Inside facts of stage and screen (February 28, 1931)

INSIDE FACTS OF STAGE AND SCREEN Page Four Saturday, February 28, 1931 SITTIN’ WITH THE PUBL1C By TED PRICE “ILLICIT” WARNER BROS. DOWNTOWN Los Angeles Here is a picture that may prop- erly be called a “honey. ’ In a few -words it represents in every phase of its handling, more showmanship than you'll find in any one of the other- nine productions. You may -write vour own reaction to the. other nine. The audience at War- ner's downtown wrote their in- dorsement to this one with “Ah's! Oh's! Glorious! Marvelous! Won- derful!’’ To make meaning doubly clear “Illicit’ is a picture that classes with “Holiday,” “The Divorcee,” “Little Caesar”, and “The Right to Love,’ "Illicit” will appear in the text books of production as one of the perfect examples of the higher form, of cinema art. “Illicit” repre- sents art that is also good box of- fice. It is more proof that an ex- act knowledge of relative enter- tainment values will make more money than high power exploita- tion. It proves again that highly specialized story treatment makes stars oftener than stars make good pictures. “Illicit” is a dramatic masterpiece. There isn't a flaw worth mentioning in “Illicit.” Like the story of “Little Caesar'’ the story of “Illicit” is simple. A woman is afraid that marriage will rob her of her freedom and her in- dividuality, but circumstances and nature impress .upon her that where true love exists there can be no freedom. No grand gestures. No theatrical gymnastics or dramatic hysteria in the telling. Just a nat- ural opposition of ideas and influ- ences gaining force and* effective- ness every step of the way until, exhausted, they unbend to destiny. How much of the credit for the art in this picture goes to writing, direction and acting is hard to de- termine. Barbara Stanwyck and James Rennie deliver an excellent brand of histrionics. Charles But- terworth’s comedy relief, is a treat. Claude Gillingwater as the father- in-law is delightful. Natalie Moore- head fascinates. One is not con- scious of photography or lighting. This is the highest compliment one can pay to both. A great production. “NEW MOON” M-G-M PICTURE Criterion Theatre Los Angeles This picture, based oil the oper- etta by Oscar Ilanimerstein, offers an ace cast and on the vocal end all that the musical soul craves. It is packed with the kind of voice stuff that lulls and thrills and in- spires, and in fact plucks at every emotional chord in the gamut. It is colorful and romantic and just naughty enough to give the dames that right amount of tittilation. Sylvia Thalberg, Frank Mandel and Cyril Hume have given the adap- tation from the Hammerstein ver- sion that which makes it good screen fare. Plot isn't so Jet but who cares about plot as long as the sex conflict is well sustained? It is in this. Jack Conway did a vigorous and appreciative job of directing, aiid particular attention is called to bis mutiny scenes in the fort. Handled skillfully. His canyon scenes ap- proaching the fort are impressive. This is one of the best things he lias turned out for M-G-M and he lias turned out some pips. Action takes place in a remote spot in Russia with Adolphe Men- jou, a jealous fiance and governor •of the province, using his office to eliminate Tibbitt, a lieutenant, from the affections and the bid for Grace Moore, a princess. Roland “WATERLOO BRIDGE” HOLLYWOOD MUSIC BOX LOS ANGELES (Reviewed Feb. 24) One grievance I hold against Dickson Morgan and “Waterloo Bridge” is that it probably will not return for a full week or two, and it has been staged and portrayed with a taste and skill that warrants it. The first mat- inee of a series of three, to which limited appearance “Wa- terloo Bridge” confines -itself, was so enthusiastically received * there is no question in my mind that it would do great business on a longer run. Morgan has staged the. spirit and movement of this great Sherwood drama with such an effective simplicity that the audience is held motion- less front curtain to curtain. The individual performances of Doris Lloyd and Isabel Dawn received show-stopping applause. One of the truly great offerings at the Music Box and Morgan de- serves a round of thanks for bringing it in. With the exception of one role which seemed to be slight- ly halting and ineffectual at times, this is a sublime rendi- tion of the Sherwood play. It s packed with drama that keeps the cars twitching and the senses keenly alert. The situa- tion, that of two prostitutes, one an American chorus girl strand- ed in London during the- war, and the other an English gal who takes the profession matter of fact, trying to sway