Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Mar 1932)

36 MOTION PICTURE HERALD January 9, 1932 PA$§ING IN REVIEW The department endeavors to set forth two lines of material of service to the exhibitor — first a showman's evaluations of the oustanding pictures — second, reviews of information JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE" should prove box office for most every theatre by reason of its title, its cast and its powerful "audience values." While a wee bit gruesome here and there, it is stirring entertainment and can be counted on to click for most houses. The title is certainly well enough known on the highways and byways and even the backwoods trails to mean far more than usual for the theatre which backs up this thriller with a strong selling campaign. It naturally lends itself to exploitation and all sorts of advertising ideas of the kind that not only attract the attention of the theatre patrons in search of entertainment, but make them curious to see how the talking screen has handled this old favorite. And its my pleasure to report that Paramount has done a grand job with this one. The same is true of Frederic Marsh, Miriam Hopkins and the others of a fine cast. The picture, once you get them into your house, will hold them tight to their seats until the final f adeout. Camera work is nothing short of marvelous in the transformation scenes and helps make the character more real to the audience. So go ahead and promise them a most unusual evening of entertainment and you'll not be kidding them at all. The theme of the picture provides a hundred different slants to go to work on. You'll have a tough time convincing any boss that you could not work out a business-getting campaign for a picture like this. Work on that title, the story, the stars and the powerful drama behind the plot, without revealing anything more than most people already know about this wellknown character of fiction. While the picture is not for children, it can fit anywhere else and should pay healthy returns at the box office as a reward for selling it the way it should be sold. The best thing I can add to this discussion about "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is that if Paramount will continue to deliver such pictures it certainly will have something to shout about. V \N 1 A ATA HARI" gives you every angle for iVV show-selling ever grouped into any one picture. It has a title with a peculiar fascination for the average fan ; stars galore, with additional names to help it along — and an audience picture in every sense of the word. If you want more than that then you're hard to satisfy. Without exactly giving any idea of the picture itself, here is a box office title. Where the story about this famous spy is known, it's just that much more of a pushover. Properly advertised there's nothing on earth to stop it from establishing a record for most houses and most certainly for the towns where Garbo is the ruling passion of the patrons. In "audience value" you will rarely find a greater or more absorbing story to hold the customers' attention and interest right through. And even those who would turn up their noses a little at La Garbo will be won over by her marvelous work in this outstanding picture. MGM seems bent on setting a pace never eciualed in this film business of ours. How they can maintain that pace is what surprises all the know-it-alls who like to predict that "they can't keep it up." Well, they certainly seem to be keeping it up and have a batch of recent releases to prove it. But to let these pictures shift for themselves would be a crime of the worst sort. No showman can afford to let up on the advertising and merchandising of such product. That extra noise you make about these outstanding pictures is what breaks records. We can be prepared for big business when you play "Mata Hari," but it merits more, the sort of campaign that one should look for on exceptional pictures. Best played away from Sunday or kid days, otherwise the b. o. is wide open and you should fill the till with many a shekel that ordinarily might not come to your window. But this kind of product will make 'em steady fans. Get the full cast, etc., from the Herald informative review in this same issue. Then get busy. You've got money coming to you. V \N| ADIES OF THE BIG HOUSE" gives L us another pleasing performance from Sylvia Sidney and one that will add to her ever increasing popularity. Supported by a fine surrounding cast, we find in this picture screen fare slightly above the average, and possessing enough possibilities to bring the business of your theatre well above the average. The title has plenty of TNT for the showman who knows enough about selling a picture to grasp