Modern Screen (Dec 1931 - Nov 1932 (assorted issues))

Pat O'Brien and Lillian Bond in Richard Cromwell and Dorothy Wilson in "The "Airmail." Age of Consent." AIRMAIL (Universal) After seeing this drama of the airmail pilots' bravery to deliver the mail in spite of hardship and disaster, you'll realize just what you are buying when you put out that next eight cents for an airmail stamp. Ralph Bellamy and Pat O'Brien are swell as the risk-taking aviators. Gloria Stuart and Lillian Bond furnish the inspirational pulchritude. Slim Summerville, Russell Hopton and Leslie Fenton all figure in the punchladen story. The picture opens with a bang. Some new twists in plot, and a good cast and director. CONCORILLA (Fox) The Martin Johnsons went into the Ituri forest, in the Belgian Congo, with a talking picture camera and came out with perhaps the most remarkable and authentic scene pictures of that locality. Although you will not find awe-inspiring jungle battles in this picture, you will be able to see the Pygmy in his native haunts. There is a laugh-provoking scene in which a pair of these little folk try one of Johnson's cigars. Fine scenes of gorillas in the midst of the forest conclude this fascinating African picture. SKYSCRAPER Faith Baldwin's "Skyscraper" is SOULS transferred to the talkies in gorgeous (M C Ml fashion. * ' Warren William is the big boss who built the skyscraper. A newcomer to Hollywood, Verree Teasdale, plays his assistant and mistress. She refuses to be cast aside in favor of her more youthful secretary, Maureen O'Sullivan, and plays her only card before the wholesome romance between Maureen and Norman Foster is broken up by William the unscrupulous. M-G-M gives this a big cast, including Jean Hersholt, Wallace Ford, Anita Page and Hedda Hopper. (Paramount) HORSEFEATHERS The Four Marx Brothers do it again ! This time they inherit a college . . . and what they do for the students, athletes and professors is enough to send you home talking to yourself. The comedy rips along at such a terrific pace that it almost seems as though it were one long laugh. The football field and the once solemn classrooms afford the background for the gags — which, by the way, are all brand new stuff. The ending is very tricky and clever so you will want to see that for yourself. This is a "must" for all you fans who are Marx-conscious. ' 50 Here's that "true picture of mod THE AGE OF ern college life" that you've been CONSENT waiting for ! (Radio) It's really to decide that age-old ^ ' question of Diploma vs. Marriage . . . and what a flock of action is crowded into the answer ! This will introduce to you Dorothy Wilson, the pretty stenographer on the studio lot who was given an opportunity . . . and she comes through with flying colors ! Richard Cromwell is in it too. Some good situations . . . excellent dialogue . . . and a flock of orchids for the first-timer, Dorothy Wilson. THE OLD DARK HOUSE (Universal) Your old friend Frankenstein goes on a drunk! As the hideous, mute servant in the old dark house, Boris Karloff conveys horror to the screen all right. Others of a splendid cast are sacrificed in an attempt to make a spine-chiller really spine-chilling. It shows you what transpires in an ill-fated house in the Welsh mountains, when five strangers must seek refuge in it from a terrific storm. And then Karloff hits the bottle and releases a madman from his prison on the top floor. . . . Lots of horror in this one. Wheeler and Woolsey antic this HOLD 'EM JAIL time as members of a prison football (Radio) team. When they aren't playing football, they're cutting up with Edna May Oliver, the warden's sister. Or, as in the case of Wheeler, falling in love with the warden's daughter, Betty Grable. It all dates back to the prison's need for new football material and that institution's alumni framing the comics in a night club hold-up to make them eligible for the team. It's amusing, but, truthfully, the comedian-filled cast and situation really promise more laughs than are forthcoming. The glamorous Bankhead and the THE DEVIL AND virile Gary Cooper are teamed to , THE DEEP gether. And very wisely, too. Cooper (Paramount) is a naval officer stationed m North v Africa. He falls hopelessly in love and is loved by Tallulah, who turns out to be the wife of an insanely jealous man (Charles Laughton, from the stage), who happens to be Gary's commander. This trio, Bankhead. Cooper and Laughton, make for excellence. Tallulah is given the best chance of her Hollywood career, and this newcomer, Charles Laughton, is a finished actor. We hope to see him often.