the Amer- can girl into marrying a soldier whom she picked up for room rent, gives the playing a tension and grip of steel. But the most, commendable feature in all of ; its handling is that you see en- acted a pitiful tragedy that keeps clear of the sordid and ugly. It is all so poignantly human and inevitable and brave that it reaches a level of the spiritually beautiful. . Special notice is taken of the acting of Ethel Griffies as Mrs. Hobley, the landlady; Ross Chetwynd the M. P., and King Kennedy the American enlisted in the Canadian Army. Their characterizations were convincing and realistic to a fine degree. Universal has produced "Water- loo Bridge” for the screen and everyone connected with its lo- cal staging and portrayal is seriously recommended to the attention, of Carl Laennnle, Jr., for the cinema version. Ted Price. Young, the uncle in sympathy with Grace’s flirtations, helps the heart interest by hindering the governor. Roland collects laughs unfailingly on every appearance. Emily Fitz- rov, the aunt, does . her best to throw a monkey wrench into the machinery and fails, artistically. Gus Shy is comically helpful. “New Moon” will draw them and send them away satisfied. Few there are who do not get a kick out of the Tibbett-Moore singing. Sigmund Romberg's music has been supplemented by additional songs. A delightfully personable songfest that will bring in a good profit on the investment for both producer and exhibitor. “RESURRECTION” UNIVERSAL PICTURE RKO Hillstreet A feature laid in the atmosphere of imperialistic Russia. Strikingly real at every appearance of the principal female, Lupe Velez, and the Russian peasantry in the fore- ground of her prison scenes. But the casting of John Boles and that capable English actor Sidney Ghol- lingsworth, as officers of the Czar’s regiment leaves a. lot to be de- sired. The Britisher’s accent im- pregnated the air of Russia to such an extent that one was taken com- pletely out of the land of the Great Bear and planted right smack in the middle of Parliament. As for Boles he is in no sense authentic except in fantasy or allegory. Oth- erwise casting and characterizations were admirably done. Lupe Velez made the role of Ka- tuscha Maslova a thing of flesh and blood. The sympathy she secured was genuine. Tolstoy’s story adapts' well for the screen and. rates as good audience fare, giving Velez a wide scope for her emotions. She runs the gamut from buoyant hap- piness to abyssmal misery and de- gradation, and does a thoroughly convincing job of it. There arc several healthy dramatic wallops but particularly where , they* drag her out of the tribunal that sen- tences her to Siberia for life and again, in prison when she hits the vodka to forget the injustice of it all. Production as a whole rates lit- tle better than the split weekers and daily changers. Tolstow’s read- ers may run into important num- bers but it is doubtful and the and daily changers. Tolstoy’s read- tees is concerned will probably be light. The title isn’t so hefty as titles go. It's a total loss as far as the flapper trade is concerned. As for its .word of mouth audience interest takes one on the jaw every time Boles and Sidney Chollings- worth try to palm themselves off as Russians; so the exhibitor need not look for coin in that direction. “DON’T BET ON WOMEN” FOX FEATURE Loew’s State Theatre Another dandy corned}' from the Fox factory with a quartet of enor- mously likable personalities doing things that entertain every moment they are before you. The story is a sly poke at our profound and sublimely egotistical faith in human beings, particularly those close to us. A cleverly woven offering and one that cannot fail to click. It will add to the prestige and reputation of everyone who had anything to do with its construction. On the acting end Edmund Lowe and Rol- and Young divide honors in the masculine way. Jeanette McDonald and L'na Merkel grab a handful of blue ribbons for the ladies. The odds, on who grabs most credit for putting this skillful piece of tapestry across are even. Grand acting by every member of the cast and not a draggy moment. The story by William Anthony McGuire is one of his best, and McGuire has turned out some nif- ties. He gives a fictitious comedy conflict a lot more of conviction than the average dyed-in-the-cript drama. The story is one of those wager things between a conceited husband who is always sure of his wife’s love and loyalty and a fascinating bachelor who is skeptical about all women. The husband resents the bachelor’s attitude and bets him $10,000 that he cannot kiss the first woman who steps into their presence. The first white woman