The Motion Picture and the Family (Oct 1934 - May 1937)

6 THE MOTION PICTURE AND THE FAMILY February 15, 1936 AVAILABLE STUDY GUIDES IN IMMEDIATE PROSPECT Give Vs This Night Little Lord Fauntleroy The Prisoner of Shark Island OTHER GUIDES Fang and Claw, 15c A Midsummer Night's Dream, 15c Mutiny on the Bounty, 15c Peter Ibbetson, 15c Seven Keys to Baldpate, 10c A Tale of Two Cities, 15c Also Prize Contest Guide, 6c Sheet of Miniature Stills, 6c Purchasable from Educational and Recreational Guides, Inc., 125 Lincoln Avenue, Newark, N. J. These Guides, issued at an earlier date, are likewise still available : Anne of Green Gables, David Copperfield, Dog of Flanders, The Last Days of Pompeii, Les Miserables, Scrooge, Sequoia, The Three Musketeers, Treasure Island. Lower prices for bulk orders of all guides Lessons From The Movies (Continued from Page 3) police of Canada is portrayed. The loyalty and bravery of those picked men are a joy to the law-abiding citizens of the world. THE PETRIFIED FOREST (Warner Bros.) The theme of this picture is not unusual, but the development of the plot is fascinating. A man with strong creative yearnings finds himself disillusioned, almost despondent. Chance places him in a situation where he can through his life insurance free a girl from the chains of circumstance that were crushing her creative soul. He is willing, even anxious, to give his life that she may be made free. The girl, however, would rather have had his love and companionship than the $5,000. Suicide for the financial benefit of loved ones is ridiculous. If the loved ones want money on that basis they are not worth the sacrifice! Otherwise they are hurt more than helped. If a man is in health, suicide is supreme selfishness. The gangster also was willing to risk his life and the lives of his associates to meet his girl by appointment. She betrayed him and his gang was destroyed. Because of the greater sensitiveness of women they usually make poor accomplices in crime. Their jealousies under such conditions may become disastrous. CEILING ZERO (First National) This picture tells the ever-appealing story of the heroism of airplane pilots. The interesting details of the handling of air service are introduced into the thrilling plot of the story. Davis is a dashing, but irrespon Films For The Pupil And The Teacher (Continued from Page 4) struggles against conditions of the machine age, depicting all his emotions and reactions in silent pantomime. Misunderstood and misunderstanding, he finds himself in one predicament after another: innocent leader of a Red parade, unintentional hero of an attempted jail-break, unwitting success as a cafe entertainer. Through it all he moves, unchanged, a modern Don Quixote. With every laugh at the indomitable little hero, we feel a pang of remorse, for we laugh at him not with him. The comedy grows out of frustration, out of his constant attempt to make good and his inability to adjust himself to the world about him. The picture affords a rare opportunity for study of pantomimic expression, of dramatic structure and of theme treatment. THE MILKY WAY (Paramount) This laughable farce is built up with care on ridiculous physical situations to afford to every member of the cast mirth-provoking lines and action. The screen writers and directors have used every effective method to inject laughs into the screen play. The star, Harold Lloyd, is seen in a part similar to his release of silent days. Students of motion picture dramaturgy will do well to challenge the use of dialogue in many of the scenes as to whether or not less speech might not improve the technique. As a timid, inoffensive and unathletic milkman, Lloyd accidentally wins a national reputation as a fighter and is challenged to a championship bout. Utterly absurd in premise, the situation is worked out in equally ridiculous manner to bring success to the hero. It is played in fast tempo so that the laughter is almost continuousStudents will profit by noting the "build-up" and the delivery of laugh-provoking lines and situations. EVERY SATURDAY NIGHT ( Twentieth Century-Fox ) This refreshing little comedy, the first feature picture of a series, presents "Our American Family," a typical one, consisting of a grandmother, parents and five children of varying ages and interests. It evidently purposes to show that problems of the present result from changing conditions and that their solution demands a change on the part of parents as well as understanding of the attitudes of parents on the part of youth. The picture is an excellent study in dharacterization, the individual peculiarities and charms of each member of the family being clearly denned. The story, built around the customary incidents of daily life, showing the inter-relationship of members of the family, is full of charm. The situations are developed through able direction and fine photography into a dramatic structure that reaches a strong climax. The picture bubbles with laughter arising