the many angles and line them up for his campaign. Besides that title you have the star and her supporting cast to sell in largerthan-usual type. The prison angle gives it that much more pull. In "audience value" it is far from 100 per cent, but in most spots will be accepted as a good picture. Where many a big city critic will find situations a little dragged out, the average audience will enjoy every moment of it. That's what counts anyway. Selling angles can be centered on the tremendous love of these two young people or on the terrible trouble they are thrown into through no direct fault of theirs. Miss Sidney's work in "Street Scene" and "American Tragedy" is also a valuable angle to play up. However, that depends on how these pictures clicked in your theatre. The prison scenes are interesting even if some folk may doubt them a bit, but somehow or other anything about prisons attracts more than passing interest and here you get the women's jail angle. The cells for the condemned are likewise interesting, and though a bit morbid will give the customer something to shed a tear about. Many a tear was carefully injected into this one and maybe that's why the sob-sisters will get a full evening's entertainment when they buy a ticket to your theatre. Get behind this picture and promise them a fine piece of entertainment plus a grand performance by Sylvia Sidney ; you'll deliver the goods and should satisfy all of them. No good for the kids and best played away from the Sabbath. CHARLES E. LEWIS. V Charlie Chan's Chance (Fox) Mystery (Seen at Hollywood) Here is another of those entertaining mysteries concerning Earl Derr Biggers' Charlie Chan, the Chinese-Hawaiian detective who rambles far from mid-Pacific to untie puzzling crime knots. The story of "Charlie Chan's Chance," done for the screen by Fox, lacks sufficient fast action, it was thought. As a murder mystery it has too much talk, delaying its surprises until their punch is gone. Competently cast, well directed and skillfully enacted, the picture has everything except the requisite interest-tension, general comment indicated. This may mean that Charlie Chan is about to retire from print and screen, that the talented Biggers has written out the inspiration kindled when he went night-policing in Honolulu a few years since, to discover that some of the cleverest men of the island capital's detective bureau were of mixed Chinese and Kanaka blood. Warner Oland, termed sincere and delightful as Charlie Chan, has to say a few too many of the quasi-Oriental epigrams which are a trademark of the character, such as "One lie may have many children and hold family reunion at liar's house." Oland has capable support from Marion Nixon, Alexander Kirkland, H. B. Warner, James Kirkwood, Ralph Morgan and the others who make up rather a lengthy cast. Herbert Bunston was well received for his character sketch of a gentleman who tells cops with scorn what he thinks of them. Miss Nixon elicits sympathy in rather an unsympathetic role, but is shy of ardor in a brief love scene. Jimmy Wong has a pleasing bit as a Chinese Boy Scout. Linda Watkins' work is good in a small part. The essentials of production, sound, art, direction and photography, were noted as well handled. Some of the scenes are of striking beauty. Produced and distributed by Fox. From story by Earl Derr Biggers. Adapted for screen by Philip Klein and Barry Conners. Directed by John G. Blystone. Assisted by Jasper Blystorte. Photographed by Joseph August. Sound, Albert Protzman. Art director, Gordon Wiles. Release date, January 24, 1932. CAST Charlie Chan Warner Oland John Douglas Alexander Kirkland Inspector Fifi H. B. Warner Shirley Marlowe Marian Nixon Barry Kirk Ralph Morgan Inspector Flannery James Kirkwood Gloria Garlartd Linda Watkins Kenneth Dunwood James Todd Paradise Charles McNaughton Garrick Enderly Herbert Bunston Li Gung Edward Peil. Sr. Kee Lin Jimmy Wong Mata Hari (MGM) Espionage Drama Greta Garbo, blonde, languidly striking, delightfully accented of speech, played the screen Mata Hari, far famed German spy, to an enormous crowd at the New York Capitol during the New Year's weekend. Partly responsible for the S.R.O. attendance, in addition to Miss Garbo, were the names in the acknowledged brilliant support : Lionel Barrymore, as the Russian general, infatuated with Mata ; Ramon Novarro, Russian aviation officer, in love with, and loved by Mata; Lewis Stone, Alata's chief as director of German spies in France ; C. Henry Gordon, French intelligence officer on the trail of Mata, and other in less important but equally effective characterizations. Miss Garbo, comment indicated, rendered a sincere, living portrayal of the beautiful dancer and spy, who though she captivated men and