The Motion Picture Almanac 1929 (1929)

1929 The MOTION PICTURE ALMANAC 201 when the show is over. (H. & S. theatre. Chandler. Okla. — Small town patronatre.) October 11-12. Good drawing card and a fine picture in every sense. (New Piedmont theatre, Oakland, Cal. — General patronage.) December 26. Not only one of the greatest of 1928 but can be included among the greatet^t ever produced. Direction and acting well nigh perfect and ihe etory was good. No complaints were heard — nothing but praise. Margaret Mann'e portrayal of the mother and her change, through miefortune, from a happy old lady to an old woman whoee shoulders were heavily laden with sorrow was excellent. She deserves a niche in the screen Hall of Fame. (Amuse-U theatre, MelviUe, La. — -General patronage.) FOUR WALLS, M G M, John Gilbert, Joan Crawford, Vera Gordon, Carmel Myers, Robert Emmet O'Connor, Louis Natheaox, Jack Byron, 8. — September 29. Little disappointed in this one. Balance of Gilbert did well for me. MetroGoldwyn have eome good pictures but this one drew less than any I have played. A good picture of its kind but that kind didn't suit my patronage excepting a few of the Gilbert fans. Boys, don't pay too much. I bought it right. Didn't do much though. (Central theatre, Madison, Va. — General patronage.) I didn't think this so good but my customers did, and what more do you want ? Good business and the picture bought at a fair price. Metro and First National sure are square ehootere especially in the Des Moines branch. (Postville theatre, Poetville, la. — General patronage.) October 7-8, Fair program picture but outside of the stars not much to it — might have been anyone's make. Personaly do not think so much of Gilbert in the role of a tough gunman. However, the picture seemed to be well liked and the combination of Gilbert-Crawford drew in a fair crowd so guess we have nothing to complain of. Carmel Myers' acting w-as the best in the picture. (Screenland theatre, Nevada, O. — Small town patronage.) December 12-13. A might good picture. Gave good satisfaction. (Silver Family theatre, Greenville. Mich. — General patronage.) October 23-24. This one starts off rather draggy but picks up and becomes a rather interesting picture but underworld pictures have been ridden to death and do not draw now. Metro should keep Gilbert in stories of the "cossack" type. Miss Crawford miscast as a moll. (Central theatre. Selkirk, Manitoba, Canada. — General patronage.) September 12. Gilbert takes well here, and the rental is right. I think it one of his best. (Strand theatre. Pella, la. — General patronage.) I missed this, but reports on it were good. (Pastime theatre. Mason, Mich. — General patronage.) December 11-1?, A good program picture of the underworld with these two characters doing very good work. Several good comments on this picture. (Princess theatre, Parkersburg, la.^ General patronage.) October 26. Plenty good comments. Everybody well pleased. A very good mystery picture. (Institute theatre. Oak Ridge, N. C. — ^General patronage.) November 25-26. Very good program picture. All in this seem to take their parts well. Story gocKl. (Cozy theatre, Duchesne, Utah. — General patronage. ) January 1, An excellent picture. Better acted and more gripping than "Our Dancing Daughters," Acting was extremely good and I rate the picture as a 100 per cent production. (Green Lantern, Claymont, Del. — General patronage.) November 7-8. Pretty good picture. (Texas theatre. Grand Prairie, Texas. — Small town patronage.) Very good and interesting throughout. (Bijou theatre, Conway, N. H. — (General patronage.) Underworld story. A little rough in spots. (Selma theatre. Selma. Cal. — General patronage.) FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. U, Lewis Stone, Marceline Day, Henry B. Walthall, Malcolm McGresor, 7.— Uncle Carl is asking for what the public thinks about certain questions. Here'o what we think about his pictures. "Freedom of the Press" can boast only the well liked Lewis Stone and Marceline Day. Trite plot and usual direction. They made this one quick. (Kenwood theatre. Chicago. III.