from naturally humorous situations and dialogue. Having been pleasantly introduced to these new friends, we look forward to meeting them again. THE VOICE OF BUGLE ANN (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) The superb acting of Lionel Barrymore dominates this picture of dog-lovers of the Ozarks. Told with simple sincerity, livened by colorful incidents, revealed in beautiful photography, it captures the atmosphere of the remote mountain regions. The early scenes depict the chase of the houndpack for the lively fox. Without cruelty or sentimentality, the chase is revealed as the chief interest of the hero, a dog-raiser, and his friends. "No, we don't kill the fox", he explains, "he just runs till he's tired. Then he holes in and we call the dogs back." Later, when his love for his dog with the beautiful voice arouses him to murder, he rises in court to speak with moving power and sincerity a perfect eulogy to man's perfect friend, the dog. Unusual in setting, theme and acting, this picture is remindful of Sequoia in sympathy for animal life. The musical score is effective without being once obtrusive. What's Next In Hollywood? sible member of the pilot group. With little regard for consequences to others, he pursues his selfish ways. Through deception he shifts a flying assignment to a friend, who is killed in a dense fog. He is condemned, but his own sense of guilt needs no outside stimulus. To make amends for his selfishness he disobeys orders to test a de-icer. He makes his report and then crashes. But life is not so simple. One cannot wholly atone for a lifetime of wrongs by a supreme sacrifice even in a good cause. It is much harder to right wrongs by a long period of devoted service. Death is too easy a way out of responsibility. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT (Columbia) "Conscience doth make cowards of us all" is the theme of this picture, which is an outstanding psychological study. Anyone who wishes to learn more about human nature would be absorbed in it. It tells the audiences: That brilliance in school does not insure qualities for success in all of life's activities, That while family background is one of the most important factors in character development, children do escape at times from its influence! That the mental anguish of some criminals is so intense that confession is release. (Continued from Page 3) Magazine said, "That family life can provide top notch entertainment is the theory this film proceeds to prove. There isn't a star name in a carload, but don't allow yourself to think the picture should be overlooked. There is a sort of Will Rogers touch to the whole thing. The events that happen occur in every home, and therein lies the secret of the picture's strong appeal." The family will be the same in all the pictures, which will deal with the joy and troubles that are always very serious in your own family and very humorous when they concern the family next door. The actors are new to you. They have been chosen because you are not to keep thinking of them as actors. Picturedom is on its tiptoes about the first all outdoor, all color picture in the new Technicolor, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, and the beauty of it is that Walter Wanger has not allowed color to strike your eye or occupy your attention. As he himself says, "Nature took care of the color problem very well." In other words the loveliness of lake and sky and pine falls into place as nature herself makes her world the background for our human drama. Not spectacle, but harmony — nature in one of her neutral moods. The story goes that, though no outsiders were supposed to "listen in," Paramount studio couldn't shut off from the set Marlene Dietrich, Claudette Colbert, Bing Crosby, Gary Cooper, who hovered near the door to listen to the recording of the first duet between Gladys Swarthout and Jan Kiepura in the first operetta composed entirely for the screen — and composed by no less a man than Erich Wolfgang Korngold, who conducted the 90-piece orchestra himself. Miss Swarthout is doing Give Vs This Night before she goes back to the Metropolitan opera for her sixth season. There was much thought and skill given to the placing of the microphone, which becomes a delicate instrument when great voices are to be recorded. Chalk marks on the floor showed where the singers were to stand as the musical range of song changed. For the low notes they moved nearer the mike — back a step or two for the middle range — gradually back 20 feet as the crescendo of high and power notes came in the finale. And then — tragedy — the little audience broke into applause, not realizing that the orchestra was supposed to keep on after the singing ceased — and so the first "take" was spoiled. And here is an interesting slant on the production of Anthony Adverse at Warner's. The director, Mervyn LeRoy, was chosen because while he is making this highly imaginative picture he could keep (Continued on Page 7)