Motion Picture News (Jan - Mar 1928)

896 Motion Picture News Chicago After Midnight Very Well Done, Mr. Ince (Reviewed by E. G. Johnston) TAKING the much battered about city of Chicago and its underwork! for the theme Ralph Ince has succeeded in turning out a creditable piece of work. Praise can also be handed to this director for his portrayal of Big Bill Boyd, the leading role in this picture. Others in the cast are satisfactory. There is but one ci-iticism which this writer offers. Along about the middle of this film the action noticeably slows down and it is possible that a little judicious cutting would help considerably. This is not an attempt to glorify any characters of the underworld, the producer states, and true enough all the villains get theirs by the time the last foot is run off. Howev^er, it surely seemed that the one bit of real pathos occured when Big Bill passed out in the anns of his pal. Father versus daughter and daughter versus father, both unaware of the relationship, is the heart of the story. After serving 15 years in the "pen" Big Bill goes to Chicago to "get" a cabaret proprietor responsible for his jail term. He does not know that a popular dancer of the resoi't is his daughter. The latter is engaged to marry the orchestra leader on whom is pinned the guilt, when Big Bill finally bumps his man off. It is the girl's efforts to track down the real slayer which brings about the play between father and daughter. Drawing Power: Suitable for any audience which enjoys a crook melodrama. THEME : Big Bill Boyd, a factor in the underworld is "sent up" for fifteen years and at the expiration of the term sets out to "get" the man who squealed. He gets him but the future happiness of his daughter becomes involved when crime is wrongfully fastened upon her lover. The gunmen get theirs and daughter gets her man. Produced and distributed by F B 0. Released, March 4, 1928. Length, 6,249 feet. The Cast: .Ralph Ince, Jola Mendez, Helen Jerome Eddy, Frank Mills, James Mason, Ole M. Ness, LoiTaiiie Rivero, Carl Axzelle, Bob Seiter and Christian Frank. Directed by Ralph Ince. Skinner's Big Idea Slow Moving and Dull (Reviewed by Chester J. Smith) T^ HE office of McLaughlin and Perkins '■ moves at such a slow pace that they decide to get some young blood into it and discard all the dead wood. They do not get the young blood, discard the doadwood, nor do they speed up the pace. Instead they rejuvenate th(; old-timers in the office, but they do nothing to hop up the action in the picture. Consequently it drags slow-footedly through a bit of inconsequential action to a somewhat dreary conclusion. There is scarcely an incident in the picture that one could enthuse over, neither is there suspense nor comedy. It was produced fnmi an original story by Henry Irving Dodge and it just seoms lacking in material suitable for transition to the screen. At no time after their rejuvenation do the principal charactei's move faster than a snail's pace. Thero is no climax to which they work up, and practically the whole punch in the story is confined to the last few feet. Bryant Washburn is Skinner, the creater of the big idea. lIc' is made junior partner and his first assignment is to fire the three oldtimers in the office, who are his closest friends. The senior partners take their leave with those instructions. Skinner decides to retain and rejuvenate the three by taking his own departure for a vacation and leaving them on their own. To properly stimulate them he hires a chorus girl, who is in love with the son of one of the proprietors. Her job is to embai-rass the old boys to a point where they will think they are as young as they used to be. The plan works, of course. We see them primping up in new clothes and showing a little more initiative. They become golf addicts and apparently neglect the office entirely. But on the golf course, it is revealed, they land the big order the bosses have fallen down on. Drawing Power: It is hardly suitable screen material and does not figure to get far. Exploitation Angles: Aside from the players there is little that might be exploited. THEME : Comedy drama in which a trio of old employees are rejuvenated by a new junior partner assisted by a chorus girl employed as a secretary, so that they corral the prize order for the concern. Produced and distributed by F B 0. Directed by Lynn Shores. Original story by Henry Irving Dodge. Continuity by Matt Taylor. Released, Uny 11th, 1928. Length, 5,967 feet. The Cast: Bryant Washburn, William Orland. .lames Bradbury, Sr., Robert Dudley, Ole M. Ness, Charles \Vellesley, Martha Sleeper, Hugh Trevor, Ethel Grey Terry. Saddle Mates Average Western Film (Reviewed by Raymond Ganly) 'X'HE old standbys in the western dramas ■*■ — the villainy of the rustlers and the l)ravery