DRAPERIES TAPE5TRIE5 -WALL HANGINGS MURAL DECORATION5A ¥ NOISELESS CURTAIN TRAVELERS OPERATED BY REMOTE CONTROL mendable. Lucille La Verne is too melodramatic. Noel Madison gives another well drawn character. He should have better opportunities. Warren Hymer and Joan Blondell are first class. Kerr “AFRICA SPEAKS” COLUMBIA PICTURE RKO Theatre Africa would have been far more interesting if the picture had re- mained silent. Looks like a choice collection of stock shots—some of them thrilling and some of them dull. Appears like an attempt to cash in on the recent success of a gorilla picture. Attempt to weave a story into this opus insults an audiences’ in- telligence. .Exhibitors should stay away from this one, and the producers should be spanked. Kerr “BROTHERS” COLUMBIA PICTURES (Reviewed at RKO) Mediocre play made into a poorer picture. Harping upon the old theme of double identity of twin brothers, featuring Bert Lytell as both brothers. Two^ climaxes, each detracting from the other combined with poor direction and dialogue, help to make picture a boring affair. Story con- cerns itself with a murder trial, wherein Bob Naughton, one of the twin brothers, defends Eddie, the other brother, accused of a murder which the former has committed. Following the trial and freeing of Eddie Connolly, story wades through blackmail and a love situa- tion by proxy. Norma, portrayed by Dorothy Sebastian, falls in love with Eddie, who assumes the part of Bob, latter resting in a sani- torium. Bob dies and Eddie is left holding the bag. From then on romance between Eddie and Norma springs to the surface and all ends happily, neither portraying concern ovgr the deceased brother. EXHIBITOR’S VIEWPOINT. A slow moving picture that, if prop- ely handled and with better settings, could have been good. Too many climaxes and poor dialogue spoil it PRODUCER’S VIEWPOINT. Bert Lytell, Dorothy Sebastian and (Continued on Page 5) RAY COFFIN INTERNATIONAL PUBLICITY 6607 Sunset Blvd. Hollywood, Calif. 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