The international photographer (Jan-Dec 1931)

T tv enty -eight The INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER December, 1931 Looking In on Just a Few New Ones Gordon Avil THE CHAMP First cameraman, Gordon Avil ; second cameraman, J. Roberts; assistants, Cecil Wright, Wilbur Brailey ; stills, Clarence Hewitt. STRANGE it is it should be more difficult to get under way and rolling a review of an excellent production than one of lesser size. All of which is forced to attention when floundering around in an effort to tell what a strong picture "The .^Bbk. Champ" really is. It is an unusually simple story Frances Marion has written, with added material supplied by Leonard Praskins and Wanda Tuchock. The power of the story rides in its simplicity, in its naturalness, in the plausibility of the tale if you will. In its creation no one has stepped aside from everyday stuff. That in this gripping even if simple tale Jackie Cooper should have one of the principal parts will cause surprise on the part of no one who has seen him in his demonstration of emotional capacity in "Skippy." There may be many who really will be surprised to see what Wally Beery has done with the characterization of this humble derelict who may have packed a shipload of faults but who tightly clung to this towheaded lad of his — clung to him regardless of the reading of the mercury in finances or sobriety. There are some light moments in "The Champ," and there are many moments when the action flows evenly and unexcitingly. But there are some when things happen very fast — like those in which the remorseful father in jail in Tia Juana smacks across the face this son of his in the effort to convince the little fellow that his father really does not care for him and that the only thing for him to do is to go to the well-to-do and loving mother already bending every effort to regain possession of this child of hers from whom she so lightly parted in its infancy. There is not a "heavy" in the accepted sense throughout the story. The story is better for the omission. There is an abundance of conflict without the injection of this always unpleasant element. There is conflict in the failure of the good-natured father to maintain his resolutions to cut gambling and drinking, in his wavering between retention of the child's inestimable benefit, and in the eagerness of the mother to regain what she had previously surrendered. Irene Rich is the mother of Dink. It is a splendid part. Hale Hamilton is Tony, who marries Linda following her divorce and incidental yielding of Dink to his father. It is a benevolent By GEORGE BLAISDELL role, one wherein every effort is made to contribute to the well-being of the various parties. Roscoe Ates is cast as one of the allies of the Champ, but Sponge is more or less submerged by the more important actors of the drama being enacted around him. King Vidor has directed the subject, which in simplicity and appeal is reminiscent of his "Jackknife Man" of eleven years ago, among the players in which were Harry Todd and Florence Vidor. Vidor has chosen to disregard the old showman's rule or at least the production does of "send them out smiling." Distinctly no house is likely to do any such thing. The ending is tragic in the extreme, with the curtain leaving Dink well provided for. "The Champ" is a picture not to miss. THE SIN OF MADELON CLAUDET First cameraman, Oliver Marsh; second cameraman, Edward Fitzgerald ; assistants, Kyme Meade, Samuel Cohen ; stills, Charles Pollock. AGAIN the screen is under obligation to the stage this time for sending it Helen Hayes. Few will see her as Madelon in MGM's strongly emotional "The Sin of Madelon Claudet" without being willing to walk a mile at any time to see her again on the screen. Here we see her as a blooming damosel from the country, again as a smart young woman of Paris making her living by her wits, then as a sombre person released from prison turning frank prostitute in order she may provide funds for the education of her son as a physician, and finally as a woman prematurely aged. It is a tragic story unrelieved except in a few lighter moments. That is not to imply it does not g'rip the attention. It does that and at times deeply, and in the case of the susceptible uncomfortably so. While it may seem as the story nears its end the dramatic height has been attained it is found the last couple of hundred feet are the strongest of all — and also with an ideal ending. There are few moments when the attractive Madelon holds not the centre of the stage. Lewis Stone as Carlo is at his best, and as the suitor for the affection of Madelon briefly shares honors with her. So, too, later on does Robert Young, the Dr. Claudet whose professional career has been made possible by the unspeakable sacrifice of this mother for her illegitimate son. Then there are Jean Hersholt, Marie Prevost and Neil Hamilton. The production is based on an adaptation by Charles MacArthur of Edwin Knoblach's play of "Lullaby." Edgar Selwyn directs with fine discrimination so that strongly emotional situations never for even a flash cross the line that separates pathos from bathos. The subject easily will rank among the best of recent months. Arthur Edeson FRANKENSTEIN First cameraman, Arthur Edeson ; second cameraman, Allen Jones ; assistants, Jack Eagan, George Trafton ; stills, Sherman Clark. FEARFULLY and wonderfully made indeed is Universal's "Frankenstein," a standing tribute to finely coordinated skill not in any one or two isolated departments but in every department and without exception. B o rrowing a phrase from one of Uncle Sam's sailors, maybe it was Schley talking about a little controversy off Santiago in '98, in its production "There is glory enough for all." Technically and artistically it is a striking picture. As a matter of ent ertainment that is a different matter. It all depends on how you take your pleasures. If you take them sadly, as it has been said some Englishmen have been known to do, then "Frankenstein" is just your meat, and strong meat at that. You will except in rare instances look upon its running not tearfully but fearfully. It is hardly too strong a statement to suggest that the picture is one horror after another. James Whole, who came from "Journey's End" to direct this subject, is a master of suspense. For his script there is a string of credits, and somewhere in the list or perhaps all through it is to be found the responsibility for a story that will hold the attention of old and especially the very young. In fact one of the first thoughts of the adult may be the picture is one that should not be seen by the smaller and more impressionable children, at least in the evening. But about that very important item of script from which Whale worked. John L. Balderston wrote an adaptation from the play by Peggy Webling that was written from the story by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. To the latter goes the credit for creating at least the kernel of the oak which we see on the screen. To what was laid before them Garrett Fort and Francis Edwards Faragoh wrote the screen play. The first impression made upon the viewer of this picture, an impression firmly driven into the consciousness in the opening sequence and penetrating the veil already set up by the weird story, is the uncanny background. It is a combination of unusual staging and remarkable lighting — and their most effective photographic reproduction— giving the feeling of the faint