Motion Picture Daily (July–Sept 1938)

10 MOTION PICTUPJE DAILY Wednesday, July 6, 1 93€ Short Subjects 'The Story of Dr. Carver' (M-G-M) Pete Smith in a serious vein again. Here he vocally accompanies an interesting pictorial resume of the life of the Negro scientist who did much to aid the South with his researches in agriculture and the by-products of the peanut. The cinematic biography covers Dr. Carver's life from the time he was a baby in the slave era up to the present day in which he is working on applying the lowly peanut toward the erasure of infantile paralysis. This is an exceptional short worthy of being brought to the attention of the audience. Running time, 10 mins. "G." "Stranger Than Fiction No. 52" ( U niversal ) This number of a series that has been constantly improving offers a tasteful selection of items which aptly convey the meaning of the title. It has satisfaction-giving potentialities. Running time, 9^ mins. "G." "Porky, the Fireman" (Vitaphone) Warners' contribution to the cartoon field is a laughable and exciting account of the porcine character's adventures as a smoke-eater. The animation and execution are well done. The plot strews gags at every opportunity for hilarious effect. Running time, 6 mins. "G." "Picketing for Love" (RKO) What might be described as a vocal comedy, since its chief purpose appears to be affording an opportunity for Joe Morrison and Betty Jane Rhodes to exercise their talents. They meet at a summer camp, and after a misunderstanding, he woos her with song via a loudspeaker system. It is average material. Running time, 17 mins. "G." "The Soul of a Heel" (Columbia) Andy Clyde has his usual quota of pre-marital and romantic difficulties in this comedy. The humor will no doubt find appreciation in Clyde's following. Bud Jamison and Gertrude Sutton help out. Fair. Running time, iey2 mins. "G." "Queens of the Air" (Paramount) In this subject, the audience will be able to see its favorite radio songbirds in person singing a familiar number. The girls are presented in fine photography and Vincent Lopez' orchestra supplies the music. Jean Ellington, Benay Venuta, Hollace Shaw, Betty Hutton and Nan Wynn appear. Running time, 11 mins. "G." Hollywood Preview "The Lost Kitten" (Fleischer-Paramount) Pudgy, Betty Boop's pup, becomes involved with a starving kitten. He takes it in, feeds it, and then, later, finds it monopolizing his food, bed and Miss Boop's affection. Ultimately he clears the situation, but not before a bit of humorous animation takes place. Running time, 7 mins. "G." <( Little Miss Broadway" (20th Century-Fox) Hollywood, July 5. — Across America and around the world people of high and low estate, in common with the far more numerous and profitable in-betweens, have come to expect a peculiarly definite kind of entertainment from Shirley Temple and to value it above any other celluloid thing. "Heidi" was a mild departure from the pattern. "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" veered slightly in another direction. "Little Miss Broadway" is in the groove. If Darryl Zanuck had set out to produce for the young lady's grandchildren one film which they could regard in reverent awe as the "typical Shirley Temple picture" this would be it. Maybe he did. Or maybe he tried only to give recessionridden showmen the nearest possible thing to a box-office life-saver. This story by Harry Tugend and Jack Yellen gives Miss Temple's public a chance to see her do again all the things they have liked best to see her do in all the situations in which they have liked best to see her do them. She is a cheerful, tearful tot in an orphanage. She is the precocious idol of a theatrical boarding house. She is persecuted by a rich old spinster in black alpaca. She cajoles a judge on the bench and she fixes things for a romantic couple. And she sings a lot and dances a lot and spends all her screen time being just Shirley Temple. Associate Producer David Hempstead and Director Irving Cummings have conspired faithfully with the authors to preserve the Temple tradition inviolate. They have allowed none of the individually important members of the cast to get between the star and the customer. They have disregarded time and space in the interests of the prime personality. They have given her her head and let her go. She sings six songs, admirably written to her measure by Walter Bullock and Harold Spina, and she dances with George Murphy in a type of number that compares directly to the Rogers-Astaire product. She brings sunshine into a number of lives, including her own, and suffers convincingly in plot crises not overlong or overserious. She gives, as if in conspiracy with