to heave into sight is the opinion- ated husband’s good spouse. Sec- retly she is looking for something that will break up the monotony of too much simple and all-abiding faith in her. She throws a rave when she learns that she is a pawn in the contest between her husband and the bachelor, goes for the bach, and succumbs to his tech- nique. Satisfied that he can prove his point and finding himself in love with the woman the bachelor pays the wager. A gem of con- sistency; Action moves rapidly and is spiced with a brand of comedy by Lina Merkel that will put this clever gel in the topline class in short time. Looks as if the women are going to go for Una like they have for Zasu Pitts. She's a darl- ing for character and the ladies gush over her. Her every entrance was greeted with a laugh and she gathered them without a miss. She delivers a mixture of dumb sophis- tication and innocent wisdom that simply ruins decorum. She col- lected more diaphragm disturbers than the average comic billed as a sidesplitter. As far as the audience Thursday matinee tvas concerned, she stole the show. Fox will be wise if they groom her with material that feat- ures. One year from today—if not sooner—she will be in the El Bren- del class and one of the most val- uable coin getters on the Fox roster. “FIN AND HATTIE” PARAMOUNT PICTURE Paramount Theatre Seductive Lilyan Tashman crowd- ed sophisticated Leon Errol up against the north end of the chaise lounge and turned a pair of hot orbs on him. Poor frightened Leon sucked in His breath like a drown- ing oyster going down for the third time and gurgled; “Oh gosh, Prin- cess!” He piped this like Harry Langdqn imitating Johnny Arthur being seduced by Kay Francis. Leon Errol a yokel. Hang a pic- ture of that in your imagination. Then Lilyan Tashman, the Prin- cess, takes simple, Leon Errol for $50,000 to pay off the mortgage on her chateau. Leon Errol the sap. Get a closeup of that and you have an exact picture. A sap, a dead pan goof! You won’t need a re- take. What were the directors thinking of when they put this peerless comic through that gem of incon- sistency; that yokel business? What was taking place in the brain when they , scanned that wah wah in the rushes? Didn’t anybody from the studio show up at the preview? Was anything ever so obviously a demonstration of bad judgment? Were the directors gathering wool? Ho-ho-ho! My tonsils are vibrating with glee. They were up to their necks in it. Was the casting di- rector asleep on the casting couch? Or nodding to somebody? .Were the guys who conferenced the cast- ing of this thing taking their con- clusions from the design in the tea leaves? Oh, it wasn’t the director’s fault. It wasn’t anybody’s fault. It just happened. One of those things, you know. All pictures can’t be hits. They come and go and the occa- sional flop is inevitable. A slight error like making Leon Errol look like, a puddle jumper means nothing. It will only take two more pictures like this one to kill his box-office completely. And the fact that his miscasting makes every one of his co-players look absurd will soon be forgotten. Little things like that do not matt.er in a billion dollar industry. It was unavoidable. Schedule must be, met. .The right type isn’t always available. The pressing need was to get three box-office names in the billing. Leon Errol was valu- able to the marquee. Names — ■ urgent—imperative—three of them. Mesmerized by that urgency, the frenzy for names, the importance of word-of-mouth, laughs, good will, keeping up the standard of Para- mount- entertainment quality faded into the background like a wall- flower. Relative value, neglected orphan of conference, stood meekly on the sidelines, shamed, pleading silently to be heard. “Please, Mr. Paramount,” it mum- bled, “entertainment and laugh value in this production is Mitzi Green keeping a sappy father out of trouble. Mitzi Green keeping Leon Errol out of trouble isn't funny.” Leon Errol is no sap. Mitzi said to Papa Errol: “The trouble is you don't know what it’s all about, Pop.” And Leon tried hard to look as if he didn't and he came just about as close to getting away with it as Maurice Chevalier. Thus audience sym- pathy turned to pity and entertain- ment value went blooie. What a whale of a comedy this Finn and Flattie thing would have been with smart little Mitzi Green as the daughter to that dumb goof, Stuart Erwin, as the father. Won- der what Paramount would say if someone told them they had lopped off 20 per cent of Leon Errol’s hard earned following when they placed him in that assinine charac- terization. Would the foreheads lift if one told them that a good 20 per