— General patronage.) Good show. Didn't have many fir::t night, but those must have liked it because I had a fine house the second night, and there was a circus in town, too. ( Strand theat re, Rogers, Tex. — General patronage.) January 9. This is a pood program picture. Satisfied them all. (Silver Family theatre, Greenville. Mich. — General patronage.) January 12. This picture has a realistic plot and contains some fine acting. (Lake theatre. Upper Lake, Cal.^ General patronage.) Very good newspaper story, better than some so-called specials, with Stone as a crooked politician. (Empress theatre, Ai-ma, Kan. — General patronage.) FRENCH DRESSING, FN. H. B. Warner, Lois Wilson, Clive Brcok, Lilyan Tashman, 7. — December 13. A right good picture and hot in spots. Will please some of your patrons and won't merit many knocks. (Princess theatre, Lincoln, Kan. — Small town patronage.) December 5-6. Generally pleased. Clive Brook getting to be quite a favorite here. (Auditorium theatre. Laurel, Neb.— General patronage. ) GANG WAR, R K O, Olive Borden, Jack Pickford, Eddie Gribbon, Walter Long, Frank Chew, 7. — November 21. This is a good picture, but disidays too much of the big city gang war stulT. which doesn't set so good. ( LeeRoy theatre. Wallace, Neb. — General patronage.) October 17. Pleased our audience. ( Charkarohen theatre, Lincoln. N. H. — Small town patronage. ) Pleased, and the best one I have had from R K O's 192S-1929 product. (Aristo theatre. Lommon. S. D. — General patronage.) December 22. This picture did not draw or please here. An underworld picture is a flop at this theatre every time we show one. Our patrons see and read in the papers enough about crime without going to a movie to see more of it. (S. of N. theatre, Ambrose, N. D. — General patronage.) GARDEN OF EDEN, The, UA, Corinne Griffith. 7. — December 26-27. A splendid entertainment. Fine story, star and cast extra good. Pleased them all. (Silver Family theatre, Greenville, Mich. — ^General patronage.) GIRL-SHY COWBOY, The, F, Rex Bell, Patsy O'Leary, George Meeker, Donald Stuart, Margaret Coburn, Betty Caldwell, Joan Lyons, Ottola Nesmith, 5. — -This is a novelty, a regular bathing beauty Western with cowboys in it. Pronounced a joke by my patrons. (Silver Family theatre. Greenville. Mich. — General patronage.) December 17. We played this one Saturday night with a two-reel comedy. "No Picnic." and let me tell you, this combination. Western and comedy, goes over big and puts pep in pictures that draws them back to see what's next. This Western type in this picture is not the old style shoot-'em-up kind. It's a pleasing, easy-tounderstand kind of a picture. Why, there are bushels of the most beautiful girls all dressed up in bathing costumes playing leap frog with this "Girl-Shy Cowboy," and I will bet there were 50 or more boys in my theatre who would have given their month's salary to have been this cowboy. Why, this kind of picture is fun, for they all like the bathing suit styles 'way down here in Dixie. I Dixie theatre, Durant, Miss.— General patronage.) A good Western. (Miers theatre, Schohaire. N. Y.— General patronage.) GLORIOUS TRAIL, The. FN, Ken Maynard. Gladys McConnell, Frank Hagney, Lee Bates. James Bradbury, Jr., Billy Fransy, Chief Vowlache, 6. — Novomber 30-December 1. First class Western. The story of the laying of the first telegraph lines. A bang-up picture with a thrilling Indian fight. (Central theatre, Selkirk, Man., Canada. — General patronage.) A good Western of the bygone days when the Injuns were on the warpath. (Sun theatre. Kansas City, Mo. — General jmtronage.) November 1-2. Good picture but all Maynard's are. (Pastime theatre. Medicine Lodge, Kan. — Small town patronage.) GOODBYE KISS, The, FN, Johnny Burke. Sally Filers. Matty Kemp, Wheeler Oakman, Irving Bacon. Lionel Belmore, Alma Bennett, Carmelita Geraghty, Jean Laverty, 8. — -When they rave in the press books, etc., and tell you of Mack Sennett's wonderful find. Sally Eilers, by this raving you are misled, as Sally is not outstanding in any way. She is another very attractive girl and not unusual in any way. and Sally will not put this show across. If it were not for Johnny Burke this would have been a flop so far as satisfactory entertainment goes. and it does very well, but it is a war picture and will not go over big. (Cozy theatre. Winchester, Ind. — General patronage.) Sold as a special. Good program picture. Nothing to rave about. Some liked it. some didn't. (New theatre. DeWilt. Ark. — General patronage.) HAUNTED HOUSE. The, FN. Chester Conklin. Larry Kent. Thelma Todd. Montagu Love, Flora Finch, William V. Mong, Barbara Bed ford, Eve Southern. Edmund Breese. 6. — December 13-14-15. This did not seem to please. Chester Conklin runs through it and tries to be funny, but only makes it worse. Just 7,000 feet of wasted film. Had many complaints. (Central theatre, Selkirk, Man., Canada. — General patronage.) Disappointing. Advertised it as a creepy, terror inspiring picture, but lo, and behold ! it wa£ just a long-drawn out comedy with nothing but absurdities. Why couldn't it have been made seriously with touches of humor now and then? Another mys-tery of the studios! Conklin is a great comedian but patrons don't like too much of him. They know all his tricks by this time. Kids like this number, but grownuiis said the laugh was on us. (Amuse-U theatre, Melville, La. — General patronage. Good spook picture to fair business. (Pastime theatre. Medicine Lodge, Kan. — Small town patronage.) O. K. Lots of laughs and scary scenes. Liked it here. Fair business. (Richelieu theatre, Bellefonte and Clearfield, Pa.^ General patronage.) November 15. I cannot call this a real mystery picture, but it is notbad. Has some good comedy. (Adair theatre, Adair, la. — General patronage.) December 252'6-27. A fair picture with a box office title. (Rialto theatre, Hamilton, O. — General patronage.) HEART TO HEART. FN, Mary Astor, Lloyd Hughes. Louise Fazenda, Lucien Littlefield, Thelma Todd, Raymond McKee, Eileen Manning, V^irginia Gray, 7. — Rather a ixior title, but one of the finest program pictures ever shown in this picture. An interesting story, an abundance of laughs and an excellent cast. Patrons expressed their pleasure days after its showing, which is evident that it made an impression. A producer that will release a picture such as "Heart to Heart" and sell it at program prices is entitled to the gratitude of small town exhibitors, such as myself, who are just hanging on by our shirt-tails, hoping against hope for early relief. (Lonet theatre, Wellington, O. — Small town patronage.) Very entertaining picture \vith lots of laughs. (Selma theatre, Selma, Cal. ^General patronage.) — and "Three Ring Marriage," here's two of the best audience pictures I've run in many a day. Both drew extra business and undoubtedly pleased nearly lOft per cent. Put them on your buying list. (Sun theatre. Kansas City. Mo.— Neighborhood patronage. ) HIS TIGER LADY. Par. Adolphe Menjou. Evelyn Brent, 6. — November 8. A good comedy. (Gem theatre, Greenriver. Utah. — General patronage. ) HIT OF THE SHOW, R K O. Joe Brown. Gertrude Olmstead, Gertrude Astor, Daphne Pollard, Lee Shumway, Leroy Mason. William Norton Bailey. William Francis Dugan. lone Holmes, Frank Mills, Cosmo Kyrle Belle w, Ole M. Ness, 7. — September 29. A real "hit of a show." Has everythink to make real theatrical entertainment. You can step on this one. Let's have more of this class. (Kerr theatre. Little Sioux. la. — Small town patronage.) November 27-28. This picture played Thanksgiving season and was a hit of the show. It brought to us a good, clean entertainment. (LeeRoy theatre. Wallace. Neb.— General patronage.) December 15. A good show, although ending was disappointing. (Charkarohen-Hall, Lincoln, N. H. — Small town patronage.) HOME JAMES, U, Laura LaPlante. Charles Delaney, Aileen Manning, Joan Standing, George Fearce, Arthur Hoyt, Sidney Bracy, 6. ^Laura's getting to be a big girl, and you just have to notice it. Rather clever. Average. (Glades Amusement Company. Moore Haven, Fla. — General patronage.) January 1. Fair and clean entertainment that pleased them all. (Silver Family theatre, Greenville, Mich. — ^General patronage. HOME TOWNERS, The, WB. Doris Kenyon, Richard Bennett, Robert McWade, Gladys Brockwell. Robert Edeson, 5.— If this is a sample of Warner Brothers' so-called "talkies" made into a silent picture, then God deliver us from any more of them! Positively the biggest piece of cheese ever produced. That's putting it rather strong, but I don't thing it's any more than it deserves. It's a shame that we have to force anything like it on to the public nowadays. Owing to extreme cold weather, only a few came out to see it, for which we are very thankful. All that did come were disapi>ointed. You exhibitors who have not used it had bet