producer, director, writers and all hands, a typical Shirley Temple performance. In addition to Mr. Murphy, who plays the romantic lead when not dancing, Miss Temple's support includes Edna May Oliver, Jimmy Durante, El Brendel, Phyllis Brooks, Donald Meek, George Barbier, Edward Ellis, Jane Darwell, Patricia Wilder, Claude Gillingwater, George and Olive Brasno, the Brewster Twins, a hotelful of vaudeville actors and many more. The place is New York City and the time is the present. The picture is, as somewhat insistently asserted above, a typical Shirley Temple picture. There is, if Miss Temple's continued occupancy of first place in the box-office star lists of the past three years be admissible evidence, no better screen merchandise. Running time, 70 minutes. "G" William R. Weaver New York Preview "Gold Mine in the Sky" (Republic) Here is one of the better Gene Autry vehicles. Great improvement is to be noticed in the musical content and the production is all that can be desired. The title is drawn from the current popular song and should be a potent selling point. The story is a coherent, modern affair that embraces the "must" angles of western films in an exciting style. Smiley Burnette has a solo song number that should increase his comedy following. Autry sings in his familiar style and the support delivers what is expected of them. Autry is the foreman of a ranch who takes over when the owner dies. As executor of the estate he thwarts Carol Hughes, the owner's daughter, when she attempts to marry a wastrel and dispose of the prosperous cattle holdings. Craig Reynolds, the villain in the case, hires gangsters to do away with Autry, but is foiled and later uncovered. Craig, to cover expenses, kidnaps Miss Hughes and gets away with ransom money. But Autry catches up, trounces him to within an inch of disaster and brings the disordered affairs to rights. All this is liberally sprinkled with comedy, musical interludes and a good amount of riding against scenic backgrounds. Joe Kane directed. Charles E. Ford is listed as associate producer. The cast also includes Cupid Ainsworth, Le Roy Mason, Robert Romans and the Stafford Sisters. Running time, 60 minutes. "G." Joseph Priore Short Subjects "Datelines" (Lenauer International ) This short is novel. It is classified as a newsreel. The material uses re-enactments of human interest and comical stories that appear often in newspapers with light treatment. Actual locations are used and the s/~ id track has a vocal freedom rarely \ 1 1 on the screen. This first issue offers stories concerning a man who, finding his wife in a fireman's arms, turns in an alarm ; a pair of elderly women shoplifters in action and a woman driver who told a policeman to go to hell. She was upheld by the court. Running time, 8 mins. "A." "Cebu" (P. P. Devlin) Cebu is reputedly the oldest city in the Philippine Islands. That is evident in this film. Shown are various sites connected with Magellan, shipping activities, historical facts narrated as the various pictorial locations are seen ; churches, statistics and informative trivia. The photography ranges from average to stunning cloud-strewn compositions. Running time, 9l/i mins. "G." "Czechoslovakia on Parade" (FitzPatrick-M-G-M) In the pleasant FitzPatrick style this Technicolor effort covers the country that is now the focus of international attention, depicting its historical points of interest, the customs of the people and the other required and colorful coverage incidental tc travelogues. Running time, 9 mins. "G." "The Awful Tooth" (Roach-M-G-U) Mediocre "Our Gang" shenanigans, but the kids will like it. The story, done in the usual manner, concerns the youngsters' efforts to get baseball equipment. They visit a dentist and demand to have all their teeth extracted in the belief that they will receive a dime for each tusk. The kindly dentist scares them a bit but also contributes gloves and baseballs. Running time, 10 mins. "G." "Good Scouts" (Disney-RKO) Boy Scouts and their activities are kidded by "Uncle" Donald here to the extent that they should have the audience howling. The high spots are when Donald sits on the cap of a geyser and when he is chased by a bear over a boulder that is being spun by the column of steam from the geyser. Running time, 8 mins. "G." "Trailing the Jaguar" (J. H. Ho ff berg) This is the film record of two men who went hunting in Mexico with bow and arrow. They shot a number of animals and the climax of their trek was the killing of a jaguar. The chief excitement occurs when the men score hits. Mexican scenery is interesting. The film lends itself to exploitation. It is different entertainment. Running time, 28 mins. "G."