cent of this picture’s gross went with it? “TWO WORLDS” ELSTREE PICTURE Filmarte Theatre “Two Worlds,” an Elstree pro- duction coming out of England, reels off with a slow but fairly ef- ficient tempo that held audience in- terest at only a mildly attentive pitch. The drama is presented with restraint and understanding of the subject, under the direction of E. A. Dupont. Not much here for the b. o., but the . picture is well up in class. It’s the old sjory of racial in- compatibility worked out to a logi- cal conclusion along the devious dramatic paths of two- individuals whose difficulties fill in the running time of the opus. Charles Rosher s photography is noteworthy. As the Jewish clockmaker, Ran- dle Avrton carried the big charac- ter role with fine feeling, _ never muffing a dramatic trick in his father characterization. Donald Calthorp, through strength of per- sonality, fine appearance and con- vincing dramatic ability, stood head and shoulders above the require- ments of his part.' Norah Baring as the daughter of Ayrton fell short by reasons of affected moments that marred what would otherwise have been a satisfying, if routine performance. John Langdon, the Austrian aristocrat who b r i n g s about the race question by his meeting with the clockmaker s daughter, and C. M. Hallard in a minor part handled their assign- ments well. n. Presentations SUBMARINE IDEA (F. & M.) LOEW’S STATE Reviewed Feb. 26 This Fanchon & Marco spread packs a terriffic wallop at the final curtain. Probably as high voltage as anything on their books. A sub- marine . suspended underseas ex- plodes and hits for Davy Jones’ locker. Fantastic to a degree and (Continued on Page 10) AN OPEN LETTER TO MR. HERMAN KERSKEN, S. F. FOX THEATRE MR. HERMAN KERSKEN FOX THEATRE .'San Francisco Dear Herman: That house of yours seats 5000 people. Providing you draw ab- solute capacity, business at four shows daily, seven days weekly, you’d have 140,000 customers. You’ve tried pop tunes and you’ve tried condensed operas and numer- ous other things and you can please some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time but you can’t please all of the people all of the time. Now you’ve got something on •which I’d stake my last quart of Scotch, You're giving ’em four big separate tableaux with some 60 people on stage and one sequence of pop tunes and, Herman, if you can’t hit everybody between the eyes at least once during the show then you needn’t pay for that sub- scription renewal that’s now four months overdue. In Conductor Walt Roesner and Producer Anthony Nellc you’ve got a most capable pair. Between the three of you there was some swell entertainment. Forty minutes of stage show, a first run picture and other screen material in the West’s biggest and most beautiful house . . . and all for six-bits . . . Herman, you and that capable boss of yours, Arch M. Bowles, are sit- ting on top of the world. There’s nobody in the country has to take a back seat for you, not even the Roxy. That swell lineup of 24 dancers in the opening Violets episode was a pip! The settings and lightings were equally good. William Gav- in, baritone and Margaret Donald- son, toe dancer, were outstanding. The second sequence, ‘Vagabond King,’ was also plenty good, Gav- in’s chanting being exceptionally fine, although the contralto wasn’t up to snuff. When the ragged beggar mob appeared in the back- ground that was a swell flash. Walt Roesner and orchestra scored again when the spot shifted to them with Joaquin Garay warb- ling “Walkin’ My Baby Back Home.” His repeat on “Peanut Vendor,” was good, too, and when he encored . . . well, that’s proof positive. That third stage sequence, Jew- els. of the Madonna, was equally good. The interpretative dancing of Nelle and Miss Donaldson was mighty fine and when that pillar crashed there was a thrilly flash that was a cinch. But that closing episode, Her- man. If you had flopped on every- thing else that Tribute to Wash- ington was a surefire thing. Sixty people on stage, patriotic music, a dozen girls walk down the steps and unroll a likeness of the coun- try’s father. Turn over the. ban- ners and there’s the flag. Whoever conceived that one deserves plenty of back slapping. Smart, that’s what it was. Then the S. F. Chronicle’s pic- turizatiou of the Panama Pacific Exposition held here in 1915 was a great thing, especially for the old-timers. Tiffany’s chimp com- edy “9 Nights in a Bar Room” and the Fox picture "Don't Bet On-Women” rounded out the bill nicely. I’ll bet that show pleased 95 per cent of the ticket buyers. The other 5 per cent had no business in a theatre anyway. Sincerely yours, \ Harold Bock.