Motion Picture Daily (Apr-Jun 1934)

12 MOTION PICTURE DAILY Friday, May 25, 1934 Looking Em Over "Dr. Monica" ( Warners) Kay Francis, Warren William and Jean Muir are the central figures in a clinical, triangle drama involving Miss Francis, in the title role as a lying-in specialist ; William as a husband-novelist and Miss Muir as a friend of both, but infatuated with the husband in the case. As Dr. Monica, Miss Francis, in love with William, wants a child, but learns she can never have one of her own, although willing to undergo the operation she believed necessary to clear the way toward her desire. Miss Muir, as an unwed mother, turns her baby over to Dr. Monica for upbringing. Prior to the childbirth, however, Dr. Monica discovers the baby is her husband's. Miss Teasdale, another mutual friend, urges the unwilling doctor to live up to her oath as a physician. She does, delivers the child and determines to leave William, but finds that unnecessary when Miss Muir unties the tangled skeins by flying her plane out to sea and death. Dr. Monica accepts the child left in her care and continues the marital state with William. Acting is competent, although William's role is unsympathetic. The picture, straight drama unrelieved by comedy, calls for intensive selling and careful handling since its theme is delicate and is apt to be provocative. "The Man from Utah" (Monogram) Smart cutting in of scenes from a rodeo makes this one of the best westerns John Wayne has appeared in for some time. Early sequences are used to build up to the rodeo stuff and the continuity of the story is maintained by Wayne's efforts to find out how the rodeo gang has been poisoning outsiders who offered too much competition for prize money. Polly Ann Young supplies the love interest and she's about the most decorative young woman cast in these socalled outdoor dramas in some time. Wayne helps a U. S. marshal foil a holdup and is sworn in as a deputy to find out how the rodeo racket is being run. He takes part in the bulldogging, coach racing, broncho busting, etc. He meets Miss Young when he stops a stagecoach holdup. Her father is the local banker, and in the end Wayne saves the bank's cash, too. There's plenty of riding and the fight scenes have the novelty of being staged in semi-darkness. Kids won't mind, but western audiences may criticize some of the mixed-up scenery. In one shot Wayne pursues Ed Peil across what looks like the Mojave Desert and in a close up they are seen falling into a stream with birches along its banks. In another an airplane beacon has been left in. The story isn't timed, but it's apparently supposed to be back in stagecoach days. "Romance in Budapest" (DuWorld) Light and gay and full of charm, this Hungarian operetta, produced in Budapest by the Hunnia Film Co. and directed by Geza von Bolvary, remembered for his "Two Hearts in Waltz Time," provides delightful diversion. The only regret is that some of the most humorous moments are lost to American audiences by the insufficiency of English titles, although there are enough of them to make the general trend of the story understandable. "Romance in Budapest," with its tasteful settings and opulent photography, is a treat to the eye, and is also pleasing to the ear, with tunes that are fetching and a score that catches all the romantic spirit of the tale. The production is fortunate in its actors, particularly Franziska Gaal, whose performance and beauty add immensely to the enjoyment of the film. She is ably supported by Paul Hoerbiger and Szoeke Szakall. Romance comes to Miss Gaal when she goes to Budapest to attend the wedding of her dearest friend. To smooth out a misunderstanding between the friend and her fiance she calls upon the latter at his hotel. She accosts Hoerbiger, a concert pianist and much of a Don Juan, by mistake and slaps his face when she gets into a dispute with him. Discovering her mistake later, she goes in search of the pianist to apologize. The two fall in love after a number of complications which threaten to blast the romance are disposed of. "Channel Crossing" (Gaumont British) A product of the British studios, "Channel Crossing" seems to have been inspired by the Lowenstein mystery. The European financier disappeared from an airplane several years ago while crossing the Channel. Whether it was suicide or an accident, it has never been determined. The difference is that the financial giant in the film, impersonated by Matheson Lang, ends his life by taking a dose of adrenaline aboard the Dover-Calais boat and expiring on deck just as the vessef docks on the French side. The film is interesting and holds once it has overcome the handicap of a slow start and is especially to be commended for its splendid atmospheric treatment and the acting of the principals, among them two players known to American audiences, Constance Cummings and Anthony Bushell. The character played by Lang is a curious combination of the hero and the scoundrel. When he receives a message that he resign as king of the vast financial empire he has built up, partly through shady dealings, he decides upon suicide to save himself from jail. His act follows on the heels of a struggle with his secretary's jealous sweetheart in which the young man is flung into the sea. He reveals his finer side by urging the captain to continue the search when all hope appears gone and offering adrenaline to save the youth's life after he has been picked up. The story ends happily for Miss Cummings and Bushell. Nigel Bruce is also in the cast. Milton Rosmer directed. 'The Unknown Soldier Speaks9 (Lincoln Prod.) "The Unknown Soldier Speaks" is a cry for world peace. It shows the World War from every side and conveys its message so eloquently that at the end the spectator senses he has been through a rare emotional experience. Packed with human interest, taut and dramatic, it is a picture decidedly worth seeing. The accompanying narrative, written by Robert Rossen, has the novelty of being spoken by a stage performer, Alan Bunce, who handles the assignment commendably. Bunce gives the dialogue feeling and a quiet touch of drama that are an invaluable asset to the film. Only an actor could have done the job so capably. It is the Unknown Soldier who is supposed to be expressing himself through the lips of the narrator. The production takes the audience through the entire course of the war and attempts to show how much of the same spirit that brought on the struggle exists at the present moment. The film is charged with excitement and seems completely authentic. The camera is in the very midst of the fighting and many of the shots apparently were made in the face of death. Though the photography can hardly compare with that of the present day, some of it is startlingly effective. " The Man Trailer" (Columbia) Buck Jones has been cast in "The Man Trailer" in one of those strenuous roles that have come to be typical of him. As a firm-jawed marshal who goes after his man and gets him he gives an electric performance which has him keeping his finger constantly on the trigger and his horse always on the go. The story follows the formula pretty closely. Buck, a fugitive from Texas, where a dishonest sheriff has made him the goat in a rustling plot, gets himself a job as a marshal in Oklahoma as the result of his work foiling a gang of outlaws in a stage holdup. The brigands are "known to him and he declares war to the death on them. The gang kidnaps him and robs the town bank. He is suspected of having a hand in the robbery, but is cleared in the end. Woven into the plot is a romance between Jones and Cecelia Parker. Other players are Arthur Vinton, Steve Clark, Clarence Geldert and Charles West. Lambert Hillyer is credited with the direction. "The Thundering Herd" (Paramount) An action film made to order for kids. It possesses, in the first place, a cast filled with many names that have become identified in the youngsters' minds with the sound and fury that comprise the western. (Continued on page 14)