and straight forwardness of the hero — spur this typical western film to its usual conclusion, wherein the villains get a lacing and the hero gets the girl. An average example of western entertainment. Its main points : several fist fights between the hero and the villain; a rescue of the heroine on a runaway hoi-se by the hero ; plenty of plotting and villainy on the part of the villains and reprisals on the part of the hero ; a fight on top of a moving freight train between the hero and a villain who had just shot the hero's friend. The latter scene is the gi-and finale. Wally W^ales is the young hero always fighting, Peggy Montgomei-y the girl he is after and J. Gordon Russell the villainous rogue. Just average — that's all. Drawing Power: Fair. Exploitation Angles: I'sc a cowboy's outfit, lassoes and saddle as a lobby display. Emphasize the action scenes. THEME: Western drama in which a young westerner finally finds a villain he and his pal have been seeking for some time. The villain does everything in his power to kill them both, hiring gunmen for the job, but is unsuccessful. The villain is finally exposed and driven out of town while the hero wins his sister. Produced by Action Pictures, Inc. Distributed hv Pathe. Released, March lltli, 1928. Length, 4,.^)2() feet. The Cast: Wally Wales, Peggv Montgomery, J. Cordon Russell, Hank Bell, Charles Whitakcr, Lafe McKee, Edward (>ecil, Lillian Allen. Story by Harrington Slnmg. Continuity by FrankI. Inghram. Director, Richard Thorpe. The Secret Hour Just a Picture (Reviewed by Laurence Reid) NOT much ct)uld be done with this one, which stars Pola Negri. In the first place she is miscast in a role which calls for unsophistication. And the Polish star could never look as if she didn't know what it -was all about. Originally this story was known on the stage as ' ' They Knew What They Wanted." But it carried censorable qualities about it — in its txiangle play. So the development was altered to make it fit the screen. The result is an orthodox, conventional yarn which hasn't the values of suspense or surprise. Playing the part of an unloved waitress Pola falls in love with the photograph of what she supposes is an ardent swain. It seems that an elderly fruit grower sent his employee's picture to conquer her. Naturally the girl takes a liking to it — and reallj' falls in love with the original of the photo when she sees him. And the old fellow is left out in the cold. It is told without any conviction and fails to reveal any neat highlights. This isn't the type of story for Negri. So, of coui-se, she couldn't do much with it. Once upon a time it made a corking play. The roles are satisfactorily filled by Jean Hersholt and Kenneth Thompson. Drawing Power: Suitable for average houses. Exploitation Angles: Play up the star and her supjiortiiig cast. Bill as a story of lovesick people in search of romance, etc. THEME: Romantic drama of elderly suitor who sends youth's photo to girl of his heart, palming himself off as the younger man — with heroine falling in love with original of picture. Produced and distributed by Paramount. Length, six reels. Released, March, 1928. The Cast: Pola Negri, Kenneth Thompson, Jean Hersholt, George Periolat. Director, Rowland V. Lee. "Wlioozit?" (Educational — Two Reels) {Reviewed by Raymond Ganly) \ N exhibitor is lasging behind if he overlooks A~V a number like this Charley Bowers example of how comedy can be made more effective with just the riglit amount of novelty and mystification. It's the best Bowers comedy we've seen, even better than "There It Is," and that is saying a pageful when you consider how gootl that Bowers comedy was. Have you ever seen an oyster walk? Have you ever beheld a cockroach throw china We iiad never seen these things done before until we viewed "Whoozit?" and now we believe tiiat anything is possible — in a Cliarley Bowers comedy. Afore amazing than .Maddin's lamp or the magic genii are these mysterious creations which Bowers introduces occasionally along the route of his comedy. Bowers has also utilized the idea of a menace always pursuing, always threatening. This menace is somewhat similar to the "Fuzz Faced Phantom" in "There It Is." Bowers imagines he is being sought after by this menace, lie imagines all st>rts of things — the oysters walking, the roaches Inirling saucers. These wild iiliantasniagoria are the result of gas wliicli Bowers has deeply inhaled. While in his drugged state of mind rivals tliat of an opium eater's for the procession of events coursing through it of which he is the fantastic central figure. Decidedly different and a first-rate, crackerjack novelty. .Suiiporting Bowers are Ted Lorch, Ray Turner, .'\nn Brodie, I^mily Gerdcs and Kewpie Morgan. Directed by H. L. Muller. Photographed